not right hey I am going to call the Tuesday July 30th 2024 meeting of the Esau meal planning board supporter is there anyone in the audience who might be recording uh this meeting or on Zoom if so please state your name the method you're using hearing none go to the role and we'll start on this end Dell Shar SW Russell Denver Bill fona pep hundson okay uh first item is the approval of the July 2nd 2020 or Open Session minutes hope every everyone's had an opportunity to review them do I hear a motion to accept so moved second motion made in second all in favor say I I I uh case sp-202 4-07 request for special permit for Joy cup bubble tea a bubble t cafe at 34 Shaker Road special ID 27156 DD located in the business zoning District applicant B Chowan yeah that's me close enough okay good thanks Sor so can you come forward oh and just sign in and then we'll go from there can I go back or sit here sit there sit here okay so we just want you to introduce yourself talk about the business you know how many employees you might have hours of operation when the deliveries occur that that type of thing sure so we are hoping to open uh a bubble tea I don't know if any of you familiar with bubble tea okay is um basically tea um can be fruit tea so be tea and whether strawberry peach whatever that is uh if it's a milk tea then it will be a non-dairy milk so just kind of um playing with a tea for a drink similar to SM in some way um so we plan to have it on S for sha Road nearby pet area right there that you can see from the town in some way um It's a Small location it's only like 600 something square feet so we not planning to have a lot of people in there just to do to stays we are hoping to have more like a to go Place uh but of course if um they want to come in and they want to uh sit there they can we'll have table there there's a aisle where we have like a more like a bar with a stool so they can you know wait there for they drink uh we um plan to have uh two two uh staff there uh running one person making the bubble one person taking the register uh this is a family business um so uh we are small uh business uh so we are not sure if we can attract a lot of people uh with what we try to offer um so it will be uh myself and my husband running it for now and if it's something that um you know attract a lot of um interest then will will be you know looking to step back and have people be there but uh the space that we in we just planning to have like two people because it's not not enough space and what are your anticipated hours of operation um so usually boy running like almost like a coffee shop so uh it will probably be around like 10 or 11 I know I put on the application for 7 but it's unlikely that we going to hold to seven um because it's just not the type of business that we open late people want it like at the beginning lunch and probably when they get out of school this is attracting more student younger population than older populations um so it's more likely the high peak time will be like 233 when when school is out seats so what where do you anticipate most of the custom Park yeah so where um the shop is at they are parking on the side uh on in that Plaza is's that 34 there's and there's a nail salon um they're parking on the street they park on the side that building on top is CHD something Behavior Health um they also have parking in the back so it's belong into that building so there's a lot of parking all around I know I'm not counting the street but across from the street is a public parking so definitely it won't be an issue with parking in that way or so other question if I open it up to the public all the public that's here Russ yes I see I see a parking problem yeah I do too okay you've got 12 12 seats around three tables then you've got other one two 3 four five six s there's a bunch of other stools so you'd have to have parking for at least 12 people I think those symbols you're looking at are supposed to be power outlets yeah what days tables right right here that's 12 people that's 12 and 17 according to the thing it says that's correct that there's enough because it's three one spot to three chairs yep so they have um one spot 37 trying to do math right now you said three or four I have it in the report somewhere we've got two you have five chairs then you have four eight 12 seats at the tables these are the things are power outlets yeah so one spot for every three seats six parking spots needed yeah where are those what if everybody else is full you know what I'm saying I understand yeah yeah so that's what I'm saying there parking like if you um so for ex um so the the building is right here there's side parking right here and then you walk up the stair there's a bunch of parking in the back yeah shed parking yeah so I don't want that's that's a shared parking allow that building the whole building yeah just want to make sure yeah yeah I understand I believe the number was six parking spaces for 17 seats so you guys definitely have more than enough for that yeah I am not anticipate a big Crow uh this is more like come in order uh and then to go yeah um so and and it's a drink that you drink in an hour then nobody's sitting there yeah so it was uh did you put in the application that you are going to have the deliveries to your and then you're yes so I'm not delivering supplies you mean oh yes yes so um I'm not delivering any supplies in the locations okay um because I have storage issue um there's no store I don't want to pay for storage yeah so I'm gonna deliver to my house and I'm gonna bring it out to location let me just uh so I get a motion to open the public hearing so moved have a second second all in favor say I I is there anyone here who would like to uh speak for or against this proposal seeing none can I have a motion to close the public moved have a second second any discussion all in favor say I I back to the board so there were some recommendations by the planning uh department so there so they would recommend there be no outdoor dining on the site uh that's one and if you wish to do that then you come into a the the special can I put one table outside the front is that a reason why I just just