##VIDEO ID:IS28BGUKGHE## call the Tuesday September 17 2024 meeting of the EA metal planning board to order I'm GNA um ask if there's anyone in the audience who might be recording this meeting or on Zoom uh we are being recorded by elcf but if there's anyone else please state your name and the method in which you're recording the meeting hearing none so we'll take a roll call those attendant are p hundson chair swow Russell Denver and so if you can make both those yeah if you can make both of those panelists that'd be awesome thank you and we are join and we're joined by planning board member Rob Terell via video conference so uh first order business is approval of the August 20 August 2024 Open Session minutes do I have a motion to approve don't move any discussion have a second I'll second all in favor say I I I I I abstain yeah yeah that passes three to zero Rob are you capable of reading this into okay so the first item of business under public hearings is sp-202 4-08 request for amendment of special permit sp-2 2009-11 for Frank rilla Landscaping at 329 Westwood AB sessor parcel ID 5-20 for a homebased trade uh located in the RB zoning District applicant Francesco Pilla 329 Westwood have East Mass 01028 continued from 820 2024 so this is a public hearing so it ask for a motion to open the public hearing so moved do have a second a second any discussion hearing none all in favor of opening the public hearing say I I all right so this this is a public hearing so if you wish to address the board please come up sit down sign your name and then we look to hear from you so anyone here from the petitioner yes yes okay just while you're writing your name I just want to acknowledge that the board has received a letter dated August 5th 2024 from Matthew CR at 15 lard Circle and we are taking this in into consideration and making it part of the public hearing hi hello hey you want to give us your name and address sure Antella Risha manzy and I live at 30 Allen Street Long great um I'm speaking on behalf of my parents um it is their property and I filled out the application for them um so we feel that we've made the necessary adjustments to be in compliance with the um with the permit um and we were asking for an amendment uh for the vehicles um because in the permit it states that anytime they purchase any new vehicles they need to come in front of the planning board and the town has access to all of their vehicles through the excise tax um which they pay every year so we feel like that would be sufficient that it yes any questions for the petitioner before I start so you I have one question yeah regarding the vehicle stored behind your house the back hole there no removal equipment who owns that I who's I okay so that's I got to finish J so so you're you're Frank you're relle Landscaping vehicles are parked behind your daughter's home all right I got my son and my daughter right land leave the machine I gotta finish the J finish the machine that I'm sorry put those Vehicles after I'm sorry why are why is that being a are we dealing with this so so stop know who owns we're going to ask why is that a question hold on one second hold on one second you're going to address questions to the chair we're gonna get that's fine address questions to the chair if you wish to be heard please come forward okay and feel free to ask a question I think and I won't speak for Mr punderson but one of the Amendments you wish to have is to list new apparently new vehicles and I'm sure his question relates is it those vehicles that are on that property and what about if he owns the other vehicles that are on the other property is it properly part of the special permit okay for that property and so address the board we're going to keep civility here we're not going to yell back and forth okay so do you wish to answer Mr punderson Question there it's my father's equipment okay so it's part of rilla landscaping then correct so are those vehicles in the original eight vehicle list I think they are I don't believe so so that you were allowed to have eight vehicles and now you've got 9 10 11 on his property well he can't go and store his equipment on somebody else's property it has to be inside of where his envelope is okay I'm going to bring it back that's just my question okay I have some pictures from a person that lives on Wedgewood that has to look at that all the time why they were there when they're not supposed to be there that's all so you opened your comments saying that you now are in compliance so what were you not in compliance with it had said that there wasn't enough Shrubbery that you're able to see the vehicles and you're able to see things on the property okay so so my parents planted a bunch of shrubs all along the property okay so in the letter from Mr CR dated August 5th he believes that you that he's operating the business more than the required Monday through Saturday from 7 to 8:00 p.m. he believes that there has been activity for the business on Sundays as well can you address that because I have to tell you when you come in to amend a special permit it allows this board to review absolutely everything on the original special permit we can change it we can delete it we can do whatever so so make sure that if we do something that I I I understand um so he does only work at customers homes Monday through Saturday um I mean is he not allowed to work on his own property the whole week okay I mean is is that not allowed um I would say yes it would not be allowed that would be my because it has to do with the business which is only supposed to operate six days a week and you're in a residential neighborhood the residents would like to have a day off he can't work outside on his own property make can Mo lawn all that stuff I mean that's fine but moving uh I don't know what it is but moving stuff around with a loader that their neighbor has witnessed that if that has to do with a business that's not supposed to happen on Sunday I mean does he have dates for when this has occurred excuse me stop so now I'm just Mr France's letter M or cr's letter he believes that he can see nine front end loaders 534 ton and bigger trucks one excavator two wood chippers three trailers two Sanders all regularly visiting and parked on site where is his address he is at 15 lard circle circle I mean that's what he wrote can you address it he has Shrubbery all along that's not the property the question is do you have that many uh vehicles on the property the vehicles that are on the property are what we submitted that's what's on the property right questions other questions and how many did you add up to just from this letter how many does he say there's there nine plus five nine plus five that's plus an excavator two wood chippers three trailers two Sanders how many is that 14 or 15 17 to many2 they live where they live there's no way they can see inside the backyard it and I'm gonna also ask about the space allocation of 200 square feet for outside storage are do you have piles of product you know mulch or LOM other materials there's Loom okay and how much space does that take I'm not sure okay all right anything anything else you want to add all right thank you any anyone else wish to be heard on this matter please come forward okay board members so I'm a little uncomfortable with everything that's been here I walked the outside of the property about two weeks ago I counted more than eight vehicles I walked the outside uh along the church line so probably two and a half three weeks ago uh saw more than eight vehicles um so I have some concerns about that so I would like to recommend if no one else wishes to be heard that we continue the hearing do a site visit I agree so and we also have to take into account the vehicles that are parked behind his daughter's and his son's house because they're owned by Rella Landscaping right so if if he's done done with a job there where are they going to go if if you come forward and please site your name my name is Joe lopo