zoning board of appeals uh Wednesday June 26 2024 6 p.m. hybrid meeting this meeting hearing of the zoning board of appeals will be held in person at the location provided this end notice members of the public are welcome to attend this per meeting in person please note that while an option for remote attendance and our participation via Zoom is being provided as a courtesy to the public the meeting hearing will not be suspended or terminated if technological problems interrupt a virtual broadcast unless otherwise required by law members of the public with particular interests on a specific item on this agenda should make plans for in-person versus virtual attendance accordingly this meeting will be live on Zoom the public May access the proceedings by joining Zoom meeting ID number 857 9728 7177 or by by calling 312 626 6799 for additional information about remote participation please contact Samantha Beno administrative coordinator at zba a.m. us or 978 77282 2 extension 114 prior to the meeting we'll call the meeting to the order first item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda make a motion to approve the agenda second all those in favor say I I motion passed next item on the agenda public hearing a zva will conduct a hybrid public hearing at 6 p.m. on Wednesday June 26 2024 regarding the application submitted by plat builders for the property located at 109 Central Avenue aass applicant is Seeking a variance from the a zoning bylaw section 6.2 appendix B schedule of dimensional requirements to allow for the construction of two structures within the rear setback applicant is seeking to reduce the required 30ft rear setback of the light industrial zoning District by 29 ft 10 in for structure one and by 29t for structure 2 for Zoom call in information please contact zba at AR ma. us or 978 77282 to0 extension 1114 advertise June 7th 2024 and June 14th 2024 the shoba valley voice we have a representative from plat yes sir you can just grab a chair it's kind of crowded here sometimes hi my name is Chris Brown I'm an employee of plat Builders I'm also a co-owner of the building and property um this is Michael he is a project manager for plat Builders um and he is managing this uh project so um the reason why we want this variance is because um the nature of our uh supp plat Builders is a general contractor of residential construction uh we have a lot of uh equipment that we need to store um somewhere and then bring to a job site a lot of staging safety equipment um stuff that we want to keep out of the weather and so um at the moment um part of the requirement to buy this building is we had to buy air moving and storage and we bought a number of storage contracts um and so until those contracts are over in that M that stored material can leave we need a temporary way to keep things dry um out of the weather so we they don't just get destroyed um and that's the purpose of these Pavilions is to give a a dry shelter for our equipment so are these permanent or temporary so uh our intent was always temporary but you know we're building them uh with the idea of them being to code they're a posted uh pole barn structure with a roof and um you know I think in seven years we may no longer need them and they can come down but um it's a matter of how long we have this these storage clients um in our in our building is this over by the fen in area in the back is that it is it's on that side yeah um at the moment we have a number of uh storage pods uh with our equipment in them and and some of them aren't even on our property uh this intent is to get the stuff on our property tighter to the building um you um you cutting these down to you have you're only a Butters is a railroad that's down the back that's correct there's a an access road and then there's also it's a pretty wide ease well area they have between the tracks itself and then our property um our our two buildings mostly occupy our Our Land uh there's only a small area area of about 8 ft along the back of the property that is Our Land from the building and so we don't um it's it's only where this um smaller second building is that we have the room to fit this on our property but it it just barely fits on the property it as you can see from the plan so what is the distance of your property line to the rail the tracks itself yes oh if I it's got to be 60 ft so when you come out to an inch of your property line Y there still 40 50 ft oh no oh 60 ft from our property line yeah to the actual track to the actual tracks it may be more than that that's my guess it's what what is the use of the building after you fulfill the contracted storage uh this this uh Pavilion building the the main building that's a that's a warehouse oh so where so the majority of that is office space and uh manufacturing for Cabinetry we have a large Cabinetry manufacturing inside that building um the back part of it uh we still have full of crates um that were storing of people's belongings from the previous business uh that we we took on those contracts and then in the secondary building that's a self storage building um at some point we may remove the Self Storage once the customers are gone and and then we would have uh more storage ability inside the building and you're obligated to those customers for 7 years uh no not obligated for 7 years we are we're not um that's our guess of about how long before we start you know uh getting more aggressive with evicting but it's not our intent ention to evict the people they tend to kind of leave as they're ready to not need storage anymore and we're not going after new new customers in the storage business um so you know as we bought the building and we did the renovations to move in it was definitely nice to have uh the added income of some rental but um now we're in the process of trying to minimize that so we have room for our equipment good enough so I was looking at the documents from the application and the photo that shows I think one of the structures had you started construction on it and that's when you were made aware that correct you're on the property line yeah um I was falsely under the impression that uh even a temporary structure of that size needs to go through permitting got it okay all right cuz I saw that I was like yeah we're coming retro but obviously you stop yeah um so truthfully I I'm not I'm not opposed to this one um you know the lot is a funny it's a funny lot so I looked at it on the accessor GIS maps and you know I know they're not accurate you know within an inch but