Community Development Board

Approved by the Community Development Board 3/13/2024 CITY OF METHUEN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BOARD Wednesday, January 10, 2024 at 6:30 P.M. VIA ZOOM WEB CONFERENCE MINUTES 1) Call to Order of Regular Meeting. Chairman Stephen DeFeo called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm and read the following statement into the record: Pursuant to Chapter 186 of the General Laws, An Act Relative to Extending Certain State of Emergency Accommodations, this meeting/public hearing will be conducted via remote means. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to watch the meeting may do so on their televisions by turning to Comcast Xfinity Channel 8 or Verizon FiOS Channel 32 or view on a computer or cell phone via LIVE Stream on https://www.methuentv.org/methuen- government-tv-live-stream/ No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, and public participation in any public hearing conducted during this meeting shall be by remote means only. If the public would like to participate in the public hearing, please email your questions/comments by noon on the meeting day to kbcolwell@ci.methuen.ma.us. The questions/comments will be read during the proceedings and responded to accordingly. Members of the public who wish to speak during the public hearing can register here: https://www.methuentv.org/govmeet/ by noon on the meeting day. 2) Roll Call. Members in Attendance Stephen DeFeo, Chairman Present Michael Comei, Vice Chair Present William Forbes, member Present Ronald Hatem, member Absent Neal Hunter, Secretary Present Shadi Kassis, member Present Heather Plunkett, member Absent Others in Attendance Kathleen Colwell, Director of Planning Nancy Hudson, Community Development Confidential Secretary Petitioners and Representatives of Petitioners 3) Acceptance of the Minutes. a) November 8, 2023 MOTION: Michael Comei moved to approve the meeting minutes of November 8, 2023. SECOND: Heather Plunkett 1 Filed in the Office of the City Clerk 3/14/2024  Approved by the Community Development Board 3/13/2024 DISCUSSION: None VOTE: UNANIMOUS Roll Call Stephen DeFeo Yes Michael Comei Yes Shadi Kassis Yes Ronald Hatem Absent Neal Hunter Yes Heather Plunkett Yes William Forbes Yes b) December 13, 2023 The December 13, 2023 minutes were not available. 4) Consent Agenda. For the record there was nothing on the consent agenda 5) Zoning Issues. For the record there were no zoning issues. 6) Form A Plans. For the record there were no Form A Plans. 7) CONTINUED Public Hearing: 59 Baremeadow Street- Frontage Exception Lot Special Permit Kathleen Colwell stated that she had an email from Attorney Arthur Broadhurst dated January 8, 2024 requesting to withdraw Ray Begin’s petition without prejudice for a Frontage Exception Special Permit at 59 Baremeadow Street. She noted that she had received two emails from the public and she let the senders know that the applicant had requested to withdraw the application. MOTION: Michael Comei moved to allow the applicant to withdraw without prejudice, the application for a Frontage Exception Special Permit on 59 Baremeadow Street. SECOND: Heather Plunkett DISCUSSION: None VOTE: UNANIMOUS Roll Call 2 Filed in the Office of the City Clerk 3/14/2024  Approved by the Community Development Board 3/13/2024 Stephen DeFeo Yes Michael Comei Yes Shadi Kassis Yes Ronald Hatem Absent Neal Hunter Yes Heather Plunkett Yes William Forbes Yes Chairman Stephen DeFeo entertained a motion to close the public hearing. MOTION: Michael Comei so moved. SECOND: Heather Plunkett DISCUSSION: None VOTE: UNANIMOUS Roll Call Stephen DeFeo Yes Michael Comei Yes Shadi Kassis Yes Ronald Hatem Absent Neal Hunter Yes Heather Plunkett Yes William Forbes Yes 8) CONTINUED Public Hearing: 75 Haverhill Street – Site Plan Approval/Special Permit for a Drive-through Dennis Griecci stated that the site is located on Haverhill Street. The proposed site is currently partially developed with a parking lot. There are wetlands at the back of the site and they have received an Order of Conditions from the Conservation Commission. The project is for a drive through Aroma Joe’s with limited walk up. There will be no access to the inside of the building for the public. For utilities there will be public water and sewer and an underground detention system for the storm water collection. He and Ken Cram, the applicant’s traffic engineer attended a meeting with staff and the city’s peer reviewer and there are three outstanding items that they need to come to agreement on. Mr. Cram sent a letter this afternoon addressing those comments. Ken Cram of Bayside Engineering, representative of the applicant addressed the traffic concerns. SIGHT DISTANCE Mr. Cram went out to the site after the discussion with TEC and reevaluated and remeasured the sight line, particularly looking to the left as you exit the primary site driveway. The concern was that the parking on the neighboring lot could block those sight lines. He took some photos to show what those sight lines were. They