The Fall River Planning Board held a public hearing on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, addressing several key items. The board discussed the MassDOT project for the Jefferson Street Bridge over Sucker Brook, which had been tabled from the May 11, 2022 meeting. Following a discussion about the lack of a railing on the existing bridge, the board unanimously voted to recommend that the MassDOT consultant, Hoyle and Tanner, ensure a guardrail or protective measures are included in the new design. A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to the street acceptance of Small and Stanley Streets. The board considered a request to accept Small Street (extended from President Avenue to a dead end) and a portion of Stanley Street. After hearing concerns from a resident, David Madeiras, about potential traffic increase and safety for his handicapped daughter, and a discussion about the city's responsibility for unconstructed private ways, the board voted unanimously to accept only Small Street, extending to the northerly side of Stanley Street, to provide emergency access to the Driscoll Rink, while keeping Stanley Street private. Additionally, the board approved two Form A applications for endorsement of plans not requiring approval, both submitted by R. Consulting Services Incorporated (Ronald Reagan) for properties at 423-425 Division Street and 34-36 and 40 Park Street. These applications followed the correct process of first obtaining special permits from the Zoning Board of Appeals to ensure separate utilities. The board also received and filed a Notice of Activity and Use Limitations for 65 Alden Street, related to environmental contamination. Finally, the minutes from the May 11, 2022 meeting were approved, with one abstention. The meeting concluded with an announcement regarding the departure of planner Caitlyn Young.
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okay it's meeting of the floyd river planning board public hearing wednesday june 8th 5 30 pm pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged
0:32and permissible and present we have mario luciola yeah john ferreira here pacheco president i'm cynthia cevichni i'm present and um elizabeth andrade is absent this evening we also have nina payvo is our recording clerk we have a new planner here with us this evening filling in yes and from government tv we have craig salvador okay old business receive correspondence we have a review and a discussion of the
1:27mass dot project number 609 434 jefferson street bridge over sucker brook and that's tables from the may 11th 2022 meeting madam chairman i can add some information to this so this is a project that mass dot is working on and they've been working on it for a number of years dating back oh it's going to be four or five years so they are undertaking a new design and replacement of that bridge
2:04and the normal course of action is their consultant who is oil and tanner will send out this notification to all of the city departments conservation commission anyone that could have an interest in the replacement of this bridge structure this is a structure that has a wooden deck that drains a bordering vegetated wetland to the west and it actually on the opposite side of this culvert and the edge of the road
2:30it goes to an underground cover that actually traverses through the industrial buildings that are down there and then daylights again at the other end of the development so this water runs towards the watapa pond eventually right now this one's probably over a thousand feet away but this would this is what drains that larger wetland so this is just notification that it is their project they're working on it this
2:53is the early design and consultation portion of the project normally the the course of action for this is to read it into record acknowledge it and place it on file if you have any other questions i can i can probably answer something yes dan uh i do have just one question because i have been to see this a couple of times there's no railing on that bridge that's correct is there going to be one well
3:20they're in that process now of doing that design so yes i would think there will be a railing i would well what the so the proper cost of action is for the planning board to vote on sending a recommendation to hoyle this is what they're asking for yes they're asking for comments so if the board would like to entertain a motion to refer correspondence back to hoyle and tanner to ensure that
3:47railing guard rail or or protective measures are taken um that would be an appropriate action as well because as you go over on the right side there is nothing and it's that's literally that is the wetland correct on the other side you know you're not going to go into a cliff because as you said it's continuous yes i i would certainly like to see a recommendation to for them to consider a railway um
4:13anyone else from my board my second the motion i can't make the motion i'm sorry i'll make the motion do i shot that yes so make the recommendation for the railings correct i second the motion all in favor aye aye so i'll send correspondents from the planning department you know elaborating on that a little bit and and ensuring that they get that okay thank you yeah okay now we have a new business and we
4:40have a street acceptance small and stanley street request acceptance of small street extended from president avenue to dead end and also 280 feet of stanley street extending from small street to damon street so again i'll give you a little bit of an update on this a number of years ago and i'll tell you exactly what number year it was 2020 the 2019 sorry the the board um voted after an application was made for the