they're pretty pretty accurate and it's funny because all along along Central a before you get to this lot everybody sort of has the same you know lot line yep and then when you get past that smaller accessory building Cuts right up yeah and he's he wasn't kidding about those storage units not being on his property behind the large building because according to the accessors maps they aren't yeah they're right there you know yeah yeah they're they're all along there and again if you look at that aerial that little blue line there is is they're on it yep so if you want to take a look um so I think the shape of the lot in this case you know could present a hardship you know the other thing is if we were to you know do a a variance here this could be a perfect situation where we condition it you know they've said that they have customers that may be there 7 years haven't come back in 7 years you know they're temporary structures condition it with a time frame of 7 years and hear it again and you know then but um I'm not opposed to it I I think they're they're fine it it will provide safety in that it's going to keep their equipment dry and I assume that's safer when you're building scaffolding for guys climbing buildings so like I said I'm not opposed I think seven years is a bit much I only offered that because that's how I know but but they're under no obligation to do that for seven years good point you know and I think that they could make an effort to to move that process along a lot faster sure you feel that' be a there be a time constraint on the variance thanks say that again you feel there should be a time constraint this bit this is that Line's consistent and then for some reason and I'm sure it was ACD so far out of the scope of the of the zoning bylaw I mean it's an inch of the property line yeah I mean with the size of that building I think once they clear up the required storage contracts they'll have room to do things differently and they won't need that so yeah I I I think that you think it needs a time frame on yes yes I I I think it's reasonable what do you think is reasonable time wise 3 to five I I pick a number I don't know but I just think that Seven's kind of beyond the scope [Music] what you like well definitely timeline this is this is a huge and you know within one inch or so of the property line this is a huge it's close very it is very close huge incursion into the and I'm just concerned about if if there's some kind of an emergency or something they're very close well they're close to the property line but they still got 60 ft of well if that's a real if there's a real emergency 60 ft is not a lot of room that's true that's all so that's true you know I would live with five I would like three but so what do you say SP the difference no I say what you got to say R closer to three or three on this one because of the the enormity revisit it um or put we don't want this to be a forra thing okay and yes I think it's it's a big incursion into the true the back lot so it uh appropriately it should have you know if we're to Grant this it should have some kind of you know reasonable but you know not not open-ended uh restriction about the time period that they can name so okay Jess what do you think yeah um I mean I wish the application had said from the start temporary um but I think I'm I'm I'm inclined to agree with Mike's reasoning about this shape of a lot um having certain constraints I agree with the fire department's assessment that protecting the equipment is in rutes to safety and consolidates things on the lot and um but I agree with actually Ron's three-year you know maybe subject to uh renewal if you know before the zoning board but this would give you an opportunity to use us as the bad guys to have to push people out um but in furtherance of a local business and I see the need to protect equipment is as as viable so sure I I agree with you I all you yeah so um do we have any no any of Butters uh anybody to speak for this anybody raise their hand I can't see that um I have uh thank you for asking this is uh Roger man I'm the uh senior director of real estate for the ndta yes sir and uh we are yes we we are the we are the abutter uh that is most affected by at least one of the requests for zoning relief and that's the effective elimination of the rear sback yes sir um yeah so in in general you know when we're running active Rail and an abutter requests to remove a a rear yard setback we generally support the preservation of the existing setback for um I think for a lot of the reasons that I heard tonight like about safety uh issues um and if there's any construction that needs to take place that's within what we refer to as the zone of influence for the MBTA which is a like a a 30 foot uh radius from from mdta interest so and and I apologize if if the proponent has been reaching out to us to you know to go over this you know in advance uh we we get inundated with with requests um so if we if we miss a a request to to meet with a proponent and review the plan I apologize for that uh but we we definitely support the preservation of the setback uh as is until we have an opportunity to really understand understand what the implications are did you guys reach out to MBTA um I did not know no we didn't well they would have been noticed right they get the notice they were they would have been noticed that's correct yes they did received the notice um and I got the green slip back so they did get it and they did request the information um but whether or not they discussed with the client well then they got the notice that they're here so that they got obviously all right I would just if I could just add that along that stretch there are a number of buildings that are uh very you know much closer to the raar tracks than our building is and our property is um is I don't understand why the property lines Jog and but um those were probably pre- zoning yws so possibly relevant I think but yeah as you think about safety and train acent or construction they're probably more limited by those properties than our property are are you are is the MBTA suggesting that they needed time to review the applicants um information is that what I'm hearing um I think that I think that's a good suggestion because at at some point when construction uh begins or or when when a building permit application is made we often get contacted by The Building Commissioner because they know that it you know it may be within our zone of influence and we're going to need to review the construction