understand yeah so the reason is uh we had issues with other businesses in town that put up outdoor dining in a way that's wasn't really reviewed by the board and it caused parking issues because those tables took up like four or five parking spaces and I think I know which you probably know which business I'm talking about too um shelburn so yeah that's just one thing we're trying to avoid oh it's not going to be in the parking like it's in front of the Shelf there just a um pavment okay uh and my plan is to have one table there okay so the board if you feel comfortable with allowing for outdoor dining definitely could through conditions if you don't feel comfortable you could have that be a condition where if they wanted to do outdoor dining they had to come back for your review to amend the special permit uh then maybe give you more documentation to to show the outdoor ding would look like um totally up to your discussion that was just a suggestion just to prevent that from being an issue moving forward if if this was approved um I think from when I've driven by before though people do Park up there I've seen cars parked up there yeah so they they park right so there's that on the street like where yeah yeah there's a that's square area where it's like a leverage up and then there's parking for delivery uh if they um want to you know like PE people that delivery I think he delivered cake I'm not sure that they do that but I'm not going on the that parking I'm just a small table like one table two chair just to be outside because you have space between where the curb is in your front door and I think got an apron there but people do park there so people actually park on the there's two parking spots right there people actively park there yes I I and my thought is is to get this going and see how busy you get and then come back to us if you do have a real need for an outside table because amending it's a simple process we just need proof but I agree with Pete have a bench um I mean table okay so a bench is different from outdoor dining outdoor dining tables people bring drinks out the customers who sitting outside a bench could just be like you're sitting there it could be up against the business it's away from the main area I mean a bench if the board says that's fine I guess that's fine you guys feel about bench is it allowed as a matter of right yeah so that we don't really need to be in a special permit to right no I mean as a matter of right you could do it yeah you can just do like a normal bench just make sure it doesn't become bench with the table yeah sure yep um it just sometimes it's nice to be outside washing the car so yeah what type of signage are you there already a sign there not a sign but there's already a pre-existent uh sign I don't I think it's say in there somewhere about the size are we just gonna have um the signage person just put something up there one is so you already have a light box yeah there's a light box there electric we test it how it work um so you're just getting some way to put a new new traffic on there correct yeah I know that I have to do a signage application yes all right um I think the bench is all right yeah I think it's allowed as a matter of right to be able yeah there's no special I think um you might want to reach out to the building department before you put any benches in just in case you know they might need a permit or something sure but yeah check with them for that and the sign yeah we asked the landlord to remove the planter which is like falling apart so we plan to have something imping good question no that definitely is a good thing up it's so so you've kind of given us an indication of you know how you anticipate to operate so could I suggest that we just put certain conditions on that have already been um illuminated by you so hours of operation not to exceed 7 P.M in the evening um we'll just put in that you put a bench out there if approved by the building inspector there will be no shall we call it outside deliveries to the location like shipment and thing like that yeah yes that's so we'll put that in there as well um hours of operation deliveries out dinning we kind of care of that okay anybody else have any suggestions so um for the hours of operation are you just saying no later than seven or do you want is there um just to understand because it's a limit right so what is the understanding behind a 7 PM just for me to know I like to ask question well you actually put it in your application yeah because I'm thinking to S but just wondering you know you kind of said it yourself that the business probably won't it'll Wayne as the day gets goes further so we're just giving you yeah we're just giving you leeway that if you decided on a Tuesday you had a good crowd at at 3 o'clock or whatever and you decide to stay open well it's permitted it's permissible under this permit yeah because we're granting it till 7 o'clock we're just putting a time we put times on most of them okay because I this is a NE there's no bubble te here so I cannot really do assessing what makes sense um so I just want to know so if I need to come back to extend reduce or whatever come back to see us back see us we don't bite you got a line at 8 o'clock at night and the place is closed yeah trying to get your attention yes sir um I don't this is your husband yeah that's my husband yeah he has his hand up so maybe he wants to say something okay that right do you want to say something to yeah but we already Clos the public hearing close so but have it up before okay well I mean he could be part of the applic team yeah go ahead and you specifically mentioned you don't know how many customers you're gonna have we hope you have a lot yeah successful but we do research nearby area like amher Northampton like those are the area that we kind have you know using that location yes yeah this is new yes hi can you folks hear me yeah yes hi just uh no just I wanted to just touch bases there is a parking spot in front of the uh of the place where we're going to buy but there is a big buffer probably 10 12 feet of buffer because there's a sidewalk and then there's some part of the the drive the parking and