okay and he owns other property in Springfield where he stores those machines okay so that wasn't said during the hearing so I just want to make that clear okay he just just store it there he has other property that he can store it at as long as it's in Springfield yeah it's in Springfield if you can just write your name please and the other reason I want to continue the hearing is unfortunately Mr fansa was not able to attend this evening so he has the ability to review this meeting on elcat sign an affidavit indicating that he has watched the meeting and then he will be able to participate in the vote on the hearing so I wish to give him the opportunity to be able to do that as well so but we will when we come out and we can figure out a date with uh the planning director and the petitioner we'll go out and do it I would like to try to do it before our next meeting which is October 1st I will um be that's right you're absent okay but if you guys still want to meet anyways that's totally fine we can accommodate that I just wouldn't be able to attend a site visit between now and then I'd like to say something yeah that this isn't a vendetta against the rellas no if you're applying for change of your special permit you have to first be in compliance and you're not in compliance so we need to get you into the compliance and then discuss any any changes on your permit so if you have land in Springfield where you can put the extra Vehicles plows whatever they may be that's what should be done so there's only eight vehicles on the property within the square foot limit that you're allowed then we can discuss a change okay whatever you guys okay thank you it's just it's just that we procedurally that has to happen and we've got a letter saying you're out of compliance we've looked I've been in the parking lot and there's more V so plain and simple let's just get it cleaned up and then move forward and that's all we're asking that's all I'm ask or that's my comment okay so I've asked for a motion to continue the public hearing we'll continue it until um October 15 are you back yeah I'm back by then yes CL he's got to comply he needs to be able to have eight vehicles on the property period within the in Salter ass Salter is not on Wheels it's not a vehicle you know that's kind of uh you know what I mean yeah but you know there's the spirit of the law and there's the contents of the special permit if we go in and he's got six plows commercial plows hanging around on the property I I don't believe that's in the spirit of the special permit that's my opinion so can can you move those to Springfield yeah yeah I'm just trying to clarify don't know we don't want it to be a junkyard so um Mr he could um store stuff in garages yeah so you had plazy detached you could definitely put those in like a or shed structure yeah just not out in the open they can put them in the shed or something that's fine but when we go there we need to have eight Vehicles period yeah that are on the property and during the daytime when Sons come to work whoever comes to work at for employees they have to park in the area that was covered by the vehicle when you leave yeah wait what's that when when you're you so you show up for work at your dad's house and your brother does and your other two employees or maybe your dad's included I don't know but your vehicles are supposed to be parked where the truck that you're leaving with so we can't have our workers come to work until we pull the truck out well you can have come in but when you leave it's technically it's supposed to be parked in the same spot and you only get 200 feet of outside storage why is that that's just the way the the way the uh it's in the it's in the permit the what was the other the 200 square feet for Loom or it says the site contains 107,000 Square F feet has a total square feet of outside storage or has 200 square feet of outside storage um making the percentage of the total lot coverage for outside storage. one9 and so outside storage would be the lone The Mulch things like that yeah so you know you've heard the neighbor say they believe there's more they believe it's they believe it's very smelly and you know a planning board and when I say a planning board for me a planning board is separate from the five that will decide on this it is um prior to miss or prior to Mr punderson joining there were five different people on the planning board they made that decision back in 2009 this is a different planning board we may make a different I look at it I look at that site that site is you know to me in a residential Zone and a special permit I believe is a privilege it's not a right and when there are conditions put in the special permit I firmly believe that they should be met 2009 we told your grandfather didn't no no you weren't the chair of the planning board at the time we wrote the bylaw and we were at your place and it was fine back then okay yeah I have a one question the board so um know they do have the special permit for the um homebased trade yeah which they did meet the deadline for um I just think there's a few conditions in this permit 2009 that don't comply with what's allowed in terms of hold based trade so I think it'd be wise to do a review of those conditions and make sure we issue conditions for this amendment if the board so chooses that complies with what we have so for example the outside storage should be up to 6% and not less than 1% so I think we could definitely revisit and and get him with what we have the bylaw now for that use first we have to get in compliance then we'll discuss all that and yeah try to help out yes sir so would you make your property available for a site visit from the planning board okay so so let's try to do um yeah 5:15 on August or excuse me 5:15 on October 15th is that is that before the meeting yes yeah yeah yes I will be back on the 15th rest Rob can you do a site plan visit that location at 5:15 on October 15 yeah okay so we will meet you at that site at 5:15 you want to say something okay don't be don't be doing that no no no okay just for the because for the complain for Sunday I got a letter from from the people I don't know who they are they don't put name no name nothing I don't even letter from the from the back I don't know who they are I work I never work a after they send me that letter you look at that dat I going to show you the letter I never went back in the bed in my life and nobody going to use in the back ever I work Saturday yes no holiday and no somay Frank I I know how hard of a working guy you are I've known you a long time and we just want to get it fixed and then help you out I got on my neighborhood they love me I'm I'm there for 45 years I know I got the people they build in the back that way they did they destroy me you know that's not fair okay that's not fair let's just deal with it the way that we act the best I can oh yeah you know I work you know many hour I spend the back I know I know how how hard to work guy you are no problem I know this it is okay that's what so um do I have a motion to continue October 15 hearing to October 15th at 6m with a site plan at 5:15 the same day okay do I have a second second uh any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I thank you I thank you ready now we'll follow up with everybody regarding that site visit date and time yep Rob next one please yeah case zn-22al Amendment regarding commercial candling allowing the use in an industrial Zone by special permit continued from 820 2024 again always such a pleasure to see you I'm gonna is it okay if I have my client come up both sign in and Y so do you wan to just do a a quick recap on where we are with this sure yeah so um basically we uh discussed at the last meeting public hearing for commercial peling the applicant is proposing making it a special permit use in the industrial zoning District um the applicants attorney attorney Ferris here uh gave us some research and guidance how to draft a bylaw that could be appropriate