[Rich, 01:24]
Session 1 notes

• Moderator called the meeting to order at 20:00.
• Menotomy Minute Men presented colors and played the National Anthem.
• Invocation from the pastor of Saint Camillus.
• Voted that when we adjourn we adjourn to Wednesday, 27 April, at 20:00.
• Article 2 - Reports: We received many, many, many reports.
• Article 3 - Measurer of Wood and Bark: BoS recommended John Fitzmaurice be appointed. Approved on a unanimous voice vote.
• Article 4 - Election of Assistant Moderator: Mr. Leone and Mr. Carreiro were nominated. Election will be by secret ballot on 27 April.
• Article 5 - Zoning Bylaw/Affordable Housing
  • ARB recommended a vote to look at contiguous lots developed within two years when applying the afforable housing by-law, and to have six or more single and two-family homes on contiguous lots require a special permit in order to prevent developers from escaping the by-law by subdividing lots.
  • Mr. Tsoi said that the hearing on the April 27 STM articles is at the Senior Center on 26 April at 20:00 and not at Town Hall as the Advocate said. He presented the ARB position and pointed out it would prevent something like the corner of Mill Street and Massachusetts Avenue from being built without any affordable units.
  • Ms. Worden introduced Mr. Mongold, a resident of the Town.
  • Mr. Mongold said the by-law has created 10 affordable units since being enacted. He asked Town Meeting approve the recommendation so the by-law cannot be avoided through subdivision.
  • Mr. Dohan, a member of the HCA board, said that he personally and the HCA supported the recommendation.
  • Mr. Ruderman said he was in favor and asked what is the manner of fixing the construction date. Mr. Tsoi said the clock would start from the granting of the special permit.
  • Ms. Harrington asked if Mill/Mass could have happened if the land was in common ownership. Mr. O'Brien said no, because there is a difference between a condo and a two-family and that the by-law does not apply to things that can be built by right. Ms. Harrington asked if the by-law would apply if an owner subdivided his land and sold it to separate people who used separate builders. Mr. O'Brien said yes but that it is hard to write language to cover all possible outcomes. He said that the buyer of the last lot would be forced to build affordable housing and that only someone meeting the affordable housing criteria could live there. Ms. Harrington said she would probably support it.
  • Mr. Bernardin moved the previous question, which failed.
  • Mr. Burke said he was in favor but that as the town has few large open lots, he saw a bigger threat from buying a bunch of houses, tearing them down, and then rebuilding. He said there should be a minimum area to subdivide and that we do not want to look like Chelsea. Mr. O'Brien pointed out that what is under discussion is only about what the afforable housing by-law would apply to and that last year Town Meeting fixed the loophole that allowed Mill/Mass to be built at all. The Moderator pointed out the Town does have a minimum lot size and setbacks in every zone.
  • Ms. Fiore asked if there are any small buildable lots. Mr. O'Brien said state law grandfathers certain lots with 50ft of frontage and 5,000ft², but that otherwise the minimum is 60ft and 6,000ft²
  .
  • Mr. Judd asked if assessments increase when a lot is subdivided and if affordable units are assessed lower than market rate. Mr. Greeley (the assessor) said yes to both.
  • Mr. Carreiro moved the previous question, which was approved unanimously (!)
  • ARB recommendation was approved unanimously.
  • Ms. Harrington gave notice of reconsideration.
• Article 6 - Zoning Bylaw/Parking - Single Room Occupancy
  • ARB recommended a vote to allow the ARM to reduce the parking spaces per dwelling unit ratio up to 50% for single room occupancy (SRO) developments.
  • Mr. Tsoi said that current SROs (Caritas and the Salvation Army ones) report only 25-50% of their residents have cars and that reducing the ratio would make SROs easier to develop. He said the ARB believes the overnight parking ban would discourage SRO residents from buying cars they would be unable to park. He disclosed that he has an association with the Salvation Army and was involved in the Salvation Army SRO development.
  • Mr. Fischer asked why the ARB was dealing with this now. Mr. O'Brien said that Mr. Abbott brought it up last year but that the specifics of that proposal were unacceptable; but a better proposal was brought up this year. Mr. Abbott said he had no particular project in mind but did not want to see SROs precluded which the current parking rules in effect do. Mr. Fischer said he was probably in favor but wanted to know the current parking state at the Salvation Army SRO. Mr. Tsoi said it has never had more people with cars than there are spaces.
  • Mr. Belskis said he was worried that this would result in not enough spaces for facility employees to park in, noting parking problems with Germaine Lawrence employees. Mr. Tsoi said SRO development would involve a special permit and the ARB would take employee count into consideration.
