good evening I am Joseph Pereira chairman of the zoning board of appeals for the city of Fall River it is 6 pm on Thursday June 20th 2024 we are meeting at one government center in the first floor hearing room persent to Mass General Law chapter 30A section 20 subsection F here I hereby disclose that all persons in attendant at this meeting is that this meeting is being I've only read this 22 times it's been recorded with both video and audio devices by Fall River government television Mr Craig Salvador uh recording both video and audio version if anyone desires to make an audio video or combination recording thereof please notify me now and I shall make a public announcement of your intention there seeing none uh our recording secretary this evening is Nina Krueger sitting to my immediate right present this evening our members uh John Frank who is our vice chairman James ckins our clerk uh Ricky sahadi and myself um also with us this evening is Dan agar our director of engineering and planning Nina have all petitions to be considered been propably properly advertised and all interested parties noticed in accordance with the rules and regulations of the zba m M General law 4A as amended yes I hereby declare the June 20th 2024 regularly scheduled meeting of the zoning board of appeals of the city of Fall River open for such business as shall come before it I remind all persons presenting before the board including the petitioners of Butters anyone in support or anyone opposed to the P the petition that your presentation should be limited to 3 minutes questions and responses must be directed through the chair the board's rules and regulations direct the board to specifically look for information which supports the petitioner's claim as such the petitioner should identify and factually support the basis for the petition I hereby advise all petitioners and all interested persons that this is the zoning board of appeals the board's Authority exists pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 40a and is limited in scope and deals with the use of land as regulated by chapter 86 of the ordinances of the city of Fall River additional permits licenses reviews and or approvals may be required for the specific development Andor use which is the subject of the petition before the zoning board this evening the clerks and the building planning engineering and Licensing departments are competent in the dispatch of their duties as clerks they they are however not lawyers and are not competent to give legal advice the action taken by this board has a real and Lasting effect upon the title to your real estate and I urge all petitioners to seek competent legal counsel before filing your petition and after a decision of the board has been made for example there was a city ordinance 2015-11 section 10-1 requiring site plan review a copy of the ordinance is available at the city clerk's office or from the planning department I remind everyone that the building inspector is the zoning enforcement Authority and you are here this evening because the building inspector has determined that your proposed action is contrary to the city of Fall Rivers zoning ordinances the city Charter section 9-18 mandates that all multi-member boards develop and adopt rules or policies for public comment we have adopted such a policy which Ur provides for Citizens input on zoning board specific matters at the end of the evening anyone wishing to make comment this evening May sign up to do so I declare that an official copy of the Fall River zoning ordinance is available at the city clerk's office one cannot rely on the online zoning ordinance I will announce that we are a four member board tonight what does that mean it means that one of our regular members uh is not here and that one of our alternate members is not here by having only four members present it would require a 100% four member vote for anything to pass um to be approved so one no vote shuts anything down uh Nina has reached out to all of the petitioners tonight and all but one has sent in dropped off a letter or an email uh requesting to be continued um until the next meeting uh we do have to vote on those I don't really feel like reading 19 letters but could we do it collectively we could yeah just just enumerate them item I move that those those petitions that have submitted for continuances be granted without uh with no further Fe and and specifically that's until the July July July 18th July 18th meeting and that is um 01 yep hqv homes llc at 150 purchas Street uh under new business item number one BMF 4 LLC for 26 Brow Street item number two BMF 4 LLC 105 Park Street um item number three Jason Cody 195 is it oh Pitman street I'm sorry um item number four uh Christopher mangian 301 America Street item number five uh five diamonds LLC 58 Jefferson Street so all of those items will not be heard tonight if you are here to speak on behalf of or in opposition to any of those hearings they will be heard on July 18th if the motion is same B Time same B uh yes yes 18th yeah that's correct we'll got another which ones were you here for you got five diamonds five diamonds yes so new additional notifications will not go out okay okay so very good thank you for coming out which one which you we have we have a motion on those items do we have a second second a motion in a second then on the motion John Frank yes Jim Caulkins Ricky sahti yes and chairman perir yes we have then one item to be heard this evening item number six 101 Broadway LLC the property address is 101 Broadway map I3 lot 39 the applicant seeks a variance to change the use of the property from an automotive sales facility to a retail storage Landscaping yard the property is located in the wtod Waterfront and Transit oriented uh bu uh development zoning District good evening good evening for the record my name is Jeff Tolman from Northeast engineers and Consultants I'm here tonight with uh Brennan Dello um of Dello and Suns Incorporated um he is the petitioner for this particular application uh the location of this project is 101 Broadway which is map i03 lot 0039 it's located on the west side of Broadway opposite um the bottom of Columbia Street the property is located in the Waterfront and Transit oriented development uh