this type of use um I did actually draft such a bylaw that would be inserted into special permit uh criteria uh I believe it's the exact section is actually on the document that should be in your packets but let me just look at it so I can give you correct information so the section I believe that we would insert this potential language into is uh few seconds so it would be three definitions into article 11 terms defined and then we would add a section called 8.16 which is under article 8 special permits um and the section would be titled commercial kening essentially um I took the research that tney Ferris gave us I also took my own knowledge I have a um partner who is a dog training professional so I I asked her for advice too I also did research and um essentially the state definition of commercial Kling isn't just limited to cats and dogs it actually expands beyond that to include animals but as you can see in the language here I talk about certain standard that you'd see in the industry and those are pretty much the bare minimum um in this type of Industry usually you'd see businesses that don't really live up to these standards and it happens pretty common I'm not saying anything negative about the African you probably know about it so um we have essentially you know standard conditions for the type of facility has to be habitable all year rounds has to be cleaned regularly has to have enclosures and then there's also more specific criteria for dogs and in particular so you know there has to be partitions between crates um there has to be play areas dogs are arranged by certain groups in terms of their size um there are a few things here that are highlighted that I figured the board want to discuss as a group uh the first of which pertains to the staff to dog ratio so under the advice of attorney Ferris he gave a metrica between I think it was one staff for every 10 to 15 dogs and I figured one to 10 would be a good jumping off point to discuss as a board uh you can amend that number to whatever you feel is appropriate um and then the play groups shall not exceed the number of dogs that is in that staff to dog ratio right seems to make the most sense that makes sense I also um created size group categories to pend on the type of dog so small dogs would be between zero and 25 pounds then you have medium dogs which are 26 to 60 then large dogs 61 above usually you don't really have a lot of people with great danes or you know St Bernards or Masti which are over 100 pounds and that larger category seemen appropriate for larger dogs and then in terms of the outdoor play areas um usually those are fenced in if it's an area that's say in somebody's backyard or if it's a commercial facility it would be an area usually with Turf they have a fence around it or it just be natural grass whatever the owner prefers but the most important thing to consider here is the height of the fence in those play group pen areas so I proposed here for small dogs a fent of at Le a fence of at least four feet would be appropriate and then for all the other groups so medium and large dogs a fence of at least six feet in height because those larger dogs can jump over a six foot fence pretty easily and so with the U four foot fence so I guess uh those are kind of the recommendations and then towards the back um I also included a um list of possible conditions the board could consider for special permit which includes hours of operation pick up and drop off times which could also be staggered frequency of animal control inspections total number of animals allowed in the facility and then sound proofing of the facility and those are things the board could decide if it wants to at a special permit at a special permit hearing yes and then on the last page um I have the use table I also included pet daycare and grooming because that's an allowed use in town by special perment I figure it' be a good comparison so so far the only District were're proposing commercial kennel to be allowed is in the industrial Zone by special permit so I don't know if there's anything that either the applicant or the board wanted to go over in detail I believe I had sent you a copy of this I I looked over it and honestly it's very thoughtful and it looks good and it's matches very similarly to what um I had researched and what I talked to my client about um I would say that the one the one thing that I think is a A major advantage is that Miss Curley has a dog daycare there already like a grooming and dog daycare so I believe her facility is already outfitted with a lot of these capabilities if not already there solidly so I just wanted to put that out there in case that wasn't mention we're not going to address a single property so when we put in a Zone it's for I understand that anybody and everybody I just want I just wanted to put that out there um and for what it's worth before and before we get too deep I just wanted to also put this out there because I just got this was I have some letters of like reference and basically essentially letters support I can hand them to you or save it for the special permit process if it gets to that yeah so I I don't mean to rough but maybe if the board want anything in particular to discuss from this document I don't know if I had read through it so let's just open the public hearing a motion to open a public hearing so moov second motion made in second all in favor say I I Rob hi thank you okay so there is there anything else you want to add not for now okay would like to if there's anyone in the audience who would like to address this issue please step forward good evening Mr Paige good evening Ralph pagee 137 P Road please sign in so I will definitely sign in for you thank you um um so the only commment I have is this is listed under commercial caling um recently at the zba meeting uh we heard about people that have uh pigs Ducks goats will all of those be allowed within the commercial kenneling along with the dogs and cats or are you going to limit commercial kenneling to dogs and cats under the bylaw so the board you could technically do that I would have no from my point of view I have no intentions of doing anything other than dogs and cats yeah it it's again and I understand what you're saying with livestock but having been at the zba meeting and it being so passionate um and definitions mean stuff we were told um every little word counts and so commercial kenneling is very Broad and if you're going to limit it to dogs and cats I would suggest that under commercial kenneling you put commercial kenneling of dogs and cats only just a thought I that's a really wonderful suggestion but I would also like to clarify so two pigs six goats 20 chickens and 26 Ducks is a farm it is not a pet so I agree with you as far as that goes but um it was repr had another citizen in town who came forward to discuss his neighbor who only had two pigs um didn't have anything else I know many people that have just a couple goats or um and again I'm assuming up until now they've had someone come in to their house and take care of them when they go or something um but because words mean stuff and we were told that about agriculture and all I think we should really narrow this down I think that's a wonderful suggestion no uh anyone else wish to be heard on this matter hearing none do I have a motion to close the public hearing so moved I have a second second any discussion hearing none uh on the motion to close the public hearing all in favor say I I anyone opposed no so we close the public hearing I so we're back to the board um I thought Mr PA's suggestion was was Is Well Done Right um so I would see if someone would make a motion to uh amend the proposal in front of us to include that I would make a a Amendment to the to the proposal to include kenneling of cats and dogs only make um I me interrupt Mr chair just for clarity sake so um I guess the recommendation that Mr pigb is to amend the definition that's proposed on the first page here so would