5:21acceptance of small and stanley streets it then went back to the council went through the normal procedure of having a layout plan done and during that process there was opposition that came about from one of the landowners there's only two landowners along the portion of stanley stanley street is not constructed um small street is constructed and they're both considered private ways at this point
5:44so what what's being asked and i've met with the fire department so the stanley portion of this was driven by a request of the fire department primarily for emergency access to the driscoll rink so what we did was i met them on the site they did not understand the various points of emergency access that already existed so this is now the process is to come back to you the city does not want to accept a way
6:14like stanley street that is not constructed that we would then have to go expend funds on a street that serves no purpose and that the owners of the street don't want either so the way that this process works is any i think it's 10 or 12 taxpayers in the city can petition for a way to be accepted they don't take into account the people that live on that street it can be 10
6:40people that live in the south end that want to petition for a street acceptance by someone's house that lives in the north end for whatever reason and that triggers the process without much of a discussion and you don't necessarily get to see all of the semantics of what's happening so the recommendation now is to only accept small street to the northerly terminus of small which runs along the opposite end of stanley
7:05so that would provide access to the driscoll rink so we would be going down continuing down small street until we get to driscoll and i don't know if you all have a plan but i'll show it to you quickly
7:27so originally the original vote was to accept small street which the pavement ends here now and stanley which was not built what we would like to do now is a new vote that accepts small up to this side of stanley so the extension of small through stanley and that would give driscoll rink public access to small in the in case of emergency so for some reason they needed to evacuate
8:00the rink they could come through a gate in this location we're only going to construct to this end to what we have but we we want to basically modify what was approved not to accept the whole portion of stanley do you know it seems here at this memo there's concern about the drainage and the water right and i'm just concerned it says here specifically quote there is no budget upgrading the water drainage at this time
8:25what are your thoughts on accepting the street and then will we have issues with flooding and then is the city going to be brought into this well i have a different mindset let me get gloria let me get uh cindy for what we want to try and do first in 21 the board voted to accept all of this this is not built what we want to do now is just accept this portion
8:48see this red line including this red line so that way we have access here if we ever need to evacuate this is driscoll here yeah so stanley's street here it's never gone that's right that will stay private oh sorry gloria get this right i i'm of the mindset that when we accept a way it should be to a standard that's acceptable to the city what happens is the process has always been
9:23the way to get your street fixed if it's a private way is to get the city to accept it right and then they say come fix my street exactly so that's we have we have a catch-22 where we have taxpayers that should be afforded the same services as everybody else does whether they're on a private or a public way that's why my thought of accepting stanley and having to go construct away
9:47that i don't agree with with that they're moving in that direction with small we will look at the ability so right now if this becomes a city street that will be improved utilizing chapter 90 funds which is that which is the money that the state gives us every year and we look at a number of streets to redo like i think kennedy street's being done this year so they'll be grinding
10:12that so there are a number of streets that we do every year this street would now fall on that list because it gets accepted through this process doesn't mean it immediately gets paid it gets put in line with other streets that need work and if there are drainage concerns then that would have to be accommodated and those funds utilized to correct that so that will be when we look at the
10:36actual reconstruction so you're not voting on the reconstruction of it you're just looking at the street as it exists do we want to make this a public way at that point the city is now responsible for repairs at some time so your vote does not warrant or does not force our hand to immediately go and reconstruct this street because there are many streets in the city that are far worse and that's my point i live on
11:00a private way myself and we pay for everything sure the city does not pay we pay a lot in taxes we don't get anything from the city we don't get trash we don't get snow we don't get anything there are benefits to living in a private way as well it's private and those abutters may be concerned with having people from driscoll rink going in and out of that stream well it is
11:23emergency access only so it would be a locked gate and that would be up for dcr to facilitate this just would just give them the ability in an emergency to utilize this this portion so the pavement is not going to go to driscoll because a lot of if you look on the plan the school's landscaping and fencing actually crosses into yeah so we're already the city's already using this and what happens we're finding now is