District the wtod um that District does extend basically um the entire in this particular area on the west side of of Broadway on the east side of Broadway is the local business um District zoning District uh most of the properties in this area are either used commercially or residentially um this particular property was used in the past um and has not been operational for some time I want to say but it has been within the past two years as a automotive uh car dealership what the petitioner is looking to do is to change that use from Automotive dealership to a landscape yard um the building department and the zoning enforcement officer has made a determination that this uh particular use is not allowed in the wtod uh thus the reason for filing the variants uh to change that use so quite simply what we're looking to do is to um basically maintain as much of the the property as you see it now um use the existing office trailers that are located on the property uh in a similar fashion as to what they would been used uh before uh we are proposing to add some uh landscape Bay for material storage uh we have seven of them along the uh Northwest property uh boundary in an additional four along the uh the South property boundary um we would be putting in some striping uh to identify parking areas on the property there would be three customer spots right in front of the offices uh with addition six parking spots reserved for employees uh which would be on the the southwest corner of the property um property's unique um in shape um thus the uh the hardship that we're dealing with here and also the location that we're dealing with um being at a somewhat busy area busy intersection um in a unique configuration and being surrounded by uh commercial properties and Residential Properties in and really being cut off from uh the Waterfront by the New York Central Line LLC uh property that extends um along the uh Northern property boundary of this site there is no uh direct pedestrian access uh from this property to the Waterfront area um so with that I'd be happy to answer any questions that the board might have on this particular petition well I mean it is a use variance and thank you very much the hardship is the property the hardship is the surroundings I'm not I'm not feeling that as as a hardship for use variant it is again it's a commercially used property now or at least it has been in the past and we're just simply looking to uh to change that use um to something that again is not allowed in the wtod but in my particular opinion um it is something that would be less intrusive um and less detrimental to the surrounding area that that's you know know what's what's currently being used for now can we get a little more in depth on what yeah a landscaping retail storage yard is what you're going to have there what you're going to so I'm going to sell like mulch um like materials that you would use for mul like for landscape mulch um gravel sand Stone something so so you won't be running a landscaping business there's not going to be a landscaping contractor station there no trucks and lawn mowers and repairs and equipment and that no be a retail no fertilizer outdoor noxious met stuff um if there was any fertilizer it would be packaged stuff but okay not like so it's not a landscape business we're not going to see any damelo Landscaping trailers leaving every morning full of nothing like that anything you might see a truck because will be we will you'll be doing deliveries correct how many trucks are you going to have on site just one just one has the building and I only because I don't want you to have a problem once you get to the building department has the building department made any determination with regards to needing to provide handicap accessibility to the office spaces not that I'm aware of no all right so that just just so that you know once you get there one he may determine that trailers aren't considered primary structures and he may have an issue with that but I can't speak for him and then two he may require that you provide handy AP accessibility to the office baces so if a handicap person comes they need somewhere to park a designated handicap spot and then two they need to be able to access the office just like someone who's not handicapped so that they can go in and pay their bill speak to whoever so the transaction's not done in the parking lot so we don't make that determination he does so just understand that that may be an issue um what what's your anticipated hours of operation and days of the week uh most likely 7 to 5 7 to five 7 days a week or um no probably not Sunday if anything a lot of people want to buy mulch on Sundays it would just be Su um but even your deliveries won't be at the yard and leaving the yard before 700 a.m. are these open Bays open concrete block I'm assuming yes any other questions from the board I mean those are my logistical questions I don't disagree with your with your zoning determination or or mindsets with with regards to hardship but that's for you guys to decide it is in an extremely flexible Waterfront and Transit orientated development District that allows for a lot of things to take place anybody here wish to speak in favor of the petition anyone here wish to speak in opposition okay well I mean the district itself a is huge and you dealt with it was Glenn that made the determination M yes do you know how the Automotive Sales got there was it through variance or was it before it became Waterfront Transit oriented there was no variance there was nothing no variances maybe it was allowed whatever the underlying District wasz I know I mean it's been lot for a while right right and it hasn't operated for a while was it ever anything else other than a car lot not that I you remember I have the property card is there a retaining wall or anything on the back of the property just say Comm it I mean it looks like some structure up against the tracks yeah there's a fence I don't believe there's a retain W it's it's kind of heavily vegetated back there um it just looks like some structure on no it's just that there's all asphalt that goes back to the to the fence and then it's all overgrown coming in from the the railway so it's tough to see but I don't believe there is