then there's a parking spot so it's not like the car would be right up against the building it's there is a there is a gap there just so you guys are aware of that that part thank you you're welcome um I I I do have one question though about delivery though we may um when we first open up we probably will need some uh equipment brought in um so aside from the equipment I don't anticipate any other real deliveries but that's something that you know I just wanted to put that out there so you guys are wear yeah that kind of goes without saying yeah yeah we kind of that one yeah awesome yes I was going to ask about their conditions that's okay um so I guess in terms of the outdoor dining do you want to put that as a condition that it's not allowed on the property because there's not really regulation we have either prohibiting or allowing for it so if we don't put it as a condition that's it's not allowed then it's just going to happen I don't know how the board feels about that I'm looking to my senior were you were you planning on serving any type of food at all no I just property yeah I mean I would ask if it's okay for me to have one table that will put me to peace um you know just just to have like if I'm I'm serving tea so if they it had to be a place to rest right so I can make bench then I won't put any table but I need something to rest a c so if I can have just one table that will that would be something I hope that you all not going to say yes to I'm not saying yes Starbucks I wonder what we did there I mean you curb right it's not a curb but there's like a planter around it um and I think there's like four tables outside Starbucks if not mistaken I mean it's up to you I mean there's no right or wrong answer I me you can go with either one not like safety buffer requirements for that though I guess would be my question no from a zoning perspective I don't know if there's anything in the building code that might require it but again that supersedes the playing board's decision for safety design stuff like that well I'm going to keep my position on the table was your position again no no no okay but bench is fine the bench up little flower pot next door or something like that make it look pretty the door and just see how it goes and see how the parking situation works out and if it's looking pretty good we'll come on back so the way we'll write it is that no outdoor dining is allowed the bench's allowed and if you ever want to change that you come back with an amended application by then like you know more know yeah yeah when do you hope to open I get the same reaction well um you know after this approve um there will be Renovations uh and it's out of my control uh factor and pumping that's thing I don't you know latest October okay we're hoping to open summer but it didn't happen but so we have a number of conditions um vote on the proposed conditions Rob do you want to read them back sure uh so we have hours of operation being no later than 7 PM I'm assuming that's seven days a week okay uh no outside Supply deliveries to the business um because they had need equipment delivered um bench allowed they have to check with the building department and then we have condition for no outdoor dining which indicate no tables and chairs together so do I get a motion to approve the conditions Move Motion May in second any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I now on the permit with the conditions do I have a motion to approve so moved a second second any discussion hearing none so all in favor say I I anyone oppose hearing none pass hope to see you we'll be bye yeah nice little set up I will reach out to you tomorrow about next steps yeah okay so expect email for me in the morning yes I have ask question so the next step will be like planning will come out so my project by October but that's like so um I'll explain to you offline but there's a 20-day appeal period we file the decision with Town Clerk and I'll just I'll explain all this tomorrow to you so you you you'll be well Weare The Next Step okay thank you everyone no problem good luck take care thank you y hey Rob it's your show oh great all right WR down my last not real quick all right so I know this is going to be a unfavorable discussion but I will try anyways unless you care about flag Lots run never mind all right so I will share my screen and release attempt too uh let see if this will work you guys can see that cool let me see if I can do my appr uh sort of works let me just grab one piece of paper quick I will go ahead and start all right so as I mentioned at the last meeting Town management and the building department is interested in pursuing a bylaw in our Zoning for flag Lots uh this presentation will be brief I'm only doing about 11 slides I'll go through them pretty quickly but just give you guys General background what is a flag lot a flag lot is essentially a lot that lacks the required Frontage in The Zo District in which is located in usually has more than enough billable lot area most of the time they're about double the size of what's required in that District as the name suggests they are sort of shaped like a a flag most of the time sometimes they're shaped differently um the flag pole portion is kind of the long staffy part that's the driveway usually they range between 100 to 300 feet long um depends on the direction sometimes they're straight sometimes they could be angled it just depends on a lot uh and of course the building in this case single family home is usually constructed in the flag portion which is the bigger part of the lot further back from the road so why is this being brought up um this was kind of an effort that was started by the soon to be retired Building Commissioner Dave Gardner um he identified several of these Lots in town that lacked their required Frontage and had more than enough lot area essentially their flag Lots there was actually one particular flag lot that was approved by the board uh through the anr process earlier this year um and of course I'll show some examples of these Lots in the next few slides after this one so where was that one it was on uh Maple Street it was like one lot that was split