3.13.2024 Planning Board

I want to thank everybody for uh for coming to the uh March 13th 2024 meeting of the for River planning board pursu to the open meeting by law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any media attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are

deemed acknowledged and permissible the city Charter section 9 through 18 mandates that all public all Municipal bodies develop and adopt rules or policy for public comment we have adopted such a policy which in short provides for citizen input on planning board specific matters at the end of the meeting there's a signup sheet that is located in the back of the room uh with us we have uh Nina Kruger

the uh administrative clerk Chris pereno assistant planner Craig Salvador with forer government TV uh Dan agar city engineer and we'll do a rooll call Gloria Pico present Beth Andre present Mario luciola present Mike FAS present and I John Ferrera and present as well under new business first item Road reconstruction Leed Street section 66 through 185 city ordinance considering the roadway reconstruction

plan and profile of L Street Extension Danny um so what we have before you here is a an existing public way 40t in width that has a portion of the of the roadway that has improvements in it did not extend to two additional lots that are at the easterly end of LED Street which comes off of Norwood Street it's over in the talbet Middle School neighborhood so the applicant is currently before us for site plan review

with dealing with the construction of the two homes which are on either side of Ledge Street and as part of that petition we explained to him that he would need to come to this board for a roadway reconstruction and extension of Ledge Street so that is what's there before you uh today in that application there were a few waivers of the construction standards that were requested by the applicant and you'll

see that I have uh given you a letter fairly detailed and and basically what's in that letter I don't think you need to get through every section of it um it's some items that need to be addressed and and shown on the plan they're all items that I think have been items that have been raised or discussed during site plan review so basically once site plan review is completed anything that's shown on those

plans needs to be incorporated on the final plan for you A lot of it has to do with sewer installation water installation everything else so what what the board really needs to look at tonight and act on are the three waivers that will requested and if you look on the second page of the letter that I submitted to you um I'll just Refirm it the applicant has requested three waivers from the planning board Mo and

regulations governing roadway construction standards and listed below uh section 6.200 table one wave the required 26 foot wide pavement width for a minor Street allowing a minimum pavement width of 20 ft 6205 sidewalks wave the requirements for the construction of sidewalks and 6.20 to curbing wave the requirement for Cape Cod uh for curbing capee Cod burm for curbing the engineering and planning department

offers the following with regards to the requested waivers a minimum pavement width of 20 ft shall be provided throughout LED Street and shall be shown on the revised plans there is no requirement for sidewalks in a minor Street unless the opinion of the planning board they are necessary for safe pedestrian travel travel it is our recommendation that sidewalks are not required submitted waiver request list a

waiver for curbing entirely however Cape Cod burm is shown through a portion of L stre on the submitted plans it is our recommendation that Cape Cod burn be required as indicated on the plan and that the detail referenced uh be added to the plan so in the typical roadway cross-section it does label out uh pum Cap Cod burm C detail but I did not see that specific detail so just to add that

detail on there so so what we have is basically extending and you'll see there are some photographs that that I put in your package that bring you progressively down Ledge Street for approximately 100 maybe 150 fetish or so um there is some traveled way that needed to be extended a certain number of feet to get you past the property boundary line of the two lots in question so we normally

require a construction of about 30 ft of Street in front of your lot to provide access so that requirement has been met um so I I think what what the board should look at after listening to the uh the statements of the of the different boards uh sorry different abutters um that you make a recommendation with regards to the waivers also in relation to the um the typical cross-section there were a

couple of Dimensions I think that that are a little bit off but in from what I read the minimum width of the traveled way would be 20 ft and then one foot of burm on either side so that typical cross-section will get cleaned up correctly based upon that waiver if the board does Grant it so I think the best thing to do now is let the applicant give you a a presentation and then

listen to whatever any of the abers have to say about the project please uh state your name and address for the record uh good evening my name is Peter Lavo boy I work with LM site design and we're out of TT and mass um so I'm here tonight representing Brad CRA who's in the back is in the back uh of the audience um so like Dan had mentioned um there's an existing

Street uh lead Street which runs basically 150 ft long and it has pavement uh roughly 24 ft wide uh down that area but it's it's patchy as you if you looked at photos you can see that um so what we're proposing is we're proposing roughly uh 39 lineal feet of extension of the road which would be 20 ft wide and then one foot burm and the reason why I uh propose the one foot

burm was basically if you go out there in a storm event all the water runs down the street and that the burm at the end will kind of channel the water into the little settling Pond uh that I'm prop closing at the end and then kind of fill up and then like a little level spreader to go out cuz right now that water runs down lad Street and just goes right into

the woods with no treatment uh there's in it you know no mitigation no treatment at all so I feel that um the little settling pond at the end will collect it uh and then kind of mitigate uh that run off uh uh like Dan had mentioned we are proposing uh for the two house Lots at the end of the road we're proposing uh a 2-in force main uh to go up the street to Norwood

