##VIDEO ID:Mf4owaDJ4u0## e e e e e e e e e e e e I'd like to call the we're going we're working yeah uh planning board meeting for the town of Freetown Tuesday December 17th 2024 at 6 pm. uh let the record reflect the uh members who are here and we are recording this on Zoom is anybody recording this out in the studio audience No Agenda item number one continued definitive subdivision 11 Walnut Street applicant Michael Bish show excuse me if I'm not pronouncing that correctly owner Michael and Aon Bish show representative Robert perui Mount Hope engineering Incorporated scope of work fre lot subdivision um we had the discussion at the last meeting um and there was a question GED brought up and you were going to address that if you could be so kind as state your name for the record and um Robert perzi Hope engineering oh I have some more okay Ma all right un undeliverable I guess or uncollected yeah by the time they get their third notice they're uh they're tired of going to the post office get um smaller one anybody want or good don't get yeah you can sure concern at the last meeting was the uh the amount of fill and Grading so lower the profile the road the that would be reflected on this yes using concrete block in there uh just on one side uh there were it's kind of the deepest part I can't really put concrete block before the pipe pipe crossing the existing pip yeah yeah because uh we jammed right up against the gas there no that was the only change on this these plans since okay and it's only reflected in this drawing or is it reflected uh it's in the grading as well oh I also um the roadway fo a halferty line go any further than that which property line uh the one that these folks concerned about the trip which you're not yeah that's going to be I didn't change your property line or anything like that um I just the grading the surface yeah so you're not putting like a whole another wall line what you're calling the strip yeah he just moving the road over just just the surface doesn't change any w l that's a  strip is when you have two law lines again with a narrow that opens up into a whole big thing in the back okay this is just the Rope yeah has nothing to do with the w because that's not that's the spike strip the spike strip is not allowed in in uh no I wouldn't uh wouldn't propose something like that yeah yeah okay um the the property line most of it is a stone wall and it's a a common wall uh yeah split between the two owners um so I'm just pulling a foot and a half away so that we've got a little bit of space there against the wall okay questions from the board or comments anything no Gary anything you're good with the changes that were yeah nobody anybody else so to address your comments that you made at the last meeting there is nothing about a um a setback off of your property and supposed to be a for private Ro I don't think so where is the M but I don't think that's in our zoning are you aware of anything like that no no um the road I live on townway Drive in Berkeley is right up against property L yeah yeah this is free time this is free time yeah no I didn't think there was we had anything in our our rules and your other question was on the notification and the rule is they're only required to notify not collect back the notifications um the idea there is they send it to a mailbox and somebody's in Florida for six months they're not going to hold up uh a subdivision plan and approval um by not getting that but that's I I talked to Town Council about that as well the bigger concern was that our which we took up with the postm so that that's on you to do that yeah that I that I I would be a little concerned about yeah but that's not that that's not that's out of our hands and there was nobody else in your house that would have signed for that she came to the house and admitted that she had the postal delivery person oh wow okay well that you have you'll have an issue with them I guess so honestly I have an issue with this road going a foot from my property I don't think that's fair I don't think it's right I don't think it's [Music] appropriate but that's the way it is that's he they can they have the right to develop this property so they have the right to put a road right next to my property so if I find something in either our bylaws or the state of Massachusetts bylaws that stat something differently I will bring it up to the board because I don't think this is right I don't think they should be able to put a road a foot from my prop which is all you know treat right because what happens when they put this road in and then my trees die because they've dug up the roots that's what the 10 foot setback is supposed to protect you from I do not know how to answer that question but we don't as far as I can tell in our bi laws we do not have a 10- foot Set uh setback at all um so I yeah I'd like it on record that I have a problem with this y it on record that if you know my trees die because they've dug up a road we're gonna have an issue you'd have to take that up with the homeowner well and the board here was allowing it can she just say her name and yeah sorry your name for the for the record please Christine thank you I'm also not sure what if you have any rights to that road if it goes in along the property line in terms of access through it that would have to be taken up with a land attorney private it's a private road but I don't I don't know if that would what does that mean if you would have access from that private road into your property legally but that's something you'd have to review with an attorney and it would have to go through land court or whatever I don't