into two um you'll see in the next slide but it was like a very weird shaped lot that was pre but it had to had the required Frontage for an anr right it did yeah I mean so without the required required Frontage is not a buildable lot exactly but um there's lots that exist in town that were just created that look like that too and I'll show you in the next slides but all right so they're not considered billable Lots as Pete just mentioned uh due to the fact that we don't have a process for allowing flag lots to lawfully exist um anrs can technically only create lots that meet their required Frontage but don't necessarily meet the required billable area hence why the planing board has statement non-or is buil a lot on all their anr plan sets the whole point of to this's presentation is to make you aware the situation also trying to get a better understanding of whether or not to pursue this bylaw so that's the anr that was appr proven it's hard to see but basically up top you have Maple Street on the south I believe that's Parker Street that's kind of opposite of that whole area um it was a lot that had no no no no that was Chestnut I think up North so Maple and Chestnut Maple yeah it's got Frontage on Chestnut but it's not technically considered viable Frontage because of the sewer easement and then the wetlands there up north on Maple it's got 20 feet on each of the split Lots um it's just it's an example of a flag lot uh this case it does have the frontage on the other end but I just again with those two circumstances it's hard to create viable Frontage so here's another one that's on I'm not even sure what street this is says near uh redend Drive um this lot particular has 30 Fe Frontage but has 33,000 Square feets in the ra District where this lot is located I believe it is 140 fet that's needed as a minimum here's another one there's two of them um believe this is Porter Road uh both lots have around 50 feet um again more than the required area for lot and then this is another one that looks more like a flag lot than the other previous examples this one has 50 FTS uh has 40,000 square feet which is double the required minimum in that District which is also res a so all these Lots were in the res a district pretty common Trend that I'm seeing in in this district and this is the last slide I have um for examples and uh of course the two Parcels that are in discussion are this one and this one down here not this one so this one's excluded I know it looks confusing because the lines are drawn a certain way but again both those lots have less than what's required for Frontage but more than enough area so if this was pursued there' be some special requirements that we would definitely put in place flag Lots would be required to have no less than 50 feet of Frontage the reason why 50 fet is chosen is because that's the state's definition of available Lots is one having at least 50 fet of Frontage usually this definition is applied to bylaws that don't have demential requirements for ailable lot at all in this case East Long meow has that requirement so if East Long M didn't have a minimum Frontage for any of the parcels in town it would be 50 ft across the board so that's why 50 ft was chosen the flag pole portion would be no longer than 300 ft usually the access driveway is in that flag pole portion um proposed Access Road shall be no less than 24 ft wide that's usually for safety concerns and required by the fire department for driveway of that size uh the minimum required area for a flag lot shall be one and a quarter that's 1.25 times the minimum required area a normal lot um for example if a lot was in the res a it'd be required to have 25,000 sare ft just as a standard for any lot but if it was a flag lot in the same district it would need 31,000 Square ft so essentially these Lots just can't be tiny flag Lots they have to be of reasonable size to accommodate the disproportion in shape last9 least houses may only be constructed in the flag portion as I mentioned earlier and must abide by all setback and buff requirements of the district in which is it is located and uh the last point is that usually other towns allow these by special permit that's kind of been the standard for flag Lots um you can have specific requirements for it including having a detailed engineering plan for the driveway retaining wall storm wire design all that stuff um you can also acquire building plans like they do in ammer so you can't get a flag lot unless you have architectural plans done you know what the house is going to look like where it's going to go Etc um and then afterwards if the special firm was granted then you would get the anr because you know the flag lot would be allowed so my last slide before I open up for comments um the main goals of this bylaw are to allow for existing undeveloped flag lots to become buildable to bring developed flag Lots into compliance and to help make more land available for residential development um Dave Gardner created a well-developed working draft for this bylaw I planned on taking it over and bringing it to the Finish Line course the plan board can decide whether or not to pursue this but what I recommend is finding ways to allow for more housing will greatly benefit to the town of East Long Meadow um but of course you can do that with extra precautions to avoid anything that could be detrimental thoughts or concerns I know what Pete's gonna say I I appreciate what you're trying to do yeah you know no problem but this is a good example why I don't like it yeah this guy's living in everybody's backyard yeah I wouldn't like that that's a fair point and I think um let me just get out my look where it is good point so say this was vacant and you everybody you know built these houses this guy moved in now you're backyard you're looking at another guy in the backyard or the front yard or whatever you might have bought that property for that purpose the Privacy that's exactly why I don't like it yeah that's the only reason there's one but usually you'd see them in areas where um there's less sensity so say if somebody's out in like Porter Road near like wil Bram or Hampton areas there's like more bigger