plans anyway but um what kind of time frame are we talking about here um I I don't know when if or when the uh building permit has been applied for so I don't really know that no there's not a building permit that's why they're here they they they need a variance before they can do anything else so I doubt they don't have a permit to do anything yet that's correct they have any a permit to do as of right that's correct okay so time frame I mean I would say contact the mvpa as soon as possible um yeah and I heard a comment about how other buildings are closed or something that's not really a reason to continue to do things all mail was sent out on May 24th you were notified on May 24th and this is the end of June um yeah and that's that's why we're here yeah I understand that we did I think I think we did uh when the MBTA is engaging in construction that affects a Butters uh you know we try to reach out as soon as possible talk to the butters about what the potential effects would be um and because we just find it it's more productive right to reach out to the neighbor but but you did you fulfilled the the legal requirement you notifi us and we're here at the meeting to express you again we would support what kind of what what kind of a time frame are we looking are you looking at to to review the applicants information are you looking at a week a day a month I mean they're sitting in front of us for the with their application and we could continue it at some point but that's that's uh kicking a can down the road so to speak um so we support the preservation of the uh existing yes sir I yes sir I understand that can I also just clarify so if the applicant does receive the variants they still have to go through site plan review so there is another bite at the Apple for the MBTA thank you well yeah appeal period right yeah there's an appeal period and there's also the site plan review that they'd have to apply for I I didn't hear that there's an appeal process and plus there's a site plan review they'd have to go through before the planning board yes right and then there and then there's the uh potentially a license application uh if they if the work that's being performed is going to within the zone of and it sounds like I I didn't I don't have it right here in front of me cuz I'm I'm driving but um is a proponent proposing to actually put a building like right up against the property one pole it's a pole barn it's not a building but yes yes it's right up against the property line within an inch eight Ines yeah 3 ft or something within inches right within inches access access to the exterior of the structure would require getting on to NTA land that's fair question um as far as what uh put erecting the structure I I I it's a pole bar I that means there's the sides are it's open right so I don't I don't understand the access in the back or the front or the sides cuz it's open it's a pole bar so no one needs to stand it's like a carport the building so no one needs to stand outside of it no sir to erect it to erect it no no stand ins by to erect it yes correct we already been done okay I mean we we'll have to take a look at it all right sir thank you when's there next meeting but you I just we we we oppose them at this point understood thank you eliminating the existing set yes sir so when the next regularly scheduled meeting is the 17th of July as it is we've had no application submitted for that one and the deadline was yesterday okay that's good to but if we continued this to then you could do we can do that without deadlines if we made well will the MBTA be able to review the information that these people will supply before onor before the 17th of July can you can you guarantee that um I'll take it back to the um to our EOD team that does that review it hasn't been formally presented to us right other than the the notice of the meeting there hasn't been anyone from the proponent that has like made a that's what I understand proposal that's correct I can ask them right I'm in the I work in the real estate department and so we respond to you know real estate issues and there's another team that I can talk to tomorrow morning um I'll shoot them an email tonight and say uh the proponent wants some time to you know make a presentation uh on this property and uh and I think they they could probably work it in you said July 17th yes sir correct yes I mean I I can't I can't speak for everyone else but it sounds like a reasonable amount of time all right good thank you can you guys put something together uh certainly um I mean ideally a site visit would answer a lot of questions I think um around their concern but I I imagine their standard answer is they disagree with any yes so um I I don't yeah I'm not not quite sure what I'm going after if that's their answer well it's it seems like because we're butting up against the property lines as bad as you are the MBTA being you're only a butter does have a a say in it okay so it appears that you guys are going to have to go to the MBTA get their blessing before you get back here that's the way I'm hearing it I could be wrong but that's that's what I hear yeah Jess is there some way the um gentleman who's on online could provide contact information to facilitate the plat Builders contacting the MBTA and setting up a s sidewalk Fair request can MBTA do that okay yeah oh AB yeah so do you want me to give you like phone number and email now right now hold on we're being recorded um it's a business that's MBTA though that yeah that's what does that mean the the department that they may be contacting is is usually not something that's given out to the public it's probably it's usually specifically for certain people I think it would be better State Department I mean that should well no he's from the real estate department the and that's the that's the information he's given to the other people at the desk he's going to give it to he's going to give another department I think I'm going to recommend you email the zbaa which is my email address zba a.m. us which was included on that notice you were sent um I've also emailed a couple of your uh contemporaries um so they do have my email address send it to me and I will forward it off to you guys in the morning wonderful so we don't have to do that okay I think that's to so in spite of all that yes okay if if we go forward and make our decision tonight will the rail people be notified before the permit process and that that's when they could have their final input as for the building permit that