know okay and how did we determine that the stone wall was shared between the two properties was it surveyed allance of yes I read the the Deeds they both refer to the stone wall it's common practice that stone walls are shared between the adjacent owners yeah I have I have stone wall on my property is the same thing any other comments you'd like to make for the record we're against this that we don't feel that it's okay to do this that it was kind of shoved through and we you know unfortunately the summer we weren't able to participate in the process you know it was unfortunate about the well that failed that that was withdrawn so that's no it's just well because they basically what I heard in the last meeting was this was already approved so the new owners should go right through that's what I heard in the last meeting well I wouldn't say that I we were trying to gauge what how much differentiation was with the with the work we had done reviewing it before versus this one they put on a gas line well that they got the variance from the uh the Energy company to do that well we keep this up we're going to be just like Somerset there's going to be a house in back of a house in back of a house and we're going to have no free town they have a right to develop the property so that's they're the lots are the right size everything conforms to to the standard so it's so I'll look up the the state set acts because I'm sure it applies okay um the board have any further comments questions so I would like a motion to close the public meeting a motion a motion's been made and seconded to close the public meeting for 11 Walnut Street subdivision all those in favor signify by saying I I all those oppos nay now I need a motion to either accept or deny the subdivision make a motion to accept yeah the motion's been made and accepted and uh seconded to accept the uh subdivision of land 11 Walnut street map 211 lot 45 Freetown Massachusetts dated revised date December 13 2024 uh any other comments from the board questions all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose n abstentions um so subdivision has been approved thank you very much thank you we're gonna we're we're having staffing issues in the planning board so I'm not sure if you want to try to push this tomorrow or Thursday and get the ball rolling which one what what is there anything else further that he has to do I have commission hearing ah okay okay and yeah yeah I'm just sitting here because I don't want to yeah yeah I understand that's fine yeah yep I I perfectly welcome to sit here we don't have a big uh big agenda um okay so you still waiting for concom when's that going that no I don't think that's till the almost the end of January oh okay because they don't we they don't meet the week of Christmas oh that's right and then the January 13th meeting got pushed got canceled because of a town meeting being scheduled yeah so it's not going to be until the end of January anyways oh you're on theom right yeah so it's the end of January now I think January 27th is looking at the calendar for second fourth I didn't even consider Christmas yeah yeah all right okay thank you all right agenda item number two discussion and take action relative to the draft of the master plan so um I'm hoping you had a chance to at least peruse it and see if there's anything that you guys don't agree with or violently are opposed to um we're having a meeting tomorrow night the master plan committee I was I hop to have that before this meeting again the master plan is just a guide it's uh it's their thoughts and um suggestions Based on data that they've collected what they see in town it's it it can be useful if you're going for certain monies or grants if you don't have one you're not eligible so at some point in the new year I I'm hoping to uh have us approve this but we are running out of funding from for serid they have to get their um all their U changes and everything done by the end of the month and then they have to we have to advertise it and um have a public meeting on it and all that good stuff so um I I went through it over the weekend and sent him a few copies mostly editorial had a couple questions but does anybody have any other further comments that they either want to me to pass on to them or you're welcome to meet uh show up the meeting tomorrow that's here right yes it's here yeah it's a lot of um a lot of boiler plate to read but it's pretty in- depth what they looked up I did tell him that the picture of the Four Corners is is no longer valid now that the red house is gone I did tell him that uh so if there's anything otherwise I'll assume you guys are okay with what we have here and I'm not sure what the committee tomorrow will pick up on but I can't believe there's going to be a lot of changes um anything everybody's pretty good with it okay number three any other business to properly come before the board so I did I Hade a phone call with the town Council on Friday literally at the exact same time that the state released draft guidelines for adus literally they came out at 9:30 and that's exactly when I had my meeting with there anyway um she kind and there was a and there is a um Zoom meeting recording of it on uh of of their uh they had another meeting on Monday there is a zoom meeting recording of it online somewhere if anybody wants to um review it but uh eohc is supposed to release we're gonna have to revise our by bylaws because they obviously want are asking for a lot of things that are ver booting now like owner occupied uh certain square footage um uh parking and stuff like that a lot of these uh rules are uh are no longer uh