11:48and i drove by again today uh staff at the school park on this private way already to go to teach at spencer board um so so this is going to help you know the homeowners on that street for one um and it will provide that that other additional access but about the flooding like what what are the current issues with flight i don't know i've never witnessed myself you know any flooding
12:15in that area because i'm concerned about taking on another project where as we know so many streets in fall river that are major thoroughfares have potholes and are you know need more maintenance well i moving forward i think that's the correct stance to take if you take no action tonight we've already we've already taken gone through the process to take stanley and small oh okay so
12:40that's what i'm saying we're at the 11th hour so this is just to get the so the planning board can't go back what we're doing is creating a new decision that does away with the stanley street portion of this so although it may not be how you would like to proceed on if this was a brand new application right but this is not a brand new one where we're trying to
13:04could say let's say cut our losses and only have to deal with the small street portion of this because right now there is there is almost nothing stopping um the paperwork to go through the process and we will have also taken stanley so that process of public hearing creating a layout plan having plans prepared gone to the council council approvals so we had to go to the council first
13:30to remand it back to you for us to even be having this discussion today so if you take no action the previous action will continue moving forward i do think that the board should look very closely at taking over some of these private ways and the information should be provided to you about the condition of them so if they're moving forward if the board's going to say we're not accepting streets
13:53unless they're to a suitable standard then that's the stance that the board should take and then people won't necessarily come in and petition or they'll know the answer before they won't waste their time theoretically coming in with and you're going to see more glendale street for instance you all voted i think a meeting or two ago wasn't something that i necessarily would have recommended however
14:17that's not my it was not my job and it's not that's not the process but as we move forward whenever these come in by all means ask the question what is the condition of this street you know and then make that determination is this a headache that we want to bear moving forward thank you thank you very much oh yeah you're here for that absolutely i live on a small street okay you have a small street
14:49sorry well there's only a couple of houses so yeah yeah on the next one oh okay and uh i have a handicapped daughter i've been there three two years yeah and uh our occupant and i is uh not so much being tied into damon street but especially if donald ruler gets tied into elsewhere street there'll be a big heavy flow of traffic be creative like it is on president avenue elsewhere in that whole
15:14neighborhood in the morning and afternoon so join this request that new action tonight will ensure that that does not happen so the stanley street portion of this will be taken out of the petition right we would only be taking the dead end portion of small which should only help your situation are you mr madeiras yes david okay my daughter had the streets so like she'll just dial into the road
15:40going in the driveway getting ready to go somewhere yeah it's like you're always going to keep an eye on her and sometimes she will step out yeah i know it's crazy with the teachers talking here and whatnot in the morning they turn on my driveway on the side of the house that i have no problem with that that's during the day yeah when she's not there and they're going when we come home
16:02well when my daughter comes home but it's the traffic throughout uh you know the afternoon and the weekend or especially because time to elevate they'll be especially kids from the high school or college would be flying through there you know so again what were before the board today is to do away with that potential connection to ellsbury street look since you're here um do you have knowledge of
16:30substantial flooding on that street or no okay good good to know wait when you go down we go down small streets or right just a little flow of water but it's not flooding yeah okay it'll go down my neighbor's driveway or down to the end of the road and off to where you're talking about cutting that road in yeah it was awesome said do it road area that that guy was a landscaper
16:53landscaper that used to live at the end of the right right yeah that whole property yeah before i used to be all muddy but he did a good job you good thank you for coming you're welcome just questions i'm looking at this this first time for me but anyhow stanley to the right which for me i can read the small print is that dead end right there that's the portion let me show you the bigger plan
17:24oh thank you my eyes aren't that good to see that one my questions question is so this is damon street okay which comes all the way out to call of duty as well there are a number of houses here as well so this deader than dead ended here stanley you were accepting only till the end of damon you were not going all the way out to elsewhere with what you were accepting okay so you