would fall under the Building Commissioner I don't I mean I can tell Charlie to do that going it still has to go to site plan I know that's what I'm saying so they would be notified for that process they can square away that end of it they can make their objections known at the at the site review um I think it's just in in in my opinion I just think it'd be simpler to uh reschedule okay and let mvta and these guys Square it everything away and then come back on the 1th of July either for or against them we take take it up at that point I think that's that's our that's our best recourse right now yeah I I'd agree with Sam with the chair because if the board does approve it then the variance has been has already been given to them and the applicant would only be able to um or the uh MBTA would only be able to appeal the variants right because at site plan review it you've already given the variant so we're looking at it as it's allowed okay so we they we need just like any other AB butter they need the opportunity to rever somebody waving it what I mean yes ma'am oh I'd just like to underscore I mean I'd support continuing this to the 17th um but also given the MBTA was notified at the end of May about this I just like to they were notified about the hearing about but they weren't notified about what was going on they were about the and they could have also reached out to the plat Builders but what I'd like to say is if we delay continue to the 17th next month just put a little pressure on the MBTA that we're likely to make a ruling at that meeting I don't I don't I agree yes so if they want to have input a butter input they need to facilitate getting Sam the information tomorrow morning you getting it to the plat and then setting something up within the next few weeks that seems reasonable to me how's the MBTA feel about that uh about you're going to vote on it tonight no no no no no we're we're we're talking about continuing it but you need to get together with the uh applicant and get your uh problems resolved before the 17th of July yes okay I make a motion we continue to hearing until July 17th second all in favor I I motion carries roll call I think if we're all in person we don't have yeah you don't yeah okay but it but it was advertised as a as a so so we've continued your hearing until July 17th all right thank you for your time thank you guys I'll get thank you m just sent it to me tomorrow great thanks than thank you thank you yeah thank you I make a motion we close no no we don't we continued it yeah all right next thing on the agenda right here uh so the soya sir cing hearing notice a zba will conduct a hybrid public hearing at 6:32 p.m. Wednesday June 26 2024 regarding an application submitted by n soya Foods USA LLC for the property located at one New England way a mass applicant is Seeking a variance from the air zoning bylaw section 6.2 schedule of dimensional requirements to allow for the construction of a portion of the building to be at a height of 58 ft wor 40 ft is allowed in the industrial zoning district for Zoom call in or call-in information please contact zba a.m. us or 978-772-4864 Mr gibons yes how are you so my name is Tom Gibbons and I represent NE Noya Foods USA LLC of one New England way here in air as the chairman just read we're here tonight seeking a variance uh on the height from section 6.2 such that the addition that we're proposing would be 58 ft where 40 ft is required so with me tonight is Daniel Kim James Kim and Justin Lee from Noya David mwell from Kelly engineering you remember David from last time we're here uh Doug an Holz from tetr Tech and remotely Victoria Howland from tetrach so the board may recall that um we obtained a variance in November of 2022 yeah I just started to say didn't we do this once before we did yes yes and that variance was for a 75 ft height uh addition uh the plans changed and so a modification to the site plan was filed with the planning board and at that time it was discovered that the variance from November of 2022 had expired uh so after my presentation David can take you through how those plants have changed if the board would like uh but I just kind of wanted to give a bit of a presentation trying not to repeat myself too much um from what we did but you may recall from the 2022 presentation that this property has historically been used for food production as far back as 1986 through our last variance in 2020 two there's been a number of variances granted for height on this property this property is located in the heavy industrial district and the Topography of the lot is unique in that the surface of the lot our lot uh where the construction will occur is 31 ft below the road surface of Westford Road and you remember that we abot up against Westford Road uh and it's approximately 42 ft below the lowest elevation of the residential lots across the street Street on Westwood Road so this topography means that the addition will appear to be uh lower than the limitations of the bylaw from Westford road than if our construction was happening at grade of Westford Road um as is evident from the history of this property uh food production carried out here often requires a building height of higher than 40 ft without the variance uh the applicant will experience a financial and a production ship this expansion is designed uh to allow no soya to operate in the most efficient way both in terms of energy use and the production process without the variance the applicate the applicant would be forced to construct the building to a height that doesn't meet its needs or simply not do the addition um we believe that the board can grant the variance uh without detriment to the public good or substantial derogation from the uh purpose of the bylaw we believe that the purpose of the bylaw on the height rtion is to prevent very tall outof character buildings within the district because of our unique uh topography as I say this building will not be out of character nor will it be obtrusive to to the abuts uh in addition there's currently uh well established mature trees and vegetation along the property line with Westford road that screens our building uh and finally the addition at 58 ft will match other portions of the building that are already at 58 ft so back in November of 2022 it was unanimously granted the variance was granted unanimously for 75 ft this is not as High um and again if the board would like David can kind of show you the plans to see exactly where the the addition will be if memory serves me correctly