Street and then we're also proposing uh a 2-in water line that will service um the two new lots and we're going to provide an additional stub for 93 uh Norwood Street um that would be the only uh water service that comes off of LED Street um there is an existing gas service that comes down to I think 93 Norwood um most likely the two new Lots will also have uh a new for gas um but

that's basically it so we're here just for the extension of that road and then I guess also kind of um the you know the uh the construction of that little settling Pond to treat the runoff that flows down that street um and then the requ the three required wav is that we requested it's basically so we're boning the existing Water Service to 93 I think that was the the recommendation of the

engineering department putting putting in a new a new stub off Fe and feeding that one yes yep okay Mr chairman if I can add so one of the comments that we had um is requesting that because when you look at the pictures it it's not clear specifically on the plan where the edge of pavement Falls where some concrete aprons are where some Crush Stone areas are what what size patch needs to be cut

out for the waterline utility sewer I think was going to be out installed outside the paved surface in the the shoulders so that'll save some work so in order to determine what pavement we know what pavement needs to be added to the end but looking at what pavement needs to be restored we kind of need to know where are the limits now of asphalt specifically because the gas company

just went in and put approximately a 9 foot pat down the sly end of the street so of course we don't want to touch that so if we're going to be putting a water line in outside of that patch and we want to clean up the Northerly side it may make sense depending upon how wide we're not going to run a 4ot patch of water line right leaving four feet on

either side of it after they just did the gas once we get to see on the plan where pavement is new pavement concrete driveways pavement on the North side a little bit more clear then we can determine what will be the the the requirements for getting you back out to Norwood Street um we know it's at least going to be the water patch which is probably going to be at least four to

six feet wide y u so once we get those lines marked on a plan uh I think we'll be able to determine where the limits of that that go however that can be you know condition approved conditionally upon site plan review being satisfied with it but as far as the waivers go I I see no issue with with the board acting one way or the other with the waivers tonight all of the other items are

really utility related uh the drainage system proposed um I think you'll see has been uh has been accepted the individual Lots themselves and I'm sure this is going to be a concern of some of the abutters they're all required to have their own storm water mitigation uh design but that's not before you tonight so the Lots get velop separately from what you're looking at what you're

seeing tonight is the roadway extension the utilities in the roadway and the drainage at the end of the road what I'll offer again before we have any AB buts give up um any comment currently now the majority of the storm water on this site and the land to the east runs easterly and southerly the construction of the road the drainage system the Swale the houses and the drainage systems and the grading required for

those actually eliminate storm water from being directed southernly and would hand more directly easterly into the the large wooded area associated with tala middle school so um I'm sure that'll be some of the concern but I at least want to give you that information prior to uh having to respond to it later all right that's all that I have any of the board members have any questions before we go

to the uh yeah I just have a couple of questions and Dan or yourself can answer them I'm assuming this this is just a deadend water um and it's not a loop system it's just going to be pushed down to these two homes and that's correct so these the water lines the water lines shown here it's it's basically water it's a water service okay and the sizing and the layout of it was directed by the

Department of Community utilities okay um which handles water sewer and storm water and you correct I know this area the the actual Road itself on Norwood you actually have sidewalks but you have kind of a and it's shown in one of your photos here maybe it's a Hos POS I don't know how it came about but it looks like there's some concrete of a sidewalk in front of the first property um and you

can see it on Google Map as well and then it's kind of broken up with the asphalt and such not so uh again I'm not sure if that's it's on the uh yeah you know it yeah cuz what happens when you come in on the first on the right hand side there's actually a little crushed St area then there's a concrete apron and then it goes to some pavement then another concrete apron so seeing where those

lines fall on this plan I think we will will definitely help but as far as the sidewalks go specifically in the sections of yeah of of the planning board rules and regulations 6202 um it clearly states that sidewalks are not required on minor streets unless the board determines that for pedestrian access um it is required yeah I'm just asking if this is servicing as a sidewalk on here and is it for this