you want to get rid of animals and change that the cats and dogs yes good suggestion okay and if we do that that would pretty much cover the rest of the bylaw um exact because that first section could pertain to cats and dogs s boing overnight of St stays of animals yeah definitely baby pigs are very cute though if you've everever seen them they're incredibly cute I just realized that the other day I went to a farm with my daughter so you went to a farm a farm it's a second okay um on the motion any further discuss hearing none all in favor say I I now on the M second give him a second okay on the main motion to forward this proposal with a recommendation from the planning board to the Town Council do I have a motion to recommend approval I'd like to say first of all that I wish there was more state regulations I would make a motion to approve it or to to move it on to move it on working on it the state is working yeah okay and a little less cloudy than it used to be we just we just had a bad experience in town I mean it really was bad I understand that sir and I do have a letter from the woman that owned that dog who's been a client of mine and in here yeah but um and and the same problem I have myself the public hearing is closed so I'm gonna have to it's okay it's okay yeah so um second so a motion made in second on the main motion to forward this to the Town Council Town Council right okay any further discussion no hearing none all in favor say I I okay thank you thank you okay thank you rob next item I sorry a delay I'm sorry I said next next item attorney Ferris attorney feris I'll keep you in the loop when we do the Town Council hearings great know the day we'll do thank you case zn-22al Amendments of subsection 4 -10.3 definitions and article X ground mounted photoal installations of the East Mo Meadow zoning bylaw continued from 820 2024 can I have a motion to open the public hearing so moved second um motion made in second to open the public hearing any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I Rob all right thank you all right so uh I was asked to look at the entirety of article 10 which is ground mounted photo voltaic installations apaa solar systems and in this case I looked at the letter from our own town attorney I uh looked at bylaws from towns I used to work in and other bylaws from the state and um I did include my uh draft recommendations for the board's consideration um so essentially I have included the entirety of article 10 which is the solar section and in blue are areas where terms would be added uh and then red are where terms would be removed so I don't know how you want me to do this Mr chair do you want me to just go through it yeah okay so if you go to the first page um under Section 450 10.2 which is applicability site plan review design standards for small scale installations there's discussion about these parking canopies and the fact they're not really addressed anywhere in this bylaw specifically so the idea is to include parking canopies within the permitting process for medium and large scale ground mounted installations which currently although they're Allowed by right require site plan review and rigorous review from the planning board and that felt most appropriate because those types of facilities aren't really done on top of people's houses or existing structures you have to create a parking canopy to put those panels on top of it and usually they go above parking spaces so they group them in with medium large large scale installations made the most sense we also added a exemption for roof mounted solar systems they're exempt from site plan or view because they're not creating um larger footprint they're going on top of an existing structure the only thing I put in here is that they have to be designed in a manner as to not create significant reflection and or glare to the street and public RightWay so if you're driving a system should not be able to reflect a light onto a motorist on the road below um um after that section D I also put in here that small scale ground mounted solar volt installations are exempt from site plan review but they have to adhere to the following design operation standards below I remove that first section utility notification because that's the topic of another zoning public hearing that's currently before Town Council I don't know if it's been opened yet Ralph is that or if that's still in the uh public hearing process okay so that one is another public hearing item but it's still reflected in this draft anyways and then uh subsection five where it says accessory use um I removed if installed in the residential district and replaced it with if installed on the same parcel as an existing residential dwelling and the reason for that is because if solar is constructed on empty parcel it's on accessor use it's a main use at that point if it's on the property of say somebody's home or another type of establishment that's when it becomes an accessory use so that's the reason for that change there if you go to the next section 10.3 which is definitions I included a definition for parking fanty and of course we could definitely work on changing this one together if you want to um what I have here is parking Cy solar V volic installation a solar vtic installation that is mounted to a parking Cy structure which is more than 1,800 square feet in footprint and covering at least 10 parking spaces so just from research that's typically the size that you'd see on the small scale of these types of structures of course the board wants to change that number we could that's just a jumping off point number yeah so next page still within definitions I made a correction there uh for roof mounted solar to delete the word structure and put in building um because these things only go on top of buildings if they're considered to be roof mounted uh whether it's commercial or residential and then zoning enforcement author uh we had discussed this in previous conversations amongst the playing board in returns of possibility of having a uh separate position for zoning enforcement official so I changed the language there slightly to allow for the billing commissioner to have a design who's charged with enforcing all zoning bylaws of town of East LA Meadow so he would still be under the offices of the billing commissioner but could still be a designate so if you go to 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 I essentially added the word and parking canopy where it says medium and large scale ground mounted and this is in terms of compliance building permits inspections fees and then site plan review approval just to make sure the language is consistent and then the next change I have you have to go down a few pages to get to it um so 10.1 where it says area dimensional and density requirements so this is is where the town attorney didn't like the fact that this language was put in this section and the reason for that is because it allows for medium and large scale solar installations within Commercial Business and residential districts to be an accessory use only and that's the way the language is read and that's the interpretation that our town attorney had as well so I figured it was wise to just remove both of that A and B sections there so it doesn't contradict the rest of the bylaw essentially if it's on the same property as an existing structure you know it would be governed as an accessory use anyways but if it's large medium or small it's still governed by those appropriate sections in terms of the permitting path so that language is very limiting and kind goes against uh 4A Section 3 which is items that zoning cannot regulate essentially the town cannot overly and restrictively regulate solar in this case that one yeah so that's why I took out this two sections as a suggestion um subsequent sections after that I uh put in parking canopy again but in terms of heights under 10.11 towards the bottom it says here for all other ground mounted solar installations