when you were in here for the 75 ft you they were putting in a separate product line for bottling is that what it was well so at the time that was going to be uh called storage and although this is what they call a Pick and Pack building and daveid might be able to explain it better but but it is it is storage it goes in there uh and then it shipped from there uh but it it's the plans have changed uh from what was proposed before and this is what they're looking for now did the application there was no drawings or anything no no there were plans submitted with the uh the plans were submitted didn't come true I I had no drawings no plans the application States nothing well all appropriate numbers of plans were submitted yeah okay well I maybe they didn't get attached correctly no no we got we got the applications but anything else Sam the the the plans are on the screen here what what we've done is uh good good evening Mr chairman members of the zoning board my name is David mwell with Kelly Engineering Group we helped uh Noya Foods through the site plan review process and Zoning Board process and Conservation Commission process uh about a year to a year and a half ago to um accomplish permits to um redevelop the site as Tom had just described with a building the project went through uh pricing exercises with the previous uh architect and contractor and value engineering uh decisions were made to put uh the larger portion of the building which would have been 75 ft on hold um for a certain time frame and to still fit out the building to make the production improvements without expanding the freezer and Cold Storage component um and therefore it resulted in a scale back project uh unfortunately no building permit was pulled and no construction was started and therefore the variants lapsed and uh a little bit of an oversight on everybody to not come and get that extended and or uh put a shovel on the ground so if I can use the mouse I'll just cruise through what we did here is uh black and white drawings uh on the tetr title block were presented uh along with the cover letter for the zoning board application prepared by attorney Gibbons and so what we've done here is I've just inserted some sheets in color right on top so this was the first sheet that was submitted it's just a title sheet list of drawings this is an aerial photograph just showing the property property is 12 acres or so as the existing production facility you can see portions of the building here where the building is currently uh 58 ft is right in the back right here um there is an existing variance for that I believe there's also another variance for something 80 ft tall I think it's a exhaust plume um so there's been multiple variances historically here I'm just walking through the plan site so this is an existing conditions plan it's basically the black and white version of the color plan I showed you with more details showing topography and everything else this is what we filed was a layout and Zoning PL very very similar to the previous one except this piece right here which I'm just going to go to the color one cuz it explains a lot more if I can get to that next sheet so I'm going to um this section of the building here is the this is the original approved uh rendering that we did to get the plans approved this section of the building that's a little higher so why we highlighted it then that was the portion that was proposed at 75 ft there was a proposed portion here I think it was detailed out at 40 ft at the time and the remaining of uh portions of the building I think were 35 or so something something in those orders not requiring a variance so did I have another one in here and the current one did I not include I thought I put two two um color version oh yeah there they are I just went too fast the current version of the plan is this one here and you'll see it's all green where that freezer was going to go at 75 ft and the portion that we're seeking relief is this portion here only at 58 ft tall and as I had just mentioned this entire portion of the existing building that's right here is currently 58 ft tall it's only 58 ft at this one point and then it slopes backwards well not backwards but it's the roof then pitches about 4 or 5 ft toward this point here so at the edge of the building it's not quite 58 ft but in order to attain the proper um relief the 58 ft height variant to match the existing building was requested um I just show you a couple more slides here this was the previous one I kind of skipped to that I apologize for that um that was the portion that was 2 be 75 that were all in in the uh in the same ballpark these are the drawings that were submitted which are detailed architectural renderings I'll get to the one that's most important for this these are the new loading docks just like I had explained before your existing building is right here at 75 ft we come at 58 ft excuse me 58 ft here and then we go down here and those are the new loading docks and in here is what they call the picking Pick and Pack shipping area and there is a nice elevation that we put together and recreated for this one that shows the elevations as they go up toward um the residential district and uh and the street over here showing all that and you'll see that we're just picking up where the building is and tapering down here um as Tom had mentioned and if we go back to that first aial photograph you everybody will observe that not intruding into the really the only landscape uh treed buffer along that stretch of Westford Street all the other um industrial properties have cleared everything um this is the last the last stand of trees we worked very hard with the planning board to make sure that that's going to stay by um you know not encroaching our building closer to the road and also not um not cutting down too many trees and we also have a package within the planing board permits to remove dead trees and plant new ones so so that stand of forest will will be there um and and be a a buffer for the residential uses and Driver by for pretu so this slide here is actually the slide we used for the previous variants and it's very I just can't get that I'm having a hard time scrolling I'm sorry we all uh there we go um you'll see here we were that's the 58 Point here we were coming up to 75 and and then coming over right and it was also a much wider addition um so plan's been scaled back a little bit but we still do need the similar similar relief and I I think that's all of the all of the changes that to the plan for