  • Mr. Bayer asked if the ARB could reduce the ratio by 50% or not at all. Mr. Tsoi said that "as much as 50%" meant the ARB could reduce the ratio by less than 50%. Mr. Bayer noted the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee was against the recommendation and asked why. Mr. Loreti said the ZBRC was divided but came out against it because the ZBRC was worried the language would allow a SRO development that was barely over one-half affordable units would end up not having any required parking spaces for the affordable units and was also worried about enforceability.
  • Mr. Abbott said the ZBRC did not understand the reality of SROs and that virtually everyone in an SRO needs affordable housing. He felt the ARB's recommendation was a reasonable compromise.
  • The ARB recommendation was approved 135-21.
• Article 7 - Zoning Bylaw/Hospital Zone: The ARB recommended a vote to delete a few missed references to the now non-existent H zone, which was approved 148-4.
• Article 8 - Zoning Bylaw/Stormwater Management
  • ARB recommended a vote to adopt federal and state Best Management Practices for dealing with surface water drainage.
  • Mr. Tsoi presented the ARB's recommendation.
  • Mr. Belskis moved to amend the ARB recommendation to require that if a stormwater management system is required to reduce flooding, that the developer post a bond for perpetual care of the system in order to prevent the town from having to pay for maintenance.
  • Ms. Fiore said that Arlington has separated sewer and storm drain systems and that if one dumps something in the storm drains it could end up in Mill Brook or Spy Pond. She said she was in favor of the original vote, the amendment, and tabling discussion.
  • Mr. Maher said he gets agitated when people do not take advantage of his help and that while he understood what Mr. Belskis was trying to do, Mr. Belskis's language would not accomplish that.
  • Ms. Harrington moved to table the article.
  • Motion to table approved unanimously.
• Article 9 - Zoning Bylaw/71 Summer: The ARB recommended a vote of no action as the article was made moot by a ZBA decision in the proponent's favor. No action approved.
• Article 10 - Zoning Bylaw/53 Broadway
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action.
  • Mr. Faulkner said the parcel is currently zoned R1 but the owner wants to build a 3-family house. He said Gardner Street is R1 but Broadway allows three-deckers. He said at the ARB hearing people were concerned about increasing density. He pointed out there is no legal problem with the rezone requested by the owner and that the ARB recommended no action for policy reasons.
  • Mr. Ellis moved a substitute motion, containing the text of the article, for the owner. Mr. Ellis introduced the owner -- Alfonso Sira, a resident of the Town.
  • Mr. Sira said he believed the zoning change would benefit the neighborhood and that the current house is out-of-place between the denser zones surrounding it.
  • Mr. McGaffigan made a motion to table which failed.
  • Mr. Caccavaro said the people who signed the warrant article petition were "dumb" and that this is about money and should be voted down.
  • Mr. Robillard said that everything in Gardner is 1-family and that the multi-family houses the owner cited are across the street.
  • Mr. McGaffigan said the neighbors are concerned because the parcel has been zoned R1 for 50 years and that the property's driveway will be so close to the intersection with Broadway that it will be a safety problem.
  • Mr. Loreti said that while Mr. Sira's handout properly noted uses, it did not note that many of the houses in the 3-family zones were only 2-family houses. He said the proposed house would not fit in and was far bigger than the surrounding houses.
  • Ms. Harrington asked if the rezone would affect more than the one lot. Mr. Faulkner said it was just an extension of R3 across Gardner and would only affect that one lot. Ms. Harrington moved to postpone the article until 27 April.
  • Mr. Berkowitz moved the previous question on all matters under the article.
  • Motion on the previous question approved.
  • Motion to postpone failed.
  • Motion to substitute failed.
  • Recommendation of no action approved.
• Article 11 - Zoning Bylaw/Inclusionary Zoning
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action.
  • Mr. Faulkner said the ARB had voted for no action, but goofed printing its report and mistakenly said it had voted in favor of what the proponents wanted. He said it would violate the intent to have afforable units incorporated into developments and that clustered proposals would be all the ARB would see.
  • Mr. Abbott said the article gave the ARB the authority to allow clustering in certain cases, not mandating it in those cases.
  • Mr. Ellis, complaining of finding out about this flip-flop at the 11^th hour, asked to postpone the article to 2 May.
  • The Moderator suggested that given the ARB's gaffe, a postponement would be appropriate.
  • Motion to postpone approved.
• Motion to adjourn made and approved at 22:55.
• Meeting adjourned to 27 April at 20:00.