17:53weren't you weren't allowing that to happen already but this will this this brings it back even further so damon will remain a dick so exactly what happens on damon as being a public way will be the same thing on small street that will ensure that the people get their streets access for the people right now is a stance right now they have to go search at that end around here right now there's
18:14nothing here oh okay that's what i'm saying by taking this the way that the last vote was that these homeowners could come tell us build us a road okay but what happens is and we're going to try and correct this when this comes to you initially you don't see this plan you don't see what's built so we're going to make sure moving forward that you're given the information to be able to make you know a better
18:42decision on some of these things but this will allow something i mean do they do plowing already and trash pickup or on your street now do they follow the street and then they open up your trash okay get all the services so the city has been very good over time by dealing with a lot of these private ways and really providing services that they don't necessarily have to so that's at
19:05least good that they were doing that but this will ensure that those services do continue yes john uh just a couple of things one to gloria's concern about the the gated access that they're looking at there there's one on durfee uh over by jeffrey high school as well there's a gated access and i've been never coaching there 11 years they've never once opened that game it's just there like dan said it's
19:35locked it's chained in the event that they need it they'll take it it's not vehicle access it's only it's a pedestrian gate so when they throw everybody out of the building they they can get off the property because they do have some chemicals in that building that have to do with maintaining the ice and everything else that they could have a chemical situation so they wanted to ensure that
19:56they had the ability to get people off so they were unaware that they had other options already on the site so that's why they were okay with all right we don't need stanley street the whole way so do you like the promotion i'll make a motion that we uh we accept the revised plan that was pre-approved by us and with only the small street road acceptance and little extension and not stanley street
20:27so small street to the northerly side of stanley do i have a second a second all in favor aye aye that passes and new business item number two is a form a it's an application for endorsement of plan believe not to require approval it's file number 22-1634 owner applicant are consulting services incorporated by ronald reagan and property location is 423 for 25 division street assessors map g04 304.0046 okay
21:20so again board members this is a form a uh a r uh endorsement google not required plan for the real estate at 423 and 425 division street i know you get multiple applications similar to this that they first go through the zoning board of appeals process and under section 86 423 i think it is they are afforded a special permit to subdivide these fossils where there are existing structures that were in
21:46existence prior to subdivision control law which was 1954. so they first go to the zoning board of appeals they look at it and figure out what is the best way to separate these two buildings they go through that process then to clean that up and make it legal they then have to come to the planning board for endorsement now on these types of things there are two different ways to deal with it the applicant could
22:11circumvent the zoning board of appeals and just come straight to you under section 81l and and force you to either sign or just sit on the application and then they would be afforded a signature from the clerk after the appeal was up this applicant has done things the correct way gone through the zoning board of appeals process they looked at it they vetted it what's the best way that we
22:32can subdivide this create the right easements so that everybody has the right access this through this process they forced the applicants to separate water and sewer utilities if they were to circumvent the zoning part of it and that's why sometimes people do as you know with the multiple tenements in the city sometimes the back house water and sewer runs through the basement of the first house and then now
22:56you sell it to two different people and there's a mess when they do it the correct way one of the conditions of approval in the special permit is they make them go in and separate those utilities so that that situation does not happen down the road so the applicant has done things correctly here and through the special permit they've met the requirements for endorsement for an a.m
23:20it's not always it's not always good or it's not always great however it is the law and they've followed it to a team any discussion from my board members i have a motion emotionally accepted the plan as submitted with the variance on record second a second all in favor all right and item number three and an additional application for endorsement of management believe not to require approval
24:03and it's the same owner applicant iron our consultant services incorporated ronald reagan and the property location is 34-36 and 40 park street assessors map g06-0011 and i'm assuming this is the same type of of i shouldn't have to give that dissertation again so yeah but we like hearing you talk it's the same process the same same product same section yes we'll keep it simple okay board members
24:42i don't have any questions if this need only the expectation yeah so i'll make a motion to accept the 22 153.
