This program is brought to you by cable franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you the meeting to order So welcome To the Amherst planning board meeting for July 1st 2020 Based on Governor Baker's executive order suspending certain provisions in the open meeting law GL Chapter 30 a section 20 and signed Thursday March 12th 2020 this planning board meeting is being held virtually using the zoom platform My name is Christine Graham Mullen and as chair of the Amherst planning board. I am calling this meeting to order at 634 This meeting is being recorded and is available live stream via Amherst media minutes are being taken as normal I will not now take a roll. I'm doing good already Roll call board members as you hear your name called unmeet yourself and answer affirmatively and then please place yourself back on mute Michael Burt whistle Maria chow Maria you there. I am sorry. No problem. Hello, Jack gem sick president David Levenstein here Doug Marshall Janet McGowan here Okay, board members if technical difficulties arise we may need to pause temporarily to rectify the problem and then continue the meeting if you do have technical issues Please let Sean or Pam know Discussion may be suspended while the technical issues are addressed in the minutes will know if a disconnection has occurred Please use the raise hand function to ask a question or make a comment And I will see you raised hand and call upon you to speak after speaking remember to re-mute yourself Opportunity for public comment will be provided during the general public comment period And other appropriate times throughout the meeting Please be aware the board will not respond to comments during the general public comment period If you wish to make a comment during any of the public comment periods You must join the meeting via the zoom teleconferencing link. This link is shown on the slide and Can be entered into a search engine by typing HTTPS colon backslash backslash Amherst mass dot zoom dot us backslash j backslash nine seven five three six four four five seven five one The link can also be found on the meeting agenda Which is located on the town website in two different places One is through the calendar listing for this meeting from the home page and find the link within the event details a Second way is to go through the planning board web page and click on the most recent agenda link on the agenda There will be a link towards the top of the page where it states virtual meeting You please indicate you wish to make a comment by clicking the raised hand button when public comment is solicited If you have joined the zoom meeting using a telephone, please indicate you wish to make a comment by pressing star nine on your phone When called upon please identify yourself using your full name and address and put yourself back into mute when finished speaking Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes or at the discretion of the planning board chair If these guidelines are not complied with or the speaker exceeds there a lot of time their participation will be disconnected from the meeting Included on tonight's agenda item three is the site plan review public hearings Scheduled to continue from June 3rd board meeting will be the common school paving application followed by Amherst Media's SPR application to construct a new home office building Moving forward this slide will now show the agenda again note the virtual meeting zoom link. Thank you So at this time we're going to move to item one which is minutes and we received through our email the minutes from March 4th They're the second time coming to us. And at this point I assume everybody has them. Yes, can you hear me barely you're quiet. Yeah, I, I don't know where I went. I seem to You're here, Pam. Nope, I can't see anything.  You probably just All I see is a little thing at the top that says your screen sharing is paused So Okay, got it. We're good. Good job. Okay, so we're gonna have the agenda come up Eventually and board members we are evaluating the March 4th minutes, so I see David Levin steen's hand is up But I also see Chris's so I'm gonna call on Chris first and then David Chris. You have something to say. I Just wanted to say that the minutes that you have before you are have actually been seen twice already I forget what the first time was but anyway It was a good month ago. Yeah, it was several months ago. So what happened was Janet McGowan submitted Edits and then those were circulated and then other people submitted edits and I took all of the edits and combined them into the document that had Janet McGowan's edits in it So the things that I added are shown by track changes and it should be pretty clear Where those are I just wanted to make that statement. Thank you, Chris David I'd like to say something about the minutes, but I moved to Approve the minutes and then for a brief comment Great, thank you. So Michael thank you So if I may yes, David, please a Lot of effort has been gone into Writing and reviewing and revising and reviewing again these minutes and I think that that it's It seems like a lot some of that's miss been misdirected effort in my opinion I think that that the following kind of guidelines should should guide the planning board in the discussions about these minutes is that We really should review the minutes for it to correct inaccuracies To remove statements of opinion and to and to edit your own comments not to put words into somebody else's mouth I think that that's really crossing a Bright line at that point And I don't I don't think we need to discuss this much further So I'd like to move to approve these minutes and get on the business at hand Thank you Okay, thanks. I see one other hand and if there are any other comments We're in the