applying and they did say that they're going to come out with a sample bylaw now it took them four months after approving this to come out with you know this this information I don't know when The Bu bylaw is the sample bylaw is going to come out um but clearly we need to come up with something for June town meeting to get otherwise uh you know could be the wild west out there um and she said they probably you probably can't apply parts of the current bylaw you're going to have to there's certain things you can we can put a we can put a we can apply short-term rental guides on adus um but we have to allow attached detached um and you have to allow a six 900 foot or 50% of the square footage of the main house by right um let's see um and they have it it's allowed in any way the way she described it she said it's allowed anywhere where you can build a single family home so that's our residential our V Village Residential our general I'm not sure about business um the buy right we can put some guidelines like I said on it like we want to limit short-term rental she says to say don't say say things like have it look like the the surrounding how have it fit into the surrounding neighborhood that's not that's not very concrete and it's hard to um you know restrict something based on that um but if if we want to add in certain things they will work with us um but the the one is by right is is by right multiple adus um are by special permit and you can add different restrictions on that um then of course you have currently existing adus they're more than the by right means they have to retain the current spe the current permit process and then somebody could come in and put a a bu right one on top in that same lot uh you've got non-conforming um you know like a house in a business dist District we we don't normally uh allow it she said we could force that one to be perhaps under a special permit so there's a whole bunch of uh there's a whole bunch of issues that really up in the air on some of this stuff I has to submit annual report on um the number of adus approved and rejected every year she says you could have site plan review but you don't have it for a standard single family home so they kind of are saying you know if you don't whatever you don't have for standard single families you know you might you want to drag down two boards to to review a 900 foot Adu the setbacks and things that you can't make anything more restrictive than what's in the zone so you can't if if it's a 10 foot setback you can't say an ad has to be 20 you can't do that s the parking space if you're less than a half a mile from a train station uh you don't have to require a parking space that's a bus line a bus route is actually con not just a bus station but the bus route itself is considered like with stops is considered like at the half a mile so kind of extends things it's there some really um see could have rules like exterior stairs may not be visible so you could do things like that I think we we may have that in our current bylaw or something but it could be an attached it could be a detached it could be a a redone garage it could be something she called hidden I can't remember what she meant by that so that's something we have on the docket for the beginning of the year um I would advise you if you can get a chance to to listen listen to that um Zoom meeting they go over a bunch of stuff but I was I'm really hoping they come out with a sample bylaw that we can have the attorney suggested we take our current bylaw and do a strike and replace but I think it's so far maybe we could get the the one that we had hoped to bring to town meeting last uh spring maybe we should take that and strike and replace on that one because that already takes some of the um restriction out yeah I don't know how many we have in town right now I don't know how many I don't I don't know if there going to be a stampede and I'm not sure what we can really do come February 2nd which is when the log is into effect they come with a proper plan by right they go right in there so think about what we'd like on that if we want we should review the one we had before and probably should uh have another joint meeting with zoning board because they're still going to be involved in this if this a special permit I'm assuming that's a good question actually whether zoning board would get the special permit would that go to the planning board guess that could be up to us any questions any comments on any of those have you heard of any talk about people wanting to put any of these in or um I'm sure you'll see some people put them in I think the biggest thing is parking you know what I mean not having at least one spot and then definitely want the enclose stairway just try to make it blend in as much as possible into a one family atmosphere it can be detached yeah either that but even just I think someone would make it E should have its own parking if it's detached if you got enough room to as long as it's not within a half a mile you only you can only require one parking spot you can't require two yeah one's fine I'm hoping a lot of these are single 900 square feet is pretty yeah small I'm hoping it's Stop and Shop you don't need any pocket spots I think that's crazy but good Lu with that every morning you you don't see anything that down there go in my hope that's just a bad design of having the team down see them danger I mean they still have to they still have to follow setbacks they still have to follow septic one of the topics come up is whether it you know separate utilities well yeah so it's for your in-laws or something do you want I don't know