I don't believe there's that significant a grade change in this particular area is there the so the southernly curb cut that accesses is the area behind the bins labeled as existing asphalt mhm is that utilized by this building or the building to the South it's utilized by both is there an easement there or I don't isn't that drive-thru you get through the drive that is that is their driveway to get in I would imagine there is an easement in place I don't I don't know that to be 100% true um but that is their access to get into the commercial building on the side and it Loops all the way around that building into the other I was I was just thinking of it would it would be great to create Green Space if we could but no I do know that now it's being used by that that's because it didn't serve any purpose to you correct it's like a Ballin chain type fence that runs along the edge of that asphalt area but that property the property line does dve out guy was bring car Mr chairman and again just to be clear the only Commission activity would be purchased and sale is that correct nothing else no no contracts no anything like that no trucks coming in and out just purchase and sales people walking in buying the mulch and walking out is that correct correct the I mean the only thing would be getting the mulch there right that with one truck right well there would be a there would be a vehicle that would you would own one truck that he he that he sends mulch out right larger trucks would come in deposit material for the business itself for the business itself it would be one truck I mean as long as it that worked out to be one truck and then it might be two one point later down but no that's not my plan you just have what a small Bobcat to load the truck correct I'm assuming that you you'll sell to landscapers correct correct okay so they they'd be rolling air trucks in to load up correct okay trying to understand what it's it's an odd spot it's an it's an odd business for an odd spot that doesn't mean that's the wrong one all right so we've got to use variant I don't see a hardship but that's one guy what are our wishes I just I have issue with if there's going to be uh uh landscaping business pretty much running through there you're going to have cars and trucks and trailers coming in and out of there constantly that's a tough intersection uh I just don't think it's a good fit for that spot and uh with that I'm going to make a motion to deny okay motion to deny do we have a second second okay then on the motion John Frank yes Jim ckins yes Ricky Sahar no and chairman Pereira yes I'm sorry it's just the wrong spot wrong District thank you all right Mr chairman you may these people that came in came in after oh I'm sorry which which case did you did no they were here for 101 Broadway but but this uh lady came in with the glasses after you made your announcement um about hist did that table table Mee so what happened is there were only four active members here tonight so any every decision requires all four members to vote so we offer the petitioners we just had you know two people out so we offer the petitioners the uh opportunity to um table until the next meeting in uh in July so on July 18th that matter will be heard okay and it will not be Ren notified so you won't get a new notice okay you'll get a summary of decisions though from this meeting so that will say when it's going to be okay cool all right let's let's open our discussion about review procedures Etc to tighten things up a little bit um so Dan you mentioned that you you've made one change thus far the department at the last meeting I told you that I was going to come up with some ideas I didn't when I realized we weren't going to have a quorum or to vote because I wanted all the members to come up by all means we can start the discussion so that we can include those things on there so today because we did have so many um items to be tabled um and when we start to lose control over dates and times to act and we want to make sure that we are covered with regards to constructive approvals of things and make sure that we're allotted the time to make decisions that we need to so I thought it would be good to make a form standard that every petitioner requesting the matter to be tabled whether in a scenario like this where it's only four members or if it's just a normal hearing where they presented and they've decided to can we table it so we can work on it just a standard form that they wave their rights and I think you can see them on the iPad um they acknowledge that they're requesting the matter to be tabled either to the next meeting or a date certain that we can fill in and then they're also acknowledging that they're waving their the rights requiring us to meet and provide a decision within a certain amount of time according to Massachusetts General law so it just gives us protection because theoretically in a matter like this if we now if we didn't have a quarum never mind I mean if we have four members then we can force people to go but if we don't have a quorum at all and we can't open the meeting next month we we could end up possibly being in a scenario where these things get automatically approved right um so we just want to make sure that that we're given those extensions of timelines I was always glad not to have to provide them to you when I was on that side but I think in 28 years we only had one project that that was uh approved that way and actually I think it was I think a lady of Health Credit Union maybe it was something odd yeah it was the weirdest thing um but it was like that it was a table a table at the applicants request MH and then at the meeting that it was tabled to there was no quarum so and I believe off the top of my head it's 90 days that you have to issue the the decision but 90 or 100 not sure 100 I haven't had to deal with it in a while so in any event we we're covered if as long as we get them to file those forms so that's one thing but but there are a number of ways different things that we can tighten up on how we intake plans the deadline requirements we've talked about that potentially requiring submissions to be delivered by noon that would give staff the remainder of the day to review them make sure they're complete