Lots you could have a flag lot and somebody's pushed back pretty far there's trees around their property you can barely see them from the road box and an entrance I do see what you're saying that situation it's kind of problematic because you can see the house from behind like I live in a neighborhood in South Hadley where one of my neighbors is behind my backyard I see that me is a no sorry so there's one for sale in town right now the reason I know is because we actually looked at it and we is anybody aware of this this one and so it's I'm like kind of shocked to hear that like it's not even buildable we went pretty far with this uh in greatwoods there one that's up there right now so they're selling uh did I know that yeah I can show you you have a Google Maps but there's a there's absolutely going to it's going to look like a lollipop going to be a long driveway that goes down and you get you know 11 acres out back is the lot already created it's been for sale for like two years it's probably why it's still for sale I think people reach out to the building department and the building department tells them it's not buildable funny because we went through a whole big building process of this so I just by as I'm reading this I'm going like are you kidding me so so what's the um address zoom in the great one the Google Maps you just touch it there one on Maple Shade between maram and Elm funny I mean these things are that years and years and years ago right there but you're right you're you're you're the people on Maple Shade look back there we are so this go Prospect Street driveway that goes back to from the center of town along the flat part just before it goes up like this we looked at this there a family that's the land up a house built behind everybody looks out their back window house it's a perfect example just sitting there it's not even a the reason there not they this is all this is literally see fresh water BR here you can build the you go like drive it goes back right down 5 600 this because my wife will say well okay and you can't build on it that's just I'm only one out of five so to be built that's insane or either maybe make a phone call so I mean so what can people do with these Lots now so what they can do is if they already have a house on it um they're allowed to rebuild the house if it you know Act of God takes it away they can't selectively demo it and rebuild it from scratch because technically the lots are non-conforming because the lot the house is non-conforming because the lot's non-conforming right so it kind of starts that precedent of you can't really build much more than what you got already you can expand the house if you get a special permit but that's about it uh you can't do much more than that still maintaining a proper setbacks yep so you can actually build an accessory structure if it's within the setbacks you can expand the house if you get a special permit um obviously if you're not making the nonconforming more non-conforming um you just can't rebuild from scratch because if you did technically you're rebuilding something on a non-buildable l plus your house burned down so that's kind of what's going on with these people right now does this also apply if you're building a road into a development or does that change so if you had a flag lot and you're trying to build a road to get into a development yeah that would still be the same that would happen but so you're bring a s single family residence in back yeah instead you've built a road in that goes to this culde saac or something inside of there you still have to have the right the correct Frontage should do that yeah yeah does okay but also these places already have the road built because they wouldn't be able to get to their house if they didn't have a driveway so they' already have the curb cut they would already have the road design built all that stuff yeah when they designed it they built all the way around it and there was this piece of dirt left and now they're trying to figure figure out what to do with it oh because it was nonconforming when they when they dived up their plot it was was not conforming I mean it it was a dirt road and they wanted to pave over it that's technically allowed right it's a pre-existing road so you can't really do anything if they're trying to build a new road or a new driveway you can't do that no that's not allowed is there any way to figure out how many undevelopable undeveloped flag Lots there are in town yeah I can work with it on that make a a map or something see if we can do analysis yeah yeah does the want me to do that I would like to see that yeah i' like to see it and you know see what because I'm thinking trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist well there might be there might be some a way to do it you know we gotta by by seeing it yeah in terms of yeah common themes yeah yeah but you know you can do that but so this board has consistently supported the planning department to bring forward ideas to solve issues that they believe they see or exist so you know I would encourage you to draft the changes and schedule a public hearing yeah may not be successful but I think that we should at least bring it to the public yeah and hold a public hearing on it so what if uh usually the public hearing uh we want something developed most of the way that we could do edits during the public hearing but what if what if I did this research and brought to the board the next meeting that's fine something that would be an issue that more ones consider drafting language for okay and then we go forward yeah yeah but the language has already been like I would say 75% done it just needs to be edited a lot right and pretty much okay sounds good cool that works all right you still have uh your director for yep I do actually have one more question Russ before that so site plan review waivers just a quick uh question for the board so I know the playing board has done those at a public meeting approving site plan review waivers so in this case if you are building something that's not a single family home that's either less than a th000 square feet or you're doing a change that's less than 25% of