the new zoning um relief that's requested I think attorney Gibbons has properly stated the uh hardships for the applicant and also um you know reviewed the decision and stuff from last time so with the on starting this one well this the good news on that on that note is the um the the team was reassembled we are Legacy for the team as the site Engineers as tetr they also have their own civil engineers but um we had all the information in the drawings it wasn't too much to update with us so they kept us on board and all the other professionals are tetr Tech employees The Architects plumbers Structural Engineers dou actually the structural engineer but also the uh project man for the entire project so they've done all of the other work and they've got a little bit further along with details of the um core shell structure pricing and those things so I think that Noya is ready to go and get this piece of the work going right away as uh as you see on this plan well this one or the next one I forget what it is there's kind of two components there's two additions to the building there's one on this side and and there's one on this side they are ready to go on this one immediately because what this one does in addition to provide the Pick and Pack it improves their loading situation and also part of the site development plans opens up another curb cut for better circulation within the site and also to prevent trucks from queuing up in the uh lower portion of the site where the DPW and other there's an easement the DPW DPW DPW has an easement all all through the back and and um there's a sewer pump station here this aerial photograph has not improved the katana oils who I believe also had a variance and property line variance their building sits here there sewer pump station back here to do some monitoring and currently the trucks all queue up in here with more loading positions they won't have to queue up the same and it's going to improve their business dramatically for this piece of it so there's uh multiple multiple reasons that this is a great project for the town and the applicant thank you a Butters just quickly just so that the board knows the applicant has submitted they did submit uh for a minor site plan uh modification and uh they were before us in I believe may I think it was May um and that's when we uh discovered the variance was expired so we have that continued out um we've continued it out to July 9th um so once the they get through this uh variance uh hearings in the application uh then they still have to kind of come back to us to finalize a Butters yes sir so I'm with K oils your name sir sorry Dan bracket with K yes sir so we're wear butter that's noted um we don't have any issues or concerns this um I know it's not necessarily pertinent to to this but we if that all possible we would like to see the old wastewater treatment plant be taken care of or removed pass that along the site plan yeah any others a question looking at the board to see if anybody rais their hand there is is there one no what's that little red thing that means they're muted okay that's the mic I can't read that from here Maryland Thea was on there they must have dropped off yeah I just have a question I'm just a little unclear because wasn't involved when you're ini but you're asking for variance for the specified site on the right that's in the golden color correct but the other golden color you mentioned that was also going to be in addition is that that is an addition it's a proposed addition to the building to um to um expand and and enhance the production operations within the building but apparently it doesn't need a height variation that part does not need a height variance oh okay so the variance you're asking for is really just for that one small part it's for that one it's for that one piece and on the plans there's you know they may they may come back for the freezer component there might be another variant or an extension of the existing um so hopefully business is good enough for everybody that they fill that uh that in in some future date we didn't change our storm water CS or anything like that so there'll be a small uh lawn area that maybe someday would become the freezer but it was uh it was value engineered because of the cost type of construction um just to have it on the record the Board of Health had a question about whether there would be any increase in odors from this addition doesn't sound like there is but no and I and I think years ago there was an odor issue when we dealt with that at the the last variance there hasn't been any yor issues so yeah when when the last variance and there was an issue it was stated well that is being corrected at this point is there any well I think it was corrected before our November well before our November uh 2022 hearing and and I youget a part I think there was a variance to to some part of that structure that that dealt with the issues okay wasn't it like like a smoke stat it was one of the stacks so that solved that problem okay I'm good the boort of Health has not received any odor complaints from NOOA in yeah ages quite a while yeah okay Mike no I I mean I supported it when it was over 70 ft I supported at 58 you know we don't have any abutters outside of the gentleman from um the oil company o ol oil company they seem supportive MH I'm comfortable BR okay so out of curiosity what is that height needed for extra height needed for just to blend in with the rest of the buildings I mean obviously you got all that I think it's to provide proper racking within the building so they can have storage of of product to go up onto the racks get the pallets off put them in all Transportation related process related right correct there's no uh process Stacks or anything like that we do we do have the architectural team I'm not an architect I didn't focus on the building I focus on the outside of the building so if I have spoken out a term I'm I I I'm asking to be corrected Dave I can answer that yes sir Doug an I'm the project manager forch so and I'm working with these guys in they're doing great so he's correct the there is no Process Equipment in here what this area is intended for is the refrigerator trucks come up they're picking up finished product which is a refrigerated tofu so they have to store you know multiple semis worth of finished product in pallets ready to be loaded on trucks so that they can get it in get the truck loaded get the truck out so it's basically and that's what we call Pig and pack it's a cold or it's not