discussion on the minutes raise your hand. I acknowledge Janet McGowan Hi, thank you. Thank you Christine for these corrections. I support all the corrections The only two ones I'd like to leave in are the ones the deletion on page 13 and 15 and they both involve Priorities and for the consultants like issues that mr. Moore felt that the consultants would We'd be need for and on page 13 I I put down parking downtown signage 40 are Transition zone and I see mr. Moore didn't say that it was on a slide. So I omitted that and and then I also Leave the deletion from page 15 where Mr. Marshall is talking about the need to have discussions with the community about downtown If we want to extend the town time this, you know, five-story buildings and all the stuff and the reason I think that's really important is you know Our discussion about the zone zoning bylaw update was really rich And so there's a lot of good stuff in there But I know that these issues are really important issues to many members of the community And I think that it shouldn't be lost that We see the need for a discussion about downtown we need that need for consultants to help us We need consultants for the 40 are for inclusionary zoning transition zones with the BL Those are long-standing issues and it looks like in the zoning bylaw update. We're gonna address those and so It's not my opinion. It's not putting words in people's math But I do think the richness of our discussion and those are super important issues to many members of our community So I thought those were important to put in and so that would be I agree with the minutes and the corrections And just to leave those two deletions in perhaps pointing out that it was Mr. Mara's statement, but it was his slide. That's it. Thank you I David is your hand up. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I move to approve the minutes as revised by Chris and distributed by Chris Breastrop Earlier this week. Thank you Okay, I don't see any other hands raised so at this time we can take a vote I have to do a roll call It's in one second that second one Okay, that was done. Is there more discussion Janet is your hand up or you just it's not lower or Can't hear you your volumes off. Okay. I don't see any other hands. So I think we're ready to move forward with this motion Okay, so I still don't see hands. Okay, so Michael Burt whistle Maria Jack David approve Doug Janet approve and I also approve Christine. So that's unanimous. We've approved the March 4th minutes for the planning board. Thank you At this time I will move to item two public comment period Pam, do we see anyone at this time who wants to raise their hand and so I do see See what I see one and I just want to make clear again that this is only to speak on things that are not on our agenda tonight Because we will have other public comment then so if you'd like to speak on something That's not being addressed tonight on our agenda. Feel free to have your time So Pam is there. Okay. I just see that hand is now disappear See no other hands and the phone call. I Don't know who that is If they star nine are we good? Okay little one phone call listeners, so I'm not sure who that is Well, if they didn't start nine then I assume they're not wanting to speak now There's Michael Lou. Okay, because we're gonna need Michael Lou next Yes, we do Okay, I still don't see any hands Okay, I do not either. So at this time I will move on from item two public comment period We'll move to item three, which we have Wanted was set for 632 and I have 645 now. So I think we can move right to that and I will read Okay in accordance with the provisions of MGL chapter 40a this public hearing continued from June 3rd 2020 has been duly advertised and notice thereof has been posted and is being held for the purpose of providing the opportunity For interested citizens to be heard regarding SPR 2020-10 the common school 521 South Pleasant Street Request site plan approval to repave the existing driveway and pave and reconfigure the existing gravel parking and turnaround drop-off area Including the emergency drive walkways and other site improvements map 17 a dash 78 are in zoning district I'll just look for a show of hands from the board members. Are there any disclosures? any board meeting numbers need to Not seeing any hands. I'll keep watching and the next we'll move to We have Michael Lou who has come back again welcome. I see you're there. Can we hear hi? Can you hear me? Yes, we can Hi Do you have anything you want to show? I do I have um, I I'm hoping this will be can be short and sweet I have one graphic to show Okay And are you Pam? Do you have them as a? He is a panelist so he should be able to share his screen great, okay? Okay, first of all, yeah this I'm Michael Lou with the Berkshire design group back for the common school project to Repave the driveway and pave the turnaround area Hopefully you all remember what we had proposed before what the issue that came up last time was the We discovered that there was is a deed restriction on the main parcel of the common school that For basically for a maximum of 25 percent coverage on the lot It seems like in I think it was 2002 or three or somewhere back in there The school engaged with the town Or I should say the town approved of a change in the deed restriction from 25 percent to 30 percent and they had initiated the process To change the the restriction in the deed And paperwork was filled out, but for some reason this was was dropped or never followed through it had to go to the state the state has not yet Endorsed the plan so this process has to Continue now And basically on on a longer parallel track if you will to this project But we have come up with a plan, which I'll show you shortly that complies with the 25 