I don't know if that should have separate a separate billing utilities not obviously what people have to do is take one bedroom out of the house and they can make a garage into an apartment right because their septic will accept right you take one bedroom lo you put make into a d yeah no you can turn make a garage without have an upgrade your septic yeah I mean yeah nothing we can do though in stay Massachusetts the one saying we have to put in what four four bedroom septic bedom for a house for a house don't goes to like three bedroom is it a three I thought it was a four for some reason was mine was a three bedroom no I mean there was nothing about it being I actually didn't ask her but I didn't hear anything about it being on a I mean I don't know if you brought in a trailer and plunked it down does it have to be on a foundation I yeah that that goes we should look into it but I think falls under being like portable just like you can have like a difference between like a shed and a garage is one's not it's not on a slab yeah right I think that's what considers it look into see those lawed yeah what laws we have on on the books for a portable trailer like that yeah I don't I have no idea and um uh right anything else any other comments or questions find out anything about put properties up oh the I did ask her and she said it's it's us that has to you know make the effort if we want to but she said everything's different everyone's different because I mentioned there's one in town that's been 20 years old and it's but it's effectively is the planning board's B Wick yeah but she said it may not make Financial sense and she I didn't talk to her that long because I wanted to do this Adu stuff but we had to put on plan to get what tell take over well probably would have to do something we'd have to do something we'd have to look into it do our homework first well we're going to have to do that 20 years is too long to keep going like this yeah the town want that last property for the pum station I asked the other day when he was given a presentation on SE line extension and I say how can you propose this when you don't even own the property yet de says we're own it before this happens but she mentioned she said something about uh they may have paid money in in L of the Lots there may be some money on the books it's all you know it has to be investigated she goes we we' be happy to investigate if you bring us all the documentation well I have to find out if I don't know how Town Council gets paid I don't know if it's if we have a a they're on retainer and we just uh keep sending them whatever we want or is it what I mean but see how it nobody even knows anymore about the whole thing okay but yet we're still accepting usces a property to keep doing more developments when they all fall into the same category afterward no one can collect it no one could yeah the guy doesn't have to bother to finish the development because he can just say hey not worth it to me anymore it's been 20 years that one piece of proper he not going to M anything and theyy walk away and then the town stop and in that then at some point it's probably on on our on our plate that we you know after two years hey you know what right you're going to Fisher cut bait 20 years ago 20 years ago it would have been worth taking those twoie of the property because you probably would have been able to finish what you wanted to do but now 20 years later what do you do now the roads falling all apart now so now now the town needs to accept it fix the whole thing and it it's unknown how how you acquire that property it might have to go through a bunch of a whole legal thing so I don't know it's really messed up now because there is no more correct B's gone yeah there is no more I know if the entity is gone I know so so it's a it's it's probably an extreme example yeah but still they can all end up there it could yeah so it it's on us to to Really stay on top of it if they don't I mean because before when I used to call and complain the Town Administrator used to say well that's your problem because you live on that road and I'm like you mean is my problem I pay the same taxes everybody else pays I'm like like I said maybe I should just pay my taxes to Bob Mi and they're like no you can't do that well you're telling me to go to him and complain but I'm paying you the tax money it just doesn't make any sense the way the whole thing went yeah there's a long sorted history there and but it doesn't seem like anybody wants to fix it either it just keeps kicking down the road yeah I think the board's gone from that time every the town involved in it just so it's like just you know I we haven't had another development like that happened since now it's the first one in town you know we said like they Shores stuff she she all I because I said it the bus goes down there and the streets are plow and she said they don't you know usually they that's that's the poop picked up now put mailbox out there now post picks up the bus goes up and down the snow CL the trash pickup it's all there they they've done everything but except the road exactly you know and I get that I mean I think the town should just take it but it's it's something years happen well we need a member on the board to hono that that sounds like good job for you seems we'll go we'll go to that uh uh postal work who signed their oh smokes that's a that's a federal offence isn't it yeah she came and she admitted no that's that's like jail time that's bad good they lady went back like cuz that's pretty bad the you touch someone mail that's C we used to put out we had to put out things when we