the height will be limited to 25 feet I thought it'd be appropriate to Shore that number to 20 feet because 25 seem too high again that's open to interpretation and up to discussion of the board and then uh I'm jumping past these sections to go towards the end uh I think that's it Mr chair that's all the changes I had put into that section of the bylaw of course I'm happy to answer any questions or concerns the board or the public may have um I figure those were you know the bare minimum that this bylaw needed to get it into compliance with state law and to um not contradict itself and the town attorney has reviewed all those he reviewed the suggestions I did everything else is very minor but if you want me to have the town attorney review again I could it's up to you sure he will review it yes before Town Council it so I'll probably send it to him and he'll uh suggest his comments but the biggest thing was as I mentioned uh the accessory use factor for medium and large scale solar he he was definitely very against having that in the bylaw still the public to come forward any questions from the board thank you you did a very thorough job thank you so is there any individual wish to be heard on this matter please step forward I didn't Ralph page 137 P Road um I didn't have the option or the Liberty to go online and actually read the the definition for the um carport basically um but I'm just curious if that would um end up going against our building definition um any structure having a roof supported by columns housing or enclosure of any individual animal Process Equipment so I read that as the building could actually mean an actual carb port or um one of those structures and I'm just wondering if the two of them will be separate or will they um will one the rule the other because they both seem to describe the same thing I know for building it has to be four walls and a roof but structure doesn't have to be four walls I believe that's from the building code but we can verify that too if we want further clarification and if that's the case then we should change the definition because any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter housing or enclosure of any individual animal Process Equipment Goods um Awning or similar covering um it's definitely a good way to eliminate any contradictions we have in the B I mean it's up to the board if you guys feel like it's appropriate to change that we definitely could I guess it's just for my sake it would be good to have guidance into what direction we should take it in clarify probably clarify that yep so do you want me to look at the State Building Code and maybe see if we can mimic that definition sure sure okay well you have the floor Mr Paige anything else you want to add Mr Paige I'm just I'm trying to read this um so I know you said um you would set it up basically for medium and large scale because you didn't feel as though parking canopies were really set up for a small scale no and because um the parking C be also they're pretty large just from ones I've seen and looked up they they take up at least 10 to 15 parking spaces and they're pretty tall so the one at the reminder is probably the smallest that we have and how many spaces are under it that might be at the most 20 I don't even think it's f it was just enough because they had a certain square footage that they could do for solar they maxed out the roof and so they built that yeah but like I said that was that was my main concern thank you thanks thanks so if there's anyone else any audience wish should be heard on this matter hearing none but why don't we um make a motion to continue this public hearing until our planning director can come up with that language 15th of October should work okay do have a motion to continue this till October 15th so moved second motion made in second any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I Rob hi thank you hi okay old business zoning discussion uh three items property upkeep and appearance accessory dwelling units and drone by law Rob all righty um so I believe I actually have the update language uh in regards to the property upkeep maintenance should be in your packets it's one of the last items that you should have right before the director's report Y and um yeah I mean last time we didn't really have a full panel of board members here I remember we discussed Russell but um I think it was actually Pete who brought this up uh to amend the off street parking requirement in regards to DPW standards and specifications so I did do some research on that the DPW only inspects parking areas over 1,000 square fet and they also don't really have any standards for parking areas of certain size that's below that um and they're also very strict with the construction of roadways and sidewalks so I just felt it was appropriate to delete that and to have the off street parking section read as such so parking on improved surfaces all vehicles parked within the town of East Long Meadow shall be parked on a uh surface including but not limited to binous Asphalt concrete Ming papers oil and stone gravel trap rock or other similar materials no vehicle shall be parked on grass and dirt unless connected to an on-site egg operation law MERS are exempt from this requirement momes included if you want so you want motor homes included in that definition is that not a vehicle Rec ational vehicle so there's a definition of recreational vehicle can read that out sure I can read that so um the recreation vehicle definition that we're proposing in article three is recreational vehicles or trailers for the purpose of carrying Recreational Equipment may be kept or stored on any lot where the principal use of said lot is residential in nature any such recreational vehicle or shailer shall be kept in the lot sorry in the side or rear yard and or at least to the rear of the saback line of the primary building recreational vehicles and trailers shall be screened from view from the public R of way Andor garage at all times no recreational vehicles and trailers shall be stored in the front yard setback unless screen from view from the public right of way recreational vehicles shall not be used for living quarters so I don't think it includes mobile motor homes or mobile homes well they're all called RVs yeah it's true yeah that's what they are yeah well there's a Class A a Class B whatever RPS so I know there's a I believe we have a reg regulation for a temporary shed or trailer if you're reconstructing your house I don't think that's more than 30 days but other than that I don't really see anywhere else in the bottle where it talks about sheds or sorry not sheds um mobile homes or any of the such or trailers so how would you want me to fit that in here do you think it's something that should be include in the definition of recreational vehicle or do you think it's something else that we should add well they are called they are but you know I it's a Class A like I got a big Diesel Pusher it's an RV I definitely think it's wise that there's any you know confusions that rise up or or vagueness it's always best to just address it in the bylaw just so we avoid issues so it sounds like you guys want me to put um I guess mobile home could be not mobile motor home motor home okay a Rec vehicle trailer Sumer Sumer you drive and some you tow yeah but if you put motor home in there it clears the clarification as to whether or not an RV RV or Winnebago could be included in that category well motor home has a motor in it yeah and RV could have trailer hitch on it yeah yeah but RV covers both of them you could put RV including motor homes which would cover it yeah I mean we could just put that in that definition somewhere and say includes motor home but okay I can do that and uh yeah Mr chair I leave it up to the board to find anything they want to discuss in this or I want to ask the gentlemen this is the second time you've come here to watch us and you said that you were here for an item that got postponed