24:56second i'll save it all in favor all right and just so that you know that when you looked at the older agenda there were two other anr's that were on this agenda tonight that you'll see in your packet i think that we were able to coerce the applicant to withdraw temporarily so that they could go through the special permit process they were moving they were trying to move through the board under an 81l
25:26without going to the zoning board of appeals um so we were able to get them to table get through the special permit process and do things the right way so that'll be our next month's agenda oh that's very good thanks and now that was nina she was on him like a dog she was she was thank you nina and we have item number four a review of a correspondence reviewing discussion of notice of
25:54activity and use limitations on 65 alden straight you must have a lot to say about this actually there's not there's not that much because they're they're they're so they're so common so again this is this is a general correspondence that goes out to a multitude of different uh municipal agencies this is um off of alden street over almost where pocket candy used to be like not all the way down into the back
26:21but kind of like behind knitting mills it's a small building any time there is environmental testing that's done on a property for whatever purposes whether it's to change hands sail and a site is determined to be contaminated dep's regulations in the law they have to create what's called an activities and use limitation on the property that gets recorded at the registry of deeds that's what this document is
26:50so it's on file that is to make people aware this piece of land has this type of contamination and this type of limitations that's why it's activity and use limitations it's putting everyone on notice that this property has limitations and is due to an environmental deficiency so again they notify all of the boards and i'm i'm assuming you've seen many of them so again it's just to make someone aware
27:18it's a formal process that's in the law with dep that this notification goes out to all the different municipal agencies we'll receive it and place it on file no action needed
27:37i'll make a motion that we uh place this on file no action needed second all right i'll check it all in favor all right all right and item number five we have approval of the minutes of our may 11 2022 meeting and now um mario it was just you and i and gloria yeah i'm gonna abstain i was not present that was present at that meeting to prove these these minutes do i have a motion i
28:22reviewed the minutes they all look accurate i make emotionally approved in a minute from last meeting a second all in favor make a note that john has abstained and citizens input i believe we've taken care of that and so adjournment do i have a motion oh wait we have a citizen no oh no put your hand down i guess about the jefferson street project where the bridge is they used to be damn there there used to
28:56be a pawn there that what is that is that going to be returned back to it because now they they pipe it on one side to all the way down to the southwest sucker brook yeah it was a big pond there at one time and upon them they took them they tried they took the dam off right that bridge was a dam so were they when there were water rights maybe to some of the mill
29:23right was that was down there right if you go on the other side of the mill there's a big another pond over there where they had more water right now but there was a pond a deficient yeah and it dropped this back the width of when it's all dried out there environmentally that does that have to be replaced or something that no so depending upon the purpose of the dam um and i want to say
29:48there aren't many private dams in the commonwealth of massachusetts and a number of years ago they did away with a lot of them um and the state would no longer monitor it and it did create some issues i don't know the history of this one yeah i can find out and get back to the board with an answer yeah that the history is moving forward what it is there is going
30:07to return it back to i i don't know all that damn they supposedly all that area is owned by the city that he took given all that property back that whole industrial park so i'm just wondering if they want to return this and what they came up with the measure they have the logs and yeah yeah and they fill the pawn up and then they would when it overflowed but i mean
30:34but i just was wondering if this is going to return that back to a pond then i don't i don't know when they the cost may be prohibitive whatever the fact that it is if it's interesting if they want to do that as part of the project okay that's and before you adjourn if i can yes um you all notice that caitlyn young is not here this evening um she's not going to be with the city
30:57any longer which is a sad loss for her um and for us you know very much so she's very talented young lady but i'd at least like to publicly thank her for her service to the city and all the hard work that she's done and she's laid the groundwork for a lot of great things but at this time she's going to move on in a different direction that's why i'm here tonight helping
31:17cover that in to a degree so we'll be seeking um some new planning staff and hopefully fill some of the spots soon but i did want to acknowledge her and her hard work and her efforts on behalf of the city for the short time that she was here but she will be missed yeah for sure thank you dan for me personally if you talk to her just where she is
31:41her husband came in today we had a nice discussion and i'll i'll pass along your well wishes for sure yeah that's wrong now you can adjourn now i can adjourn to return i make a motion to adjourn two seconds and it is 606.
32:00all in favor all in favor all right put your hand up