particular residence and then the second doesn't seem like the garage and a little further down uh on the I believe it's the West Side um whether that needs sidewalk or access to it but uh again I I just think it needs to be considered um you know Define what it is if it is and we have it there right now then uh it needs to remain but if not then um again I

understand sidewalks are not required on that but if there's already an existing one so it's kind of your judgment call whether you can you constitute that as a sidewalk or not um and uh but basically that's those are my two comments to that the loop the water system oh and the last one I had a third one here I'm sorry is just the location of Fire hydr um bi hydrant location in and around

these new facilities uh I'm assuming it's somewhere on Norwood Norwood Street correct it is okay Y and that's within the distance um s uh distance requirements to be able to service a potential fire in a future y one question I had and this was you know and I went out there three times but I didn't look but then when I looked on street view um when you as soon as you turn down leg

the the house on your right it actually shows a hydrant there I'm assuming that's decorative for I don't think that's very dangerous very dangerous cuz when the when the fire department pulls up and and they're assuming they can attach to a hydrant and play around for an hour trying to get nozzles attached and everything else and find out hey you know what this is a planter not a

hydrant so okay very very very dangerous situation to have a hydrant sitting somewhere on the edge of a street that's not live yeah but again I think it's on private property I don't think it's within yeah no I don't think okay no yeah so if you even if you show that might might help okay I can do that yeah I'll that Mike yeah anyone else any other questions all right uh anybody from the

audience any of the abuts have any uh comments or concerns that they'd like to anything that they might not have heard uh this gentleman uh clarify ordan the city engineer Mr chairman I would before anybody speaks this is for the roadway reconstruction has nothing to do with the construction of single family homes that's not before this board just want to make sure you understand that could

you come up where else that okay I just need you to state your name and address please put you on TV just what I didn't want that's all right thank you good um my name is Karen Souza I live at 60 mro Street I just have one question um we know that there's ledge there um the road I believe stops because there's a big rock there um maybe it couldn't go any

further my concern is what methods are going to be used to remove the ledge to continue the road that's it so Mr chairman what ends up happening is ledge removal will will if ledge removal is required um that will fall under building Department regulations fire department regulations so if if blasting is required of course it goes through that it goes through a series of you know studies that the ledge companies

have to provide you know investigating people's basements and documentation um so that's again that's a process beyond the planning board requirements okay any other butter wish to uh voice of concern or okay I guess not and Peter just to be sure so I I think for the roadway construction and Swale it doesn't appear though I mean it seems like you're skirting that outside edge of the ledge correct

correct not well it might be it might be in the ground yet but I I don't think you're going deep enough to to create a problem for it have you guys done any perk tests or anything like that oh we did do soil testing we did like uh six six test HS M and Ledges 4T okay so that so the so we Tak that into account we took that into account when we uh

designed the Lots itself but that was the reason why um we went with our a force me instead of putting gravity sewer in because we we knew that there was ledge out there and we didn't want to pass but how about about how about the Swale that you're proposing for Swale is is more of a fill is a there's a depression and then we're just filling filling the end to kind of hold it and

then we're not really for the S okay yeah so if you look on the plan mic they they do show uh deep test hole number two um it's basically right in the middle of the Swale and when you look at the at the proposed contouring what they're really doing is bming up around what would be the depressed area to provide some stabilization uh the same thing on the Lots there will be there will be some

filling and then swells that that direct stor water around the prop houses okay good so do I have a motion from the board on the three items uh that we discussed which is the uh the 26 foot wide pavement down to 20 uh waving the requirement for the sidewalks and waving the requirement for the Cape Cod burm other than what is there we have a motion either way from

the board can I ask when is this going to get started I'm sure he was hoping it was going to get started 3 months ago but it's got to go through all this process and everything and building an inspector and so on and so forth before he can get anything I mean theoretically 30 45 days yeah as long as Revis plans come in and they're adequate and everybody approves them then I think at

that point they'll be waiting for us to give them their permits this was one of the hurdles to get past and and at the end of the day we own it as a city yes it is a city street yeah again I approve it based on your recommendations okay so we have an approval by Mike second I second Gloria all in favor yes I I okay thank you than you if you guys want to get together

with Paul ferland's office specifically because you can thank you all for coming most of the comments are his outstanding comments give me a call we'll set up a table with everybody and these things out and be done now that you know what you you're got to work with here clean that up thank you all right next on the agenda a form a application for endorsement of plan believed not to require approval and our