you guys handled everything on the issue oh not CR oh okay all right okay all right yeah yeah okay just want to make sure everything's reasonable okay all right I'm Insurance the all right that was a well-written letter too yes it really was I had there was it wasn't just when you when you read it you could picture what's going on fair enough yeah just uh just curious are you Eric Madison's son-in-law I am a son oh God bless you I love Eric you're gonna bless him I I love Eric I love Eric okay all right all right uh next item would be um oh yeah Russell um I don't know if the plan board wants recommend anything for me to do with this do you guys want this to be a upcoming memo I sent to Town Council vehicle definition on the back has the camper campers are different from campers camping trailers and self-propelled motor homes okay oh okay it's in there including but not limited to travel trailers truck campers and camping trailers self-propelled motor hom C okay we got a covered yes I'm ready to then why are there two different so this is terms defined and then okay so basically that uh article 11 term is just Define what it is and then I believe the article three where it says recreational vehicles or trailers for purpose caring oh it's just it's just saying where it can be exactly it's just regulate where it's allowed that's fine yeah yeah so I guess we'd like to schedule a public hearing on this so the the 15th so the appropriate motion would be to uh recommend to Town Council for their consideration of yes Reon it back to you guys okay for public he I just think it's a people that have those vehicles that are parked in the driveways realize that it's not going to happen they're going to have to put gravel in on the side of their home has to be behind the front of the home or behind it or a garage or whatever because there's a lot of them that are just sitting in driveways it requires aggressive enforcement of the Town zoning right and until we have that we will continue to lose whole streets and when I say lose I mean one person will violate the zoning ordinance and then their neighbor will do it and then a neighbor Three Doors Down will do it and so forth and then you end up losing that street and you lose neighborhoods and what do I mean by lose I mean those properties ending up being devalued so as you can tell I'm sowhat passionate about this so the touch just a touch okay accessory dwelling units just taking one note down Mr chair my apologies I will let you know I did uh I received a call from the planning board chair in wilham about what East Long Meadow was going to be doing regarding accessory dwelling units um I said that we had not yet addressed it we would be addressing it this evening um his comments were he felt it was poorly drafted by the legislature and the governor cause havoc in WAM and uh would like to just have me keep him a breast of what our discussions are to do moving forward so thank you for the update Mr chair it's good to know that um and you know there is some good news and some scary things about this legislation so I'll just go through it I have a brief slideshow I'm gonna great screen share real quick this up all right you should be able to see my screen let me go into slideshow mode perfect so today we're talking about accessory dwell units known as Adu use it's kind of small but I'll do my best to read that text here that's my apologies um so the affordable homes Act was signed to law by Governor Healey on August 6th of 2024 it's considered to be historic legislation and authorized 5.16 billion doll in spending over the next five years the affordable homes Act is proposing 50 policy initiatives to counter Rising housing costs one of which includes making adus Allowed by right Statewide um the affordable homes act proposes changes to Mass General Law chapter 48 which is the zon act sections 1A definitions and section three subjects which zoning may not regulate same section where solar falls into so I'll read the whole definition so don't worry about splitting too hard on that one but um this new definition of ad was pulled from section 7 of the act itself section 7 went into effect as soon as the legislation was signed into law on August uh believe it's 6 of 2024 so the N state definition is as follows accessory dwelling Unit A self-contained housing unit inclusive of sleeping cooking and sanitary facilities on the same lot at a principal dwelling subject to otherwise applicable dimensional and parking requirements that one maintains a separate entrance either directly from the outside or through an entry hall or Corridor shared with the principal dwelling sufficient to meet the requirements of the State Building code for safe egress two is not larger in Gross floor area than one half the gross floor area of the principal dwelling or 900 square feet whichever is smaller and just to clarify gross floor area includes the square footage of each floor of a building combined um three is subject to additional restrictions as may be imposed by municipality including but not limited to additional size restrictions and restrictions or prohibitions on short-term rental as defined in section one of chapter 64g provide however that no municipality shall unreasonably restrict the creation or rental of an accessory dwelling unit that is not a short-term rental in other words you cannot prohibit the rental of these acccessory dwelling units so this definition will have to be incorporated into section 11.2 of the East M Zan bylaw in the near future uh most likely when the Adu bylaw is is adopted by the uh Town Council so uh what is allowed versus not allowed so the section that pertains to the rules and regulations for adus is section eight of the affordable homes act and it essentially tells municipalities what they can and cannot do with adus so this act sorry section eight of the ACT does not go into effect until February 2nd of 2025 so they intentionally gave municipalities 180 day a tolling period to kind of get their own regulations in order before the law goes into effect so just a list of things that are not allowed from the municipal side of of what you can regulate so the municipality cannot require discretionary approvals special permits essentially or other restrictive measures are no longer allowed for the construction of one single Adu in a single family residential zoning District so you would only see it in the ra or raaa RB RC uh you would not see in any of the commercial or industrial zones so it's only limited to just those residential districts municipalities are not allowed to prohibit the rental of adus as I mentioned on the last slide owner occupancy can no longer be required for both the Adu and principal structure itself so in technicality both could be rented out if they wanted to and it's spelled out pretty clearly in the language so we can't really scir around that one too much and you know just for a lot of these it I'm definitely going to talk to Town Council about this as I'm drafting this bylaw just to get his opinion and see what he thinks as well um just to make sure we have something that's Ironclad and doesn't really have any problematic issues for the town moving forward and then the last item that's not technically allowed um so we can't prohibit and the language is kind of vague on this essentially they give people an Avenue to construct more than one ad on the property via special permit so obviously as you know special permits can be denied if the board feels it's detrimental to the community goes against the criteria of article 8 of our bylaw so in this case it doesn't say whether or not we can just limit adus to only one it gives people an Avenue to pursue a second one if they want it to but only through special permit so that's kind of the gray area that we're that's discretion area at that point in time very discretionary but it's also confusing because it doesn't tell us it it makes it sound like we have to allow that special Perman Avenue but again I think more