remeasured according to AASHTO recommendations, where he thought the actual driver’s eye would be and then he took a 3 Filed in the Office of the City Clerk 3/14/2024  Approved by the Community Development Board 3/13/2024 photo. It’s clear from the photo that you can see behind the parked cars that are in front of the neighboring property for a fair distance. A concern of TEC was how to establish the sight line because Haverhill Street is approximately 42 feet wide with a double yellow center line down the middle. They observed that most of the vehicles are within 1-4 feet of that double yellow center line, therefore the edge of travelway would be roughly 12-15 feet from the double yellow center line. According to AASHTO, the theoretical driver’s eye would be 20 feet back onto the site from the midpoint of that lane. They did that measurement and found that the sight lines looking to the left are adequate. The applicant has agreed to remove the big piles of snow at the end of the driveway if there is substantial snowfall because they do block the sight lines a little bit. That is noted on the plan. One of the discussions at the last meeting was about people who use the app and want to use the walk up window to pick up their order, that may park on Haverhill Street. The applicant has committed to prepare a sketch showing possible future parking on Haverhill Street which would be designed so that it did not inhibit sight lines. EMERGENCY VEHICLE ACCESS Mr. Cram explained that on the first AutoTURN run it showed the tracking lines for the front wheels, the rear wheels, and the body overhang and the drawing got relatively crowded and it was difficult to see some of the lines. On the second set, they cleared it up by taking off the body envelope, but the peer reviewer asked that they put it back on, which they did. A fire truck can access the site. The overhang will go over the edge of pavement in a couple of locations. The applicant agrees to accept the condition that, where there is overhang, that there would not be any structures or plantings in those locations so as to not impede emergency response vehicles. Mr. Cram noted that there is a memo from the Fire Department indicating that if there is a fire at this site, the Fire Department would probably not come on to the site, rather they would fight the fire from Haverhill Street. They were generally satisfied with the accommodations being made for emergency access. VEHICLE QUEUEING AT DRIVE THROUGH Right now, using an estimate of 22 feet per vehicle, there is storage for nine vehicles. The peer reviewer asked that they observe a couple of existing Aroma Joe’s that are similar in nature to this site. That was not done, so that if the Board requests, they will submit that report, prior to building permit, to make sure that the proposed storage of nine vehicles would be adequate for the vehicle queueing at the drive through. Kathleen Colwell looked at the submitted photos and agrees that the sight distance appears adequate, but it would need to be reviewed by our peer reviewer. Mr. Griecci noted that the city Engineering Department provided a memo stating they are satisfied with all the revisions. 4 Filed in the Office of the City Clerk 3/14/2024  Approved by the Community Development Board 3/13/2024 Kathleen Colwell noted that she did not receive any emails or any other correspondence from abutters. Mr. Comei asked if the three items discussed by Mr. Cram would be incorporated into a draft decision. Kathleen Colwell responded that she had four additional conditions to add to the draft decision that would address those items. Noting that there were no participants from the public, Chairman DeFeo entertained a motion to close the public hearing. MOTION: Michael Comei so moved. SECOND: Heather Plunkett DISCUSSION: None VOTE: UNANIMOUS Roll Call Stephen DeFeo Yes Michael Comei Yes Shadi Kassis Yes Ronald Hatem Absent Neal Hunter Yes Heather Plunkett Yes William Forbes Yes Kathleen Colwell explained her proposed added conditions based on the meeting with staff, our peer reviewer and the applicants engineer and traffic engineer. These conditions would be in addition to the typical conditions we have for Site Plan Review and a Special Permit for a Drive Through. She noted that the draft decision mentions a grease trap change but that has been changed on this current set of plans so it can be taken out. • Prior to endorsement of the plan the applicant should address the occupancy of the parking lot for the adjacent building located east of the project along Haverhill Street and its potential impact on the applicant’s driveway sight lines. It will need to be reviewed by our peer reviewer. • Prior to endorsement of the plan potential future parking spaces will be added to the plan • Prior to endorsement of the plan a truck turning plan will be provided and reviewed by our peer reviewer. A note will be added to the plan that there will be no obstructions at the points where the truck body would overhang the pavement. • Prior to building permit issuance, the applicant will do some actual observations of queuing at similar existing Aroma Joe’s and report the findings to confirm that the nine vehicle queue is sufficient. 