were working on the road for the sewer line and can put one in the mailbox you can't they came the police came to and told them we can arrue if you put flyers you got to tape you can tape it on there but you can't put it in yeah yeah all right eight um so that's that um uh anything else on on that right now so next door to business i' I'd really like to thank Nicole for all she's done for the board you've held our group together here for the past six months and uh we're going to be lost for a while without you and I wish you luck where you going do you have a I'm going to better Liv A Better Community Living to be medical coordinator nice oh where's where is that it's a New Bedford new new right where um Regal Furniture was right there um no it's down well they have multiple homes and stuff but I'll be uh working in the office um on Union Street in newford Union yeah great when did you start that beginning of the year after Christmas yeah the week of New Year's yeah all right well get ACC taking a week off too yes yeah I need it well thank you we appreciate it and we're going to miss you thank you um as I mentioned I don't know if everybody heard we are interviewing on Thursday for uh Nicole's replacement there's a few people and there's also a land use administrator um that just showed up on today's email saying uh to replace uh or to well that was the original one we were going to replace for our Victoria so and there's also still looking for Town planner so I mean uh the only other item I have is we have nothing has come in um that would require our attention on January 7th no just a continue 32 Met clar m way the continued 32 middlebar road but but the uh developer has indicated that has not sent another check in to have a second set of plans reviewed no and has indicated revised plans either and so and he said he wasn't going to be available then anyway right so so we continued it to the first meeting in February so that's what I'd have to do so I'm what I propose is that I will have a oneman show and just just have that meeting to continue that meeting until February so that we don't have to meet we don't there's nothing else that's and nothing's going to come in in the next two weeks no over Christmas you know so does that sound so I just have to figure out how to do that whether I have to be here or whether I can U do it from the comfort of my uh living room Zoom yeah but we said like jcole said we we said it was going to be continued to the police station so um yeah so I think you still have to come here open it up tell tell them it's continued again why I came here that one time yes yeah I think it's going to be similar to about yeah so you did it I did it last time we did we canceled the meeting oh okay so you just you on vation yeah I wasn't yeah you just came here all by yourself I don't even think you have to do Zoom because we can well whoever can post it as just well because you guys do vote that you do both so I'm not sure if you have to do a zoom or not you might be able to just do it as a police station meeting and then one of you come here and just for that meeting if anybody comes after us for for not doing that fine put me in jail I mean come on yeah so as long as one of you show up and say that it's going to be continued to is the agenda already out no saying we're doing zoom and all that no that's why I'm thinking yeah whoever's posting the agendas might be able to just post it as police station and then not have to worry about setting any of this up either so and they have to post it 48 hours 48 hours not including holidays or weekends so usually our Tuesday meetings I post on Thursday afternoon by Thursday afternoon I post it so that I can send out meeting packets and everything by Friday morning okay so I'll have to um coordinate somebody to do that and and I'll just show up I'll do it that's fine and we'll we won't meet then until the 7th and 14 be 21 yes and we'll see what comes in if anything comes in if the office is open if we have staff to do anything so that's why I'm going to push it at least till February 4th is so you can always come back U after your day job and time right I was already told they should do that on a couple committees I'm like H maybe maybe a little while later maybe I will and minutes are already we already talked about that the minutes are yeah are already recorded so we have we'll have whoever takes over will be able to uh get those and post them um at the very least probably we should we'll have to meet I don't know what the rule is you said something about four is it four meetings you can't be behind or something yeah and today was the fourth meeting so we're definitely behind on minutes yeah so hopefully the recording clerk that they did um appoint to these three boards will be able to catch everyone up by the January well it'll be the second meeting in January to catch you guys up yeah that's fine if not we'll do it in February I mean I don't know if I would hold meeting just to approve minutes I mean you know that's kind of that's kind I don't think you have to we used to take like U when I first got on the board we used to take like a month or two off with Kevin remember that you he was easy I think it was in the winter winter or the summer we took August office something were you on yeah I was the associate yeah yeah but I wasn't doing tun with that and I don't yeah okay uh anybody else have anything they want to bring up cool so I'll need a motion in a second to adjourn I'll make a motion second motion's been made and seconded to adjourn uh all those in favor signify by saying I I I uh 1843 is the time great all right thank you