clarification on that specific aspect is going to be needed in the near future what would they have to conform to in the special permit is what you have to have in writing yep otherwise just discretionary on the board's part and they have to make all the findings under article eight of our bylaw and if any of those findings are not meant that gives the board grounds to deny a permit or deny a special per I would say um so here's what is allowed on behalf of the in terms of what we can enforce so the town can still enforce the requirements under Title Five septic systems for location placement and size of these accessory dwelling units um municipalities can also Place site plan review requirements on adus if they so choose to so for every single Adu that comes into town of East Lomo if the council and board and the public feel that site plan review is appropriate for all of them they could absolutely do that it doesn't say otherwise in the language of the legisl accessory D units can still be required to abide by dimensional setbacks bulk and height of structure so you can limit the size you limit how far it's placed from property lines where it's placed Etc in most cases towns usually have treated them as accessory structures quote unquote however you know the board can create a separate chart of measurements for just adus if it wanted to then last but not least municipalities can prohibit the use of adus as short term rentals so your a airbnbs your verbos Etc govern under 64g so here are my early recommendations to the board uh this is what planning is going to do so we're going to get started on a draft bylaw an early draft bylaw um to be reviewed over the next few planning board meetings so I'm able to attend them um before a public hearing is scheduled it's wise to have legal counsil review the bylaw since it's a big zoning amendment to our own bylaw we're essentially creating a new bylaw that we want to make sure legal council is comfortable with us approving we're being forced into being forced into it but also it would be wise to have them weigh in on it make sure we're allowed to do what we're doing the goal would be to have a public hearing before the planing board and the Town Council around December at the latest just so we can meet that February deadline um also keep in mind that any zoning bylaw revision from the date of the first publication advertising a zoning bylaw amendment in technicality that bylaw is considered effective at the date of the first legal advertisement that goes in the paper so even if it was later than that just by some coincidence that's not our plan but if say for some reason we had a public Hearing in January and it's going to go beyond February technically whatever we have drafted that's the that's the law land at the moment are there any penalties associated with the legislation in regards to the town complying or not so none that's spelled out that I noticed um but usually it's something where if a town has a bylaw that goes against what's allowed in a state law somebody could appeal it and the town would lose but someone would have to appeal it yes and nine times out of 10 the town will lose if it's something that's very blatant and obvious contradicting state law I've seen it happen with solar and other towns um I've happened here yeah so you know how serious the courts take these things on zoning matters so that's why um I think it's wise for us to have a bylaw in place well before February 2nd but also I understand that we don't want to seem like we're rushing it even though we're kind of forced to rush it um we want to make sure it's a bylaw that everybody's comfortable with that complies with state law and you know regulates these in an appropriate manner that the board sees fit and um yeah mean does anybody have any questions for me we're being shoved into a little tiny area that's sure it's not that much that you can site on site plan review yes other than that they've got it pretty much down as to what we can and can't do already but the amount of criteria that people have to meet with site plan review is already pretty elaborative so we require site plans done by a professional um they have to abide by all these design standards we can also make a requirement that they have to give us building plans or if it's a manufactured uh Adu they have to give us the catalog sheet that shows what it's going to look like design features Etc I mean site plan review allows for us to be restrictive reasonably with how they design and site these things we just can't deny it that's that's the biggest uh Factor there so so where I live I live at the corner of Frankin and Lester Street a very I have a I mean a good side side J side lot I could essentially put one of those in my side Lot the people across the street from me on ler Street could put one in there yeah they got a they got room they got room there and all of a sudden you've got all these little houses where people had property and I do think people will be engaged to essentially because you no longer it sounds like you don't need to have a formal building lot to put one of those on is that correct uh because my side is my side does not have enough lot or lot area or the one across the street does not have enough uh lot area has to comply to setback on yeah but set no but I mean you have to have a certain area right lot size the one my side yard is not a proper lot size but you could put one of these little houses on it and still have enough setback so you would need a special permit from the planning board to build a structure on a nonconforming lot um okay and also in that case you know the lot has to be buildable already to have the Buy Right Use Factor come come into compliance here okay so if the sounds better if it's 20,000 square feet and you live in the ra that's grounds to build anything on the property whether it be a single family home or an accessory delling unit they just have to comply with setbacks right and I guess we as a board and eventually Town Council have to decide what those appropriate setbacks are for the placement of these things I do want to say there is one advantage to having these accessory dwelling units it it does provide those who are older who want to downsize a little bit so say you know you have Grandma Grandpa who want to live in the smaller unit that they build themselves a year yeah and they want their grandkids and their kids live with them in the main house you know or they rent out the main house just so they have some sort of supplemental income because a lot of these people live on fixed incomes already I think one of the scary things is picture tiny houses everywhere yeah but they can manufacture tiny house I know they're cool but that's not what we're about I understand I think and you increase the density of a neighborhood by adding if you add five if you've got a a street with 20 25 houses and you add five of these you've just increased density of that street and you've added you know more traffic you know so forth and so on but nothing you can do about point and it seems like you're making two families and some of these don't even have to be detached they could be attached to the building as an addition they could yeah so I mean we have some flexibility in terms of what we can do unfortunately we can't prohibit any of the three ways they're constructed you can regulate each one differently if you want to but at the same time we have to allow for all three of those types to exist and those are detached a attached so it's an addition to the house or what's called contained which means it's a unit within the building itself it has a its own entrance inside so that's those are the three types that are allowed under the legislation and are we're typically seen throughout the state yeah okay so I got eight rooms upstairs I can rent out but you need need s review or building permit all right nightmare thank you yeah no problem good job next item gron Hey Russ yes Hey Russ yeah oh sorry I I