the entire footprint of a building usually the board can improve a site plan riew waiver I was going to ask the board be interested in the playing Department to draft language on making that more of an ative process so the applicant wouldn't have to come to the board for that and the reason why I'm bringing it up is because if they were to come for site plan review waiver that's sort of the same thing as going through a site plan review hearing because you're coming with plans and showing them why they don't need site plan review I figured just to lift the administrative hurdle for some of these applicants that don't really need site plan review they could just do that with the plane Department I don't know how the board feels about that talking about this before thought we did that for no I think we did it in for parking plans yeah yeah and businesses that didn't for businesses that were going into existing or were replacing no similar with no change yeah thank you yeah so like uh for example if it was a business lab by right they can go to an existing building they wouldn't need site plan review at all in the past we they had to come in here to do that and then we said fine we don't need to do that anymore okay so the only thing is um you still have this provision for site plan review waiver and it still requires a planing board approval which to me sort of feels like the same process as having to get a site plan review approval anyways so I guess to avoid the trip of having to go to the plane board so say if somebody was adding a 50 foot addition to a commercial building or something like maybe they're making like a bathroom that they have to build another part of the building for um that's a minor enough change to where it could just be done administratively with the plane department and if it's bigger than what you know is the grounds for not being a waiver so say if they're above the 25% or if they're doing more than th square feet then that's when the board would come in and do their review I'm just ceral like that yeah I I like I like that then you said or more than a thqu I like feet so I'd be okay with that okay so I'll I'll draft language and we can review at the next meeting before we do any sort of public hearing stuff just so the board had a chance to finalize it and we could send it to the Town Council for their uh initial review before the public hearing it's always good to have five different brains looking at if you know what I mean yeah uh when it becomes something that's more than a thousand square I agree a bathroom add added out or something like that I have no problem okay so what if somebody put like a a stair landing outside of a door technically that's an increase um that's less than 25% they would have to come to the plane board right now for stairway yeah St way so that could be something that the department just sign off right because it's no real change to the building it is and it isn't it's a it's a minor change yes so I think we're giving you an affirmative yeah that's fine all right I will start working on that and uh what's next director report let me pull that up real quick all right so I have the listed upcoming meeting dates August 6 is going to be canceled due National Night Out August 20th we have a public hearing that day and I'll get more into detail of that in a little bit September 3rd I'm being told is the state primary y so I guess we'll probably have to cancel that meeting um we'll keep the September 17th we don't have anything scheduled for that meeting yet um October 1st we have a meeting but I will be on vacation uh that's actually the day I'm coming back so somebody else will be taking over for that meeting and then the 15th so that's what we have coming up over the next couple months so we officially canceling the third yes uh how's the board feel about that so I'll update that on the schedule Town bylaw there awet there's a have to update the schedule I can do that once it's off my phone never never existed you will not see me love it all right so on from that so the upcoming hearings for August 20th we have a special permit amendment to SP 2009-11 for Frank L rilla at 2 329 Westwood Avenue homebased trade I believe they are updating their site plan and their list of vehicles that they have on their approved special permits um and then we have a public hearing for zoning change uh amendments to chapter 450 section 10.3 which is are definitions and then article 10 which is for ground mounted uh solar systems um so that's going to be discussed at that meeting as well um then we have upcoming events so National Night Out as I mentioned uh the plane department is actually going to be doing a table um So the plan board won't have to be there um we're heading out the survey for our greenhouse gas emission reduction plan um as I mentioned having this plan actually makes us eligible for grant funding for different initiatives so the survey is kind of a big step we're trying to understand if folks know about the programs available to them such as mass saves and other efficiency programs they can sign up for I'm actually doing Mass stes right now and I love it hard deal with sometimes but they're use them a bunch use them v y uh so the sown District steering committee has some events coming up uh Rob will be at the August 15th inal discussion at each Village each Village Tavern highly probable that's gonna highly probable and they're going to be discussing land use and planning then we have August 29th at Brew practitioners with the Lobster food truck I'm being told I will be there talking about zoning with two other panelists um s Rob and I was like I hope that me no it's definitely not you rob the Y so uh last bit I have some up upcoming upcoming projects um so we successfully switched all of our planning board and Zoning Board of Appeals permits to an online system Viewpoint uh this is the same system used for building permits Health Department permits and business licenses we're hoping to have it El running in the next month or so it's going to be a big shift it's going to make permitting more easy for us staff and for the applicant it's gonna make everything more streamlined if