freezing it's just a cold dock with high Bays of rack storage that we store finished tofu products get it on trucks get it out get it to stopage shop and get it sold thank you okay that's it got I'm good okay so can I just ask Danny a question ahead so Danny this is a case where topography would be a good reason to Grant a variance yes yes so uh in my review uh they do meet the first uh prong of the um of the hardship okay uh for this because it does have a unique it is a unique lot and also the to the topography okay all right um all right just give me two seconds go right ahead all right so again for clarity sake I'd like to make a motion once I've made that motion when will I present the finding of facts following a vote should I do that now so um I think the best way to do it would be to go through each of the three prongs for the board just kind of goes through each of them and then um at that point you can all make the formal vote for on the actual application okay all right so I'm just going to read through these three yep okay uh how does the soil condition shape or Topography of the land or structures differ from other properties within the same zoning District I'd propose that the Topography of this lot and the building in particular being so far below grade differs it from other buildings in the the zoning District yep yes would a literal enforcement of the zoning bylaw incur a substantial hardship Financial or otherwise on the applicant according to the applicant yes and then would the granting of the variants be detrimental to the public good and substantially derogate from the zoning bylaw again i' propose no I agree okay that being said all right I make a motion to Grant a variance to Noya Foods USA LLC for the property located at one New England way air mass uh for uh to allow for the construction of a portion of the building to be at a height of 58 ft where 40 ft is allowed in the industrial zoning District second all in favor say I I thank you very gentlemen close make a motion to close a public hearing for Noya food LLC so move all in favor say I nuke next item on the agenda hey Sam yes as we're going through the three prongs the form says of the required findings must be found in the affirmative in order for the variance to be granted but number three you can't yeah number three can't be affirmative meaning like Nots it meets else to all right what the more than three prongs before on this one we talking about special permits what special permits [Music] okay okay good all right next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes for May 15th I heard some discussion earlier no oh yeah I had a couple um on page two okay the paragraph that begins variances or special permits end of the Fifth Line a special cannot be required it seems like there's there a missing word permit permit yeah yeah you got that one yeah yeah and nothing get by chess oh I'm sure there are a few and then on page three uh middle of the page um J Gino asked if the chair can stop public comment instead of is and then next line Amy qule explained that the chair can stop not and yeah that's it John got any more your turn well there was one little thing it there was an a that didn't belong here on the on the very beginning down at the bottom M the town is divided up into a zoning districts with so I thought that should be a number or just not be there at all there yeah should just be into zoning districts yep I make a motion we accept the minutes of the meeting as amended second all in favor say I hi right next item on the agenda see that way you know we've read them I put all the work in I was so board member reappointment schedule are you kidding me see I figured that out who did that I did Jesus so as it is the um you the board members are appointed by the select board this was just sort of so we could review and if you had questions CU I know I did email it out prior to um we just needed so every year at least one person needs to be up for reappointment it ended up I thought it was two a year at least one two a year is great because yeah an even number I thought it helps three year Cycles so there would have been two every year two every year but it ended up so half of you were to be reappointed this year and the other half in 26 no one was being reappointed 25 so as it is uh to correct it uh this year's reappointments which were Ron John and Maryland um have staggered terms so Ron's term is for one year he'll get re appointed next year for a three-year term these shorten terms are temporary just one time thing and then the next batch of you so it's housekeeping it's housekeeping and then the next batch in 26 we'll have the similar thing and I think that's a good thing to do because it'll get us on a regular schedule yeah we've been in a ditch for 10 years right you know cleaning up that kind of and then I will track them and I'll make sure it's it's set up so that if you do leave midterm who replaces you will just finish out your term not get a new three-year term Perfect all right speaking of terms we need to discuss chairman this next meeting right no this one they've already been appointed the technically the reappointments go into effect on the 30th of June so it's the first meeting of the fiscal year let's get it done and out of the way I don't think we can CU it's not an agenda item open discussion open discussion it that needs to be an agenda item and we you've continued to July we'll do it in the July meeting I don't know if I'll make July that's that's the only thing I was worried about that's the only thing I was worried about I just got too much airfare staring at me in the face um give us some thought I I mean whatever you want to whatever you guys want to do I mean so the only thing I would say is just because technically the terms don't start until June 30th I don't think we can until the fiscal year the New Year June 30th is Sunday yeah very cool statuto thing though yeah it's a statuto thing I mean we could wait until the August one if you want technically you can you could decide to move it out later um I've had other we can like that you can you can do if you don't make that meeting I'd post that okay fair enough I it's p moral year to make that yeah we want everybody here absolutely my calendar see about August I know go I know I know late August early September I'm back in Southeast Asia I know that sure but I don't I don't think I'll hit there until like at least the 18th or the 20th the August meeting is the 21st I'll try and push it out I can do that I'll try