plan of land file number 24-1 1571 owner applicant V e MD industrial for F R LLC property location zero Innovation Way assessor map W-9 Lots 185 191 and 192 I didn't see you sitting there all casual your head down I'll give you a quick little update it's kind of nice thank you Mr Bo members um so this is part of the Reed what was the Redevelopment authorities properties through Innovation Way um that were

subdivided been through site plan review have all the conditions ready to construct there was a potential buyer for one of these Parcels that needed the rear of the parcel to be reshaped a little bit so what they'll be doing is basically creating I think it's three Parcels right um that shift the rear lot line um of parcel 185 um and swapping it with some land from 191 which is actually a

conservation restriction parcel um so they had actually go through a very lengthy process through through the state to allow this lot line to change that that's taken place so this is a minor anr not creating any new Lots not changing any Frontage just a swap of some area along the rear lot line and a conveyance of three separate parles to to create the size parel that this developer needs to meet building

setbacks all right so state your name couldn't have said it better state your name and address the plan looks scary but it's really it's really not much U Mr chairman members of the planning board Brian done with MBL Land Development and permitting with offices at five Bristol Drive in South easn Mass uh thank you for having us uh here this evening uh as your city engineer just

described to you it actually is a little bit of a land swap to uh create a little bit more land for the conservation restriction area and use areas that would unlikely be developed and keep that and move that into the conservation restriction area and as Dan said uh we went through the state legislation to get this approved for the conservation restriction to be amended so this is the

plan that follows that approval from from the state so that's really what we're trying to do we're not creating any new Lots we're just swapping little small little areas about three of them uh so that uh additional land can be put into the conservation restriction and then utilize you know uh land that's in the Upland area for the proposed development you might remember when we

were in front of you before this is you know four roughly four lots that will house uh four 300,000 ft buildings so I know that the vmd is actively you know working with uh developers and Builders to you know sell off the lots and and get these Lots under construction as soon as possible I think lot one and lot two are probably will be the first ones to go I going to say I knew it looked

familiar I knew it came for you don't see lot no like looks just just for size and scale again I I think this is a 150 scale I think it's 160 it's it's actually ginormous yeah it's it's big so we're in the process of right now uh that you'll see some activity out there re reestablishing the sil fence the turtle sweeping still going on uh for the the conservation areas as part of

that uh natural heritage requirement and we're we should be out there this Friday uh installing the bonds that need for the that are needed and the signs for the conservation restriction area good any questions from the board I just have a couple of questions so basically there's it seems like the larger parcel of land uh to the left is pretty much Wetlands yes and so it looks like you're kind of conveying

the non-buildable areas into one lot the buildable into another and so um I just noticed that on that little bubble there is Wetlands going into the buildable lot portion of it and I'm sure you're going to go through site plan approval I haven't seen the the pl the buildings of the plans in the future but um I'm sure that'll all I apologize I I highlighted mine so oh okay yeah what's before you

is these three this lot is that's the conservation restriction lot which did do this okay so you b so this this square is coming out of that piece and so this this this is the new lot line got so these three pieces are getting swapped okay and then what about this this lot that's existing that's an existing lot that's out there everything out here is an existing lot the only these are the three Pils that are

getting created and conveyed yeah okay yeah it's really Michael it's really a small little L swap back and forth you know how to deal with that amen got get you need a little more room behind a building and and what it does it you know it does protect the CR that's that's there protects the environment and also allows for a little a little bit more room for Upland development for

for the four Lots yeah and I'm assuming this went through the Conservation Commission conditions for construction of four two or 300,000 foot buildings site plan review for all of them this has been two years a couple years and we also did this and if they built the building that was initially laid out which is conceptually yeah no issue but now when we have someone that comes in that wants to build a building

that's a little bit Square not as long they need a little bit more depth so rather than going and seeking the zoning variants this is the right way to do it and if you uh if the board remembers through the chair the the Town Line is is going vertical you know west to east here and the Cold Storage that's in Freetown is also serviced by the city of Fall River with the utilities so this

development would also do the same thing so we we worked with the city and the water and sewer department for all the connections and so on and so forth and we also have site plan approval and Conservation Commission approval in the town of Freetown for a lot one two three three lot lot number three so it sounds like all the bases are covered on both sides we're trying both sides of the line we're trying

let's hope this does it yeah right I going to say I I remember it coming to you don't come back and tell they're going to want five in this building you're going to build highrises you never know any other questions uh I'm making a motion we approve uh the anr plan I submitted however on the application page one um deed of property recorded in it says Bristol County North it's Bristol County