you look at the paperwork here for that um Bubble te yeah a lot of stuff yeah a lot of stuff but we're going to be able to make everything easier to access so they'll be able to upload stuff um each department can track the progress the applicant can track the progress so there's not GNA be any confusion anymore about where my permits at how can I get things done when am I going to get my notice all that's going to be the benefit of the town and the applicant um and then my last point the town will be using the rest of its available funding from the FY 23 mass gaming Grant to have pioner value Planning Commission conduct a comprehensive review of our land use permits and our use table the reason why we're doing this is because it would help make the permitting process more streamlined and less cumbersome for residents and smaller businesses so they're at existing uses compare them how other towns do them at the moment and then offer suggestions of how we can improve it to make it less cumbersome for say smaller businesses more strict for bigger businesses so that's kind of what we're looking at right now and that's all I have so have we signed a contract with minor Valley Planning Commission to do that not yet they are drafting up a scope of services for us um do we do we ever go out and solicit other entities that might be able to do that work we could um yeah just because the person who at pner Valley we've been working with already has started a lot of this work he's just GNA kind of pick up where he left off since we got this extra funding we're kind of giving him additional tasks to do on top of what he's currently doing I think that it should be that by more than one absolutely I have not always been overly impressed with pvpc yeah I think they elck in a number of things I think they have a singular focus and they don't get off of that and when they're tried to be moved off of that know we're paying the bill they keep coming back to their singular focus and so maybe to wake them up it might be good to find someone else to take a look at it rather than use them all the time my my opinion so I agree I'm right with so I did attend the Center Square district meeting that was held last week so they had a uh a developer from hoyo who converted a building down by by the canals it was he did a very good job and then uh the the gentleman who developed Bella Vista also developed a brand new building in the center of wilam on Main Street near the academy y it's got seven apartments and then smaller businesses below it very fascinating to hear them it's a nice building too very nice building to hear that discussion as that was the guy I to come in because that was kind of what I think we were trying to explain we wanted to do downtown um I think that was a good representation of people like this is what it would look like this is Theory right yeah but he did a very nice job and he brought in a wilam a former wilam planning member and who was how long it took to get that done but you know a lot of it was done during covid so they had delays but yeah I see what you're saying but in this particular situation we kind of gone pretty far with them for this specific project and also whatever they give to us I'm going to review anyways and make edits too so we're going to make it more tailored to our own situation here in town um but I do understand that moving forward it would be a good idea to maybe do like an RFP or something to get a couple more firms that could be interested in doing more zoning work for us and a different set of eyes yeah no I agree with that I think that's a good way to look at moving forward but yeah yeah there were about 30 people at the center Square District uh presentation thought it was well done there was um I remember when I first started they had like a event that had like 50 60 people there I think it was right here next door because I know you went to that right I think their first one here and they had about 100 people oh yeah yeah the round yeah they weren't happy oh yeah you're gonna do what yeah all right any other business oh um a few weeks ago I think before you started I had asked about possibly doing something drones like a drone ordinance following up on that I have not touched that because I haven't been told about it Rebecca was here when I mentioned it she she wrote it down but she didn't bring it up to me but we could look into that okay so in terms of drone bylaw are you thinking got your bathroom window as a drone yeah no does this happen multiple times now where a drone has flown over my home like I don't know what's going on there a little too close for comfort I'm in my backyard in privacy where they taking pictures I don't know and I know when we did the warehouse stuff people were talking about the deliveries yeah and I feel like this is becoming a more prominent issue yeah thing so I think there needs to be something so I know in um so Federal Aviation law controls drones and I almost got certif I had to learn a lot of this stuff so basically you can't fly a drone over a building that's people inside of it without first getting permission from that person um and also you can't really fly within anything lower than like 800 to th000 Ft because that's technically private airspace and if you're above that that's technically Federal airspace you can't go in there anyway so um they're not allowed to go over anybody's homes unless they ask for your permission it's happening it'sing it's yeah I think it definitely wouldn't hurt to create some language that we can insert in the town code that's not really a zoning thing but I can always talk I can draft something for Town management see if the council could approve it but it seems like maybe with the Drone situation it's just somebody fooling around which I don't think it's necessary at the warehouse to were afraid packages were going to be delivered that way and it was brought up then that we should do something about it yeah so do you think we should make that like a discuss for next meeting to expand on to see how the board feels about it like to see whether or not we would want to ban drones or maybe I don't think you can ban them I think