gotta hop I got I hope it's okay if I jump okay got try to make a flight thank you good luck okay thank you I will do some early language on that so we can look at it later meeting for drones I did include the Poo drone regulations into the packet believe it's also towards the end um and we could take a quick look at this just to give me an idea of what the board would like to see Dawn in this town so the way they do it is that they require licensing from the FAA which if you want to be a commercial drone operator you do need what's called a uaf um I forgot the term I think it's like unmanned aircraft or something like that um and you have to pass an exam it's pretty rigorous uh you have to get a license and then you can operate a drone anywhere that's not on your property with this license of course is that every drone uh drones of a certain size I think it's like five pounds or more it's a drone that if it falls in somebody's head it won't you know kill them so that's why they regulate so strictly on size um you also t typically under federal law can't fly a drone over somebody's house if there's people inside without first asking permission of the person who lives in that house that's that's an actual that's an actual thing I I know I know because they treat US aircraft okay and it can't go above a certain height because if it does it goes into the federal airspace so I mean it makes sense but window beautiful I don't know if you guys had a chance to review this hoolio law from seent ordinance regarding unman aircraft systems otherwise known as drones but I did take a brief look at it it looks like they were pretty strict in certain areas um they're basically saying that you can't just have it Fly by people's properties um they limited to add or below 400 feet which you know technically could go higher than that but I see why they did it because they're holy o um and yeah I don't know if you guys had any questions or anything you want to bring up to discuss I know Cassie you had proposed looking into this so if there's anything you want to talk about or do you want a chance to review it and no I did I did read it okay I mean the biggest thing is like the not flying other people's homes I know they're not supposed to but that is literally occurring so yeah so there are state and federal regulations on drones obviously then it's mostly Federal the state doesn't really have their own it's under uh United States code like 300 something I don't know it's the FAA regulations Federal Aviation Association are they supposed to be registered or something yeah they are so they're supposed to be licensed and the drones supposed to be registered if they're five pounds or more what about the ones under them so technically those don't have to be registered and so does this cover the smaller drones too it could in terms of flying them past people's windows and on private property I think it should cover everything what a mess how am I supposed to know if that weighs under five pounds Fair Point yeah I mean we definitely could consider adding NS we could be more restrictive just not less restrictive so we should include all drones I think so because I think like drones are some of them are this big some of them are so tiny yeah yeah but when you're looking at it like you know somebody flies their own drone onto your property that's technically a trespassing issue so that's why it's easier for us to say you can't do that in a zoning bylaw I all drones not 5 pounds or over all yeah because most people have the little on the tiny ones you could just go and buy that at the store for 15 bucks and somebody can fly it past your window and look into your window with a camera so yeah no we could definitely do that just for the sake of zoning um in regards to the fa rules and Rags usually they treat something more than five pounds to be something that has to be licensed um or registered with them I should say well I would say regardless of its registration statewise or federally we should still say all drones so do you guys want me to take this bylaw here and kind of use it as guidance in drafting something your red and blue stuff on it do you guys like the red and blue I like it you like it is it helpful cool I'll do that next time for this one too all right director's report just what you have here sure I guess question is there any way at all we can just tell people know I mean we it says applicant is requesting to amend an existing special permit to reflect a change in the restaurant tendency which they've already done yep so they've done it and now they're asking kind of retroactively that we amend their special permit that's up to you as the board um our bylaw when it comes to transfer special permits usually it's governed by transfer of ownership that's what the language said this case the same owner different tenant um different restaurant but they're asking for outdoor dining to be allowed yes so my question there is are we still under the state mandate with respect to outdoor dining no that ended like an eight so you guys can you guys have the choice of whether or not you want to approve or deny the outdoor dining requests but I do recommend that to make something not appealable you have to attribute it to one of the special per criteria that's under our bylaw so there have been so this came before this board a couple of well wait no let me just go back so how so let's say villain napalitano so it's in that immediate neighborhood I believe they still have outdoor dining they've never come through this planning board for outdoor dining so believe we tried reach out some so how this huh Villa doesn't have it they don't use their outside dining at all but they did during covid they had an outdoor dining area started and they found out no one wanted to be outside okay they stopped using it well in somebody's backyard basically too at that point yeah yeah yeah you know din so who has out so Center Square Grill has outdoor dining yep who else in town has it um approv the East Village one notos dardos than ardos does and uh the one right in the center of town the East Village East Village Grill yeah yeah we just gave it to them yeah I think um these guys also had out there dining illegally and shurn coffee also had it legally too because they were taking out parking spaces there so the reason why these came up is that you know uh PE they were doing it without coming to the town first um and you know liquor license was a transfer for his business I at the time it has since been transferred um and business licenses you know that's kind of what flagged planning into it was that you know businesses change they didn't do the change of DBA with the town clerk so Town Clerk and our office were kind of working on this for the past three months trying to get these guys to come in and do the amendment to the special permit so Russ as you mentioned yes it does open to review of the entire permit once the public hearing is open for it um but yeah I mean those two things seem to be the m ma changes they're trying to do just the change of business same owner and then outdoor dining so it's specifically prohibits it too in that existing permit so yeah because they sit right on a neighborhood so yeah yeah okay anything else uh just the meeting dates are on that list there um and Rebecca will be covering for you on October 1st yeah um it'll be a ministrative meeting so we really have much to discuss um I could also um have items the board can review it's up to you guys I mean we could if there's no formal public hearing there's no required action by the board we could not we could post not have a meeting October 1st up to you guys I haven't received anything so we do have a public hearing schedule for the 15th but that's about it so get anything well if nothing comes up I would be all for staying home yeah so if you don't receive anything by uh next Tuesday everybody agree with that yeah yes okay have a motion to adjourn we move second all in favor say I I thank you