Ordinances & Rules Committee

Ordinances & Rules Committee Meeting Minutes March 17, 2025 The Chair called the meeting to order at 9:40 p.m. Present: Councillors Harris, Logan, LeBlanc, McLaughlin. Absent: Dunn. President McLaughlin moved approval of the minutes from 3/32025. The motion was approved by a voice vote. First agenda item: Noise Pollution Ordinance Amendment Councillor Logan spoke on the matter and made a request that was approved by a voice vote to send to the Law Department for review. Councillor Logan moved to table the matter. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Second agenda item: Noise pollution Fines – Miscellaneous Ordinance Amendment Councillor Logan spoke on the matter and made a request that was approved by a voice vote to send to the Law Department for review. Councillor Logan moved to table the matter. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to take the special permit application for BP Third Ave LLC at 180 Third Ave off of the table. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Attorney Phil McCourt, Nick Skoly from VHP and Michael Johnson, BXP, all representing the petitioner, spoke on the petition and went through their latest redlined revisions & draft order. Square footage was changed from 138.565 to 138.211. Attorney Laughman spoke on the matter. On some language being c hanged. Councillor Logan moved to amend the language to reflect Attorney Laughman’s suggestions and to accept the petitioner’s amendments. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to approve the special permit application. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to take the special permit application at 1265 Main Street off of the table. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Attorney Phil McCourt and Nick Skoly from VHP, representing the petitioner spoke on their latest submission to the Council. The two memos they responded to were the EV spaces, lightbulbs and landscape clarification. Councillor Logan spoke and asked about the site visit. The petitioner was available Saturday, April 5, 2025 at one o’clock p.m. President McLaughlin noted to notify the Ward councilor as well. Councillor Logan made a request that was approved by a voice vote to have the Law Department review the latest materials and to have the Law Department attend the next meeting April 7, 2025 to discuss. Councillor Logan moved to table the matter. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Hanley moved to take special permit application at 1432 Main Street off of the table. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Attorney Michael Connors, representing the petitioner spoke on the latest law review and his responses to the review. He will update and submit a revised map that was talked about in the latest review soon. Councilor Logan moved to forward any materials received by either the Law Department or the petitioner to the Law Dept. or the petitioner once reviewed by Clerk and Chair. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan made a request that was approved by a voice vote to have the Law Department attend the April 7, 2025 Committee meeting to discuss. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to table the matter. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to take the special permit application at 460 Totten Pond Road off of the table. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Attorney Jack Mula and Paul Finger of Finger and Associates, both representing the petitioner spoke on the updates since the December law opinion and review. The petitioners submitted their supplemental report which mostly dealt with traffic amendments. Councilor Logan moved to forward any materials received by either the Law Department or the petitioner to the Law Dept. or the petitioner once reviewed by Clerk and Chair. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan made a request that was approved by a voice vote to have the Law Department attend the April 7, 2025 Committee meeting to discuss. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to table the matter. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to take the ADU Ordinance off of the table. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to suspend the rules to hear from off committee member Attorney Laughman. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Attorney Laughman spoke on the rental questions asked at the last Committee meeting. Councillor Logan moved to accept all amended track changes from March 13. 2025. On the motion Councillor Hanley spoke and moved to amend number one, the unit size to read not less than 500 square feet but keep 300 square feet if in a basement. On the motion Councillor Logan stated he did not support this amendment. Attorney Laughman spoke and stated that it may be hard to question. On the amended motion President McLaughlin asked about the time frame this Ordinance needs to be completed and where or why did we originally propose the 600 square feet. Attorney Laughman stated we are in good shape at this time as far as a timeframe but we have six months and that Councillor LeBlanc originally proposed the 600 square feet. Councillor Hanley then moved to remove 300 sq. feet and change it to 450 sq. feet (unit size not to be less than 450 square feet) and the maximum size to not exceed 900 sq. feet. He believes that homeowners should not build anything smaller than a 450 sq. foot addition. He did state he did not believe there were many home less than 900 square feet. On the amended motion Councillor Logan did not agree with Councillor Hanley’s amendment because there are approx. 160 homes less than 900 square feet in size. On the motion President McLaughlin asked Attorney Laughman about the legality of a minimum size to the ADU and how do we as a committee legally debate the conversation. President McLaughlin asked if every homeowner has to have the option to build an ADU? Attorney Laughman stated yes. The State is making this a law. Everyone has a right but it will be case by case in some scenarios. What is a reasonable with respect to the property owner and the property? President McLaughlin asked if there is recourse and Attorney Laughman is not exactly sure how to answer the question because each scenario may be different. On the motion to amend the unit size two Councillors McLaughlin and Hanley were in favor and Councillor Logan was not in favor. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Attorney Laughman stated she would amend the ordinance to reflect the change. Councillor Logan made a request that was approved by a voice vote to have the Law Department prepare language to give the Ordinance a first reading. Councillor Logan moved to approve the amended ordinance for a first reading. The motion was approved by a voice vote. The Chair noted that the Board of Survey and Planning did send back a positive or in support opinion of this from the joint public hearing. Councillor Logan moved to take the parking on private ways Traffic Commissions letter off of the table. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to send the letter to the Law Department for their review. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to table the matter. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to take the amended Special Permit Ordinance off of the table. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan spoke on the law opinion from the Law Department. Councillor Logan made a request that was approved by a voice vote to have the Law Department draft the advertising language for the city Council. Councilor Logan moved to send the ordinance amendment out for a first reading. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to take the Complete Streets Resolution off of the table. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to accept all of the Law Departments comments and add them into the Order received from the Law Department. Councillor Logan made a request to have the Law Department add the policy information into the Order as talked about in Committee. The motion was approved by a voice vote. The Law Department spoke about the Committee setting parameters of this working group to provide better clarity to the working group once established. Councillor Logan moved to table the matter. The motion was approved by a voice vote. Councillor Logan moved to adjourn. The motion was approved on a voice vote and Chairwoman Harris declared the meeting adjourned at 11:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kara Wilson, Assistant City Clerk March 21, 2025