p and I I will say I've had other boards I know my Board of Health you know their rules do state that it should be done in July and every year they go well let's do it in September so y yeah but they only do quarterly don't they do they where the health meets twice a month do they really you do wow all right that's fine if that's that's what we want to do we'll try July yeah all right and so have it as an agenda item for July and if we're not all here then let's push it to and if I know ahead of time you're not all going to be here then I won't even put it on we'll go from that all right fair enough thank you um we already talked about the upcoming meeting that's July what's August 21st 21st so the finding of facts tonight is that an appropriate way to do that yeah that's how we should be doing all of our motions going forward yes so in the event cuzz I've been thinking about it in the event that throughout the course of public hearing we've determined we would like to vote to deny what our finding effects just state that they don't meet the three prongs and then we take a vote that's correct yeah yeah and so sometimes so some boards do it differently in the sense of um like with the planning board I will come to a meeting with a draft decision that has proposed finding of facts that I've gotten you as we've discussed throughout our meetings and they'll discuss is this correct is this correct and this correct and then vote at the end of the decision you can also do it prior to having the draft decision cuz then you're doing it and then she's just writing it up and giving it over to you guys to sign okay so we do that you do the decisions our fact findings first and then vote Yes because the finding of fact gives you the reasoning as to why you're voting yes or no it it's it's your backup your your your information for that and technically legally you need to have on the record why you're voting yes or no um because if an applicant if there's a um if someone if if you guys were to deny it but do not State the finding of facts and reasonings why you did voted um you denied it then the applicant has a strong uh strong ground to appeal that and usually when you don't have uh findings of fact or reasonings behind the denial uh usually the the courts will overturn that now because there's no substance in the in the record will they like remand it back to us or so they sometimes they will remand it back sometimes they will just overturn it and and um issue the Z the variance okay that's good to know so the last ones you guys did you did do the you listed the findings of fact first and then voted and that's what I was able to do so I don't know that was that was the Grove Street one and that's sort of how I ended up writing it okay but if anyone's all I got a couple of copies of so this is the decision that we file with the registry right you send us this already I may have missed that one but a yeah I was looking at different decisions from other communities today trying to I want to make sure we're doing this right yeah so that's yeah and and so and just remember like decisions are going to be they're going to look a little bit different just how they're set up but the core substance is usually always the same there's always a f finding a fact then there's always the the vote of you know closing the hearing the actual vote on what the um application is and then you know there's usually an explanation now all of that makes sense to me when we're in you know we're voting unanimously but say we have a split board 2 three whatever it might be when we're doing the finding of facts would it be Mr Gibbons Mr Ellis find that it's not derogating from the yes yeah so you would list out like you don't have to list out names if you don't if you don't want to you can also just list out numbers like 3 to two in the affirmative you know that way cuz there are occasions where that's going to happen so how do we address like you're going through the prong one and uh reading it do just a couple of us say okay I don't agree with that one so you have that number or yeah yeah so it would you know basically you're kind of you just Mumble away yeah well you're kind of you're opening it up once you're saying does this meet and if if everyone says yes then it's yes but if there's you know some people that don't then it's it comes down to how many are in the affirmative so you have to ask yes that's why do that at our next meeting M okay is that a um majority so variances are a no I'm talking about the the finding of facts well so the finding of facts because it's a variance it is a super majority well no but each prong majority just on each prong itself so so I that one I will confirm with with Town Council because I believe it is a super it might be a super majority but for the finding I would think let me let me just confirm on that one I'll I would think it would be only because all of the required findings must be found in the affirmative or positively and in order for a variance to pass we need a super majority so we have to have at least four of five on all three of the prongs for it to pass so okay I believe so but I'm just going to confirm with Town Council but I believe that's correct cuz it is a super majority right hm fair enough all right anything else you want to talk about yes yes yes what um are we free to uh increase the full-time members of this board what I mean are we free to increase the fulltime members of this board and bring this specifically up Maryland has been a active no we can't increase the board size why not uh state law loses you can't it's five or three and this board is a five board um five person right it's either three or five that I knew I think we can bring on yeah we can bring on another alternate yes yes we allowed another alternate if right you're probably going to get some action in October or November when I have my baby so he'll be filling it for me I can almost promise I can almost promise you'll be sitting right here a so and you're a huge help well thanks than God and to have somebody that we know we can rely on every month to show up to these things it's and I just want to recognize who found Maryland who Shanghai someone in mind marn oh yeah of course she sorry yeah so so it isn't just a matter of a local um no no all right so that that our zoning um uh procedures are based on the the Massachusetts yep thanks for the shout out no all right nothing else no okay I make a motion to adjourn second all in favor say I I thank you very much people it's been a pleasure