before we have them stamped in we often get 10 petitions in the last hour where we're not afforded time to review things so we really can't say well we're not going to stamp you in so we end up accepting petitions and submissions that are inadequate um and then chase people and then chase people down and you would think people would be thankful and be responsive to the chase but they are not and we often end up not getting the information at all or at the 11th hour so that brings us to the second issue when there is additional information that's required or requested there should be a time line of when that information is submitted I think a week is is sufficient I think a week is generous um so that's those are those are the three items that that we can start with well I mean and Nina and I had a had a side conversation which I I'll I'll bring up um and it was just my Rec one of my recommendations is actually to take uh or require an appointment to drop off so that we have better control over it um I like the idea of making the cut off not the end of the day but noon time for example of the the last day let me ask you this Nina what percentage of applicants are waiting till the last day till the deadline day I would say um about 85% okay and what so what happens is it's often so one attorney who does much of the work he's waiting and relying upon getting the plan from the engineer yep and then there's cross competing the engineer trying to get his plans done first because he's also coming in late with them um so we run into that issue a lot but it is about 80 85% they're going to have to shift the schedules yeah all right listen I I've been on the other side of the table you've been on the other side of the table all right there this will not be the first municipality in the Commonwealth that requires of an appointment to drop off your plans yeah this will not be the first uh municipality that makes it something other than the last minute of the business day that is the due date so and all those things being true um you know and your your deadline day it it falls on it should fall in the middle of the week right it technically we always have it on the 14th so that it's consistent that's always been the case so that way this it doesn't roll every month deadline is the 14 unless it's some some months that buys us a little bit extra time sometimes it provides less time so the 14 falls on a Saturday carries to the following mon next business day same thing on a Monday holiday it's on the Tuesday um so when when see I I'd rather have a adequate time between submission and the time that's got the uh stamped than an appointment because everybody's going to wait and want that last appointment and it's going to I was going to I was going to talk about the appointments but so if you remember there used to be a late deadline also for zba which we did away with which was the following okay so we really have a week to get these things right and that's why we've been generally okay with accepting things that are missing but that's when people are responsive and get us the the needed information within that next week because that's when legal ads need to go out and so we often find that we are correcting and this is to serve the applicant if we if we adverti things the way that they're initially presented Ed either through application or through building permit denial these applicants would have a problem because they would be requesting relief either that they didn't need or not all the relief that they need so we we try to work to alert them to the fact of okay you may have missed this or um which so so maybe we do too much but I also don't want to waste your time if they're sitting there asking for a b and c and then I have to be the bearer of bad news and say well you didn't ask for D and F yeah so we can give you what you asked for but you'll have to come back and ask for the other three cuz once it's advertised we cannot Grant any additional relief um so is there a way to remove something from the agenda if it hasn't been if you're uh requirements have not been met by X date or or well yeah so we we don't have to we're not bound to place it on an agenda until it's been deemed complete and stamped in by the clerk that's why we're trying to create that time in between now whether that's a half a day or maybe we make it two days or maybe we don't stamp anything in until the following week so that but if if there aren't true and fast hard deadlines in a short period of time time correct they're all going to get abused and it's all going to be at the end of the day right so I can't tell we can't block out again the 4:00 meeting before the last deadline for a certain attorney or a certain engineer it's just not the way that that things get done um I think the the thing that was brought into shop focus at the last meeting is that what we're trying to avoid is that uh somebody comes in with this request and then we add three more to it you know that put it on the agenda um so what you're saying is that this would alleviate that problem it would be hard and fast this is what they're asking for and if they need anything else that's another meeting exactly that's the way it should be and and again it's the 11th Hour there is no way that an application should come in that the description of the requested relief on the application is any different than what the building permit what the building building denial says okay so I know an engineer that used to do this and he would send the denial paperwork filled out narrative form to the building department MH cut and paste that same narrative and put it on the application to make sure everything matched but if you don't take that effort and you leave it up to the building department to create the narrative that's fine but then you're stuck with what that narrative says right and that needs to be on your application and we often have applicants change what they wrote yeah or ask the building department change what they wrote so that they all match so that you have one concise set of relief that you need to act on um so we need some time to allow that to happen before before the clerk stamps them in and we we we'll make it known deadline date is here mhm and we'll put it on the form this