is necessary but some rules yeah well I think if you if you pull the language I know what you're talking about the FAA if we we can't obviously supersede what they're saying yeah but we could pull that language out and put it into something could and make it a lot more simpler I think there are other towns that have drone ordinances there are other towns out there that have do have drone ordinances maybe you can beg borrow and Ste yeah I mean we're not trying to reinvent the wheel here but I I agree with you I don't want flying over my house take pictures of me in my backyard I get that yeah okay I I could start putting something together I also have a bunch of others zoning um recommendations from Russell I was just gonna talk about that so for those of you so Cassie and Pete will know this so with each new planning director I tried to revisit the the tightening up of um regulation as it relates to things that can be stored or parked or otherwise on Residential Properties and so I asked for a meeting with Rob with Dave Gardner and I asked Marilyn Richards as chair of the planning matter subcommittee of the Town Council to set the you know in the meeting so all the things that the three the three of us have heard so you know there's a house on Somerset Street that has three RVs parked in their yard excessive in my they're allowed one huh they're allowed one I was told there was no limit uh I was told um you know boats can be parked you know in the front yard and you know in in the driveway and heck typical Sicilian has one in front of their building on North Main Street which just looks awful um I can make my own list you know yeah yeah yeah so everybody driving around list right for like an hour and a half like oh the other one and I've had two Town counselors call me and thank me for you know there are people who Park vehicles on their front lawn that that's not pavement and not gravel right just on their front lawn I agree are are we you know are we a suburb or are we a city and what do we want to look like there were a few other I got on a roll there was a going and so I've asked Rob to my drones look so bad no no there are requirements for parking a motor home where it's supposed to be yeah it's supposed to be to the rear of the main building in the side but it's not lot of them just a lot of them aren't there's one at 320 Porter Road right now that's in their front yard um but there's also the idea of enforcement and I did mention to Connor o the other evening at the center Square District about we might be big enough as a town to think seriously about just one position as a zoning enforcement officer so i' I said that two years ago so we need it and it's you know you know there's several thoughts to that one is there enough to keep that person busy after they make their initial going through town and tell everybody to knock it off you're going to be fine or is it um you do you will need this moving forward for for all things well I think going forward that's not our POS we can recommend we can't create a position but to your point of going through the first time then there's going to be going back to make sure that so I think there'd be enough work to keep this person going given the size of the town and obviously we all could come up with a list that were places we' been checked and it would be taking them take them a couple of months take years yeah you alone yeah get that person in retirement well you know the other thing well the other too is there are also Town bylaws that are not being specifically uh enforced home based trade yeah but a zoning officer could do that no parking of commercial vehicles overnight on residential streets um Meadow Mr Mackey you're on Meadow right Colony well it's either Meadow or it's I think it's Meadow there's a spectrum truck that parks in front of the residents every single evening it brings it home yeah there's parking there was there's no parking allowed on Route 83 because it's a state road and 247 there's parking and there's a reason if there's no parking it's because of safety issues and you never see at least I never see with all the early morning walking I do never see tickets never see anybody Tow and so are as a town do we just want to kind of continue on with yeah you know don't don't look don't don't worry or do we is there a reason these things are on the books and if you don't want them on the books get them off the books there's a reason there's a planning board in the town yeah yeah to make sure the things are kind of uniform people conform and uh you can't expect the Building Commissioner to run around and take signs out of the ground just get you a notepad when you walk well I came in I came in with about 11 things job put on there particularly in the spring and the fall there's all the cleanup signs all this and that and the guy we do buy houses you see his sign stuck near intersection just shouldn't be there but you can't keep on calling the Building Commissioner when he's trying to do permits and all the other stuff for people building homes concerning a lot of money and time and effort to pull a sign out of the ground you can't we can't stop and do it because we're not that's not we're supposed to do the zoning person could also be in the building department too I mean code enforcement is how would they handle yeah one you could at least have a part-time position 20 hours a week yeah oh I think enough work to keep them I suggested it two years ago you know I always like to try to keep you informed of you know what's going on so I just wanted to kind of let you know that we started to try to get this ball rolling again package all those changes together all them Russ's changes I think should be I think it should be referred to Quality of Life uh his quality of life all right if you retire you're going to have more time on hands us is retiring he's going to be sending us a list every day everywhere oh you guys sound like my kids call me a grumpy old man you know we're not calling you Dr no we didn't use those words you're just thinking dedicated any any additional business hearing none do have a motion to adjourn so move second second all in favor say thank you