5 Filed in the Office of the City Clerk 3/14/2024  Approved by the Community Development Board 3/13/2024 Mr. Cram confirmed for Mr. Comei that snow removal on the driveway corners is noted on the current plan. MOTION: Michael Comei made a motion to approve the Site Plan and Special Permit for a Drive Through with the four conditions noted by Kathleen Colwell. SECOND: Heather Plunkett DISCUSSION: None VOTE: UNANIMOUS Roll Call Stephen DeFeo Yes Michael Comei Yes Shadi Kassis Yes Ronald Hatem Absent Neal Hunter Yes Heather Plunkett Yes William Forbes Yes Mr. Kassis attested that he reviewed the December 13, 2023 meeting. 9) New Business. a) 436 Broadway (Taco John’s) – endorse plans Kathleen Colwell stated that she has a memo from the Engineering Department Administrator stating that the submitted plan and supporting documentation have been reviewed and he confirms that the comments from his June 13, 2023 memo have been addressed. She added that prior to building permit issuance, a State Highway Access Permit from MassDot is required to be submitted confirming approval of the change of use at this site. MOTION: Heather Plunkett moved to authorize the Chairman to endorse the plans on behalf of the Board. SECOND: Michael Comei DISCUSSION: None VOTE: UNANIMOUS Roll Call Stephen DeFeo Yes Michael Comei Yes Shadi Kassis Yes Ronald Hatem Absent Neal Hunter Yes Heather Plunkett Yes 6 Filed in the Office of the City Clerk 3/14/2024  Approved by the Community Development Board 3/13/2024 William Forbes Yes b) Any other new business For the record there was no additional new business. 10) Old Business. a) MBTA Communities -update This is a requirement from the state that the City must adopt zoning for multi-family housing by the end of 2024. There is a housing working group meeting on January 11th. Representing this Board are Heather Plunkett, Neal Hunter and Steve DeFeo. There is a draft report from the consultant that will be reviewed at this meeting. There will also be a presentation to the City Council on February 5th at 6:00 pm in case anyone wants to attend or watch from home. b) Master Plan-update Our Consultant JM Goldson continues to meet individually with city staff to review strategies and they will be reporting back at the end of this month. c) Housing Production Plan -update Kathleen Colwell said that a lot of work has been done on this. There was an in house meeting in November where some members of the Board were able to attend and we marked up plans related to the MBTA Communities, but it is also useful for the Housing Production Plan. The Merrimack Valley Planning Commission is currently reviewing that data and they will let us know if they need any more information. d) Subdivision Rules and Regulations -update We recently received a grant to update our Subdivision Rules & Regulations to meet the current storm water regulations that were adopted by the City and the Conservation Commission in the last year. We just met with our consultants Tighe & Bond and we will be convening a working group. We already have a storm water working group and we will be adding Steve DeFeo and probably the chairman of the Conservation Commission and the group will be coming to this Board with some recommended changes to the Subdivision Rules & Regulations. She noted that our current regulations are very outdated. As part of this process there will be a stormwater tutorial for all of the land use boards to look at how all the Boards work together to deal with storm water. We have tentatively scheduled this to be voted on at our June meeting. e) Any other old business Kathleen Colwell noted that the 2024 meeting schedule the July meeting was incorrectly noted as July 2nd and it is actually July 10th. For the record there was no additional old business. 7 Filed in the Office of the City Clerk 3/14/2024  Approved by the Community Development Board 3/13/2024 11) Correspondence. For the record there was no additional correspondence. 12) Adjourn. There being no further business before the Board, Chairman Stephen DeFeo entertained a motion to adjourn. MOTION: Heather Plunkett so moved. SECOND: Michael Comei VOTE: UNANIMOUS Roll Call Stephen DeFeo Yes Michael Comei Yes Shadi Kassis Yes Ronald Hatem Absent Neal Hunter Yes Heather Plunkett Yes William Forbes Yes Chairman Stephen DeFeo adjourned the meeting at 7:08 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Nancy P. Hudson Community Development Confidential Secretary ***NEXT REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, February 14, 2024*** Anyone needing an access accommodation to participate in City of Methuen programs or services, please contact Sandy Almonte, ADA/DEI Coordinator at 978-983-8580 or salmonte@ci.methuen.ma.us at least 2 weeks in advance, or 2 business days before any Board or Commission meeting. This notice is available in alternative formats upon request 8 Filed in the Office of the City Clerk 3/14/2024