does not mean that you know the Del delivery of or submission of your package does not deem that you're placed on the next agenda whatever it's once it's deemed complete and stamped by the clerk which is the way many other municipalities deal with it that's correct if you go to new bford it takes sometimes three months to get placed on his zoning board of appeals agenda because you submit it all they review it they prepare a report they include that with the and then they make sure that your application coming in checks every box that they told you you needed to so do I think that's a little bit Overkill a little bit I think it's Overkill Worcester does something similar yeah but it it it is the way it should be it's the way it should be and and it eliminates the the debacle of well what are we talking about here you know and and that's seems to be coming more of the norm and it should be yeah um at 12:00 I'm just spinning back to the 12:00 deadline thing is that realistic for your office I mean when you have lunches and people coming in and out or you have coverage to be able to have somebody there at 12:00 every day on that day or you just make it available is what we do for you know so I'm trying to eliminate that now I I I really think at the extent time should be from the time that the deadline for submission and the time that you date stamp it I think you should put another day in there okay so you've got and I also would question you know I I I see that a lot of these are coming in that they're expecting you because of your expertise you're doing half of their work for them and I don't think that that I mean you've got to Define what Ro you the department should pay and that's the part of the problem right and and they rely or they lean on the department which they shouldn't be they take advantage of that they do and well and I don't mind take advantage of it two weeks before your deadline so have a meeting come discuss your project which many people do let's go over what we think so we can put together a sound package but once you submit it that's it you're submitting it and and be done so we let us check on the times and the dates maybe we have a a submission deadline can still be the 14th but we don't stamp them in till the following business day at 5:00 or 4:00 so that gives us a full day to review them and as long is on the application people will understand and we'll put an acknowledgement we can put a cover on the whole thing you're acknowledging you're signing this that when you submit this you understand that this is not deemed complete until it's reviewed you will be notified within 24 hours yeah only placed on the agenda approval determination that You' got a complete application being completed and stamped something like that again we're not going to vote on anything tonight but I can come up with that no but yeah can we have a six bullet points of what you're looking for exactly for the next the next meeting so we could have your proposed forms how you want to do it so we can get this done so we don't we don't want to drag this out for four months for your sake yeah yeah for everyone's sake you know we want to make sure that this is should have happened and in the me think of anything else procedurally that we should that we could include so that we can get as much done in this as possible if there's anything any pet peeves or things that the way that you see we give them a discounted fee if they they bring it in early how's that no sarcastic no we're going to go the other way there's no discounted fee there's increased fees for the opposite direction but later in the day you come which is which that used to be the case right there was an increase there was a late filing fing but then everybody started just doing the late filing yeah they didn't money was was only like I think $100 more or something like that okay all right Nina any we talk about this a lot so no I'm sure I'm just wondering I know you get the brunt of a lot she's the dealing with the most of it um yeah I mean I guess the biggest thing is that like I have I have a checklist and I I look through them pretty thoroughly yeah um and then I notice a lot of times I'm giving them revisions the day of like I'm telling them okay well this needs to be fixed this needs to be fixed this needs to be fixed get plan yeah it's all things that happen every single month oh you don't have a registry of deeds reference on here oh um the applicant's name isn't on here here oh the your Butters don't have um the area they don't have the land uses it's pretty much the same thing every single month I do turn away a good yeah two or three yeah believe it or not there are a lot that get turned away sure mostly from people who haven't done work in the area but it's pretty clear on our guidelines what needs to be on the plant if you can read a a recipe and make brownies you should be able to prepare a plan yeah and I mean it it it's it's a matter of coming up with a fair a fair timeline which is fair to the office MH uh the intake individual the review individual and and still fair to the petitioner yeah and if they can't get something here a week before the hearing yeah yeah I guess you no matter what deadline we give them yeah they're going to so so if it's 12:00 on the 14th they're going to be here at 11:00 on the 14th but let us get a better understanding of what is what is the submission date when do we need to have them stamped in by because maybe we've been artificially forcing ourselves to stamp them in at the end of the business day on the 14th because it's really just it's our arbitrary submission date yeah that's that's the submission date that's not the acceptance date exactly so let us work on that and uh cool and how we deal with that okay citizens input no approval of minutes from May 16th no where um we have to ask it's on I'll take a motion to adjourn wait no no no we got to motion to table said table the minutes motion table the minutes four hour meeting I'm sorry who made the motion yes so moved okay Jim just seconded it okay uh on the motion to table the reading of the minutes yes yes yes yes you guys can still make kite night Mo City motion to adjourn yes so moved second on the motion to adjourn all in favor I thank you all thank you