Fall River correct South South New bford South We Fall River out okay it so it says North there on page one okay uh section four so should say Bristol County Fall River District got correct that's an attorney's I was going to say that that's a def that's attorney right I I make a motion we approve anr submitted thank you so much and you know we had attorneys look at the applications

before we said we all make mistakes hey man we all do but we got the on TV oops a second okay motion by Gloria second by Mario all in favor I I I thank you so much thank you thank you so can I get the my last sign today you guys want to sign it actually you know what tomorrow we have to scan it in once you get signed in okay so they'll sign

it tonight we'll scan it into our computer I have to come back to the city again somebody has to it's so far from Somerset it's so nice toist if you if you come tomorrow tomorrow is Pi Day Pi Day 3 3:14 exactly so if you come to the engineering department tomorrow you can get pie excellent and if you can if you can provide the calculations to calculate the circumference of a Major

League Baseball you will be entered into a contest to win a $100 gift okay wow thank you that went out to all there's a lot of perks coming over that bridge see the benefits of of the new employee you have to be an employee to enter the contest tomorrow is Pi Day 3.141592654 something like that have at it she's been practicing two years two years ago you had to show up and you had

to go you had to provide 10 digits 10 digits yeah so she didn't know it was going to be different 926 I knew the first 28 wow I was just trying to beat Chris I thought he was my only competition thank you very much everybody thank you have a great evening thank you all right third on the agenda a form a application for endorsement of plan believed not to require approval and our

plan of land file number 24-1 1572 owner applicant 118-120 Jefferson Street realy trust property location 118-120 Jefferson Street sensors map F-4 Lot 27 so this is one of the standard proposed an anr subdivision plans that that nobody on this board likes but understands that it's a necessary evil so in August of 2023 special permit was granted for the subdivision of this lot that contained

two multif family dwellings constructed prior to 19 i for what it was is it 45 see how far it is since I've had to deal with this stuff what is it 54 54 and two of those numbers so it went through that process received a special permit special permit was recorded in the registry of deeds that gives them permission to subdivide this plan illustrates that subdivision in accordance with that special permit

calls out all the requirements for easements and access as the way it was required on the special permit however um they did not provide the building setbacks to the new property line so usually when somebody buys a piece of land the first thing they're going to look at is the plan and say okay I can at least get an idea of off this house corner I'm this far away so we did reach

out to the engineer Alex G I and and Steve Roy explained to them our our request for needing these setbacks added to the plan I explain to them that the plan once they get it to us that if you voted so this evening it can be conditional upon the receipt of the plan with building setbacks and that the chairman could some sign it at that point if you were all okay with that um

he was unable to we only called him today with it I apologize I didn't review it until today um but he said over the next few days he'll get us a new model I haven't seen Steve in a while I didn't even know he was back yeah well no no he's not but so Alex Alex sends all of this stuff to California or Arizona wherever it is and then he sends

it all back that's why getting something in a day my and emails copy fine got an actual myar signed it's impossible to get a day at least it's 10 foot wide what's that at least the the and you'll see that there are you know there are easements along each way there are requirements that no fences can be put up so you know the ements allow to make sure that all the utilities can be

installed access for parking is still um is still provided but that's all through the special permit po these are already two existing houses yes yeah yeah yeah just splitting them up y I understand these create more more heartache and and headache than than there were sometimes but the law is the law right Gloria yes my my only gripe was access say to the back building that was my own my only grip that problem

exists now whether or not we subdivide the property same access but some we've subdivided with 4 foot of uh of easement to get to the back house you can't even get paramedics in there that's different that's different okay so all right do we uh have a motion to approve the an anr application does say Bristol County fall R this one thanks motion by Beth second I second by Gloria all in favor I I motion

approved next approval of the minutes from uh February 14th meeting all right I'm sorry guys what okay I reviewed the minutes I did not record who motioned what when last week but for number one it says Mario made the motion I second I thought it was the reverse and then on another one um I thought it was also the other way around and again I did not record it but can you just double check your

records or anyone else have any comment on this no no one remembers NP I'm pain I wasn't present you we'll watch the whole meeting over again I think it was seven minutes long so all watch it together tomorrow I can I can double check it but in my notes that's what I thought yeah we'll table we'll just make a motion to table it to the next meeting I make a motion to

table it okay motion to table by uh Gloria second by Mario all in favor all right sorry and now we have citizens input we don't have I don't believe we have any do I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn talk next second by Mike all in favor I I as well thank you and have a good evening sorry guys