percent lot coverage Because that's technically what we need to You know to have to comply with current legal documents So if you will let me share see Okay, I've I've put up a plan graphic Can you all see that? Yes, basically a black-and-white plan with the property highlighted in red Um, and I'm gonna start the so this plan brings the lot coverage to twenty four point nine percent on the sort of I have it. Yeah, I have a We had submitted an entire set of revised plans, you know with the Imperm with the permeable paving basically and that's the purple areas are shown Where the permeable paving would be proposed We had come to an agreement with the town that the for the permeable paving that fifty percent of this area could be counted as green Space and the rest would be this is the concrete Open-block system. So the rest of it would be basically in per impervious with the with the concrete So with these areas and in the green you'll see here the the elimination of these Six parking spaces along the driveway and returning that to green space Brings in the lot coverage down to twenty four point nine percent and And then so that that's the plan and this the proposal that the school would like the town to entertain is that the the school is willing to do the the 18 parking spaces here at the turnaround as permeable paving the fire and emergency access drive here as permeable paving and They would like to have a three-year window to do this Permeable paving if it's necessary Meaning that if they can execute the paperwork for the change in the deed restriction, then they won't have to do this Drive this really elongated driveway apron, which is in excess of a hundred feet from the property line to the to the basically that first parking lot to the right Did you repeat that time Three a three a three-year window or an a condition that if the Basically if the deed restriction cannot be executed within three years, then they will have to Construct the re or basically I should say reconstruct this as permeable paving the proposal is to do that with with the Condition of approval from the planning board that they this be allowed to be repaved as you know asphalt But they would have to go back in and put in permeable paving if they could not execute the paperwork in three years and the reason that we're asking for three years is Because I understand I've been told that the By Kevin Campbell the school's consultant that there is going to be a change in leadership at the school So there's just going to be a transition period for the the administration and board there And that this would just give them a little extra time so that this you know didn't wouldn't fall through the cracks and if they had to do it in a shorter period or What David Zomac had suggested in an email with Communication today is that that be a two-year Window to get it done The school is asking for a little bit more leeway in upping that one more year to three years. They had initially Through a five-year time period to Dave Zomac And Dave came back with a two-year, so I guess we're trying to negotiate for you know the three-year I don't know. I don't think Kevin is on the meeting tonight. I I Don't I didn't see him Shown there, but I expected that he would be joining the meeting. I don't know if he's Kevin Campbell is there I think can you move him over Pam? Provide more information on that transition period if you're interested But basically this plan satisfies the current legal requirements for the lot at less than 25% We're at 24.9 But you know if they can execute the paperwork then obviously this the coverage will go up a little bit with the driveway being asphalt But the school is still willing to do the permeable paving up around the parking spaces in the fire lane The fire lane or that emergency access is something that's going to be hopefully rarely used So it makes sense to do that as permeable and keep it in a green if you will a quote-unquote green Condition and the parking spaces I think that the school realizes that that's a that's a further, you know method of having some green infrastructure there, which is an advantageous and Positive thing for the site in terms of drainage green space, you know open space, etc Um Does mr. Campbell want to add anything to this about the time period being requested? I'm not seeing his hand go up. He is there, but Yes, thank you, sorry I Only wanted to To share a little bit of the just a teeny bit more about the logic for why three years actually matters versus versus two years Which first of all we really appreciate that the town Will even consider an extension at all But real quickly I had responded very late in the day today to say The common school has been in an interim leadership position for the last two years and it has just set up a Transitional leadership team that will carry it through the next two years while they eventually move to a more permanent Leadership situation again So that just two years puts us on the cusp from my perspective of them them At that right at that moment shifting into this rather again transitional I don't want to say unstable but but uncertain moment and One more year would put it on the plate of a new head of school new leadership and Something that that that would guarantee its its success if necessary the second thing and maybe more Near and dear to my heart is we're undergoing a million dollar or so renovation right now of the school's classrooms and The school's been raising this money over many many years and we are spending every single penny of it and The apron at the front is Roughly going to cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of six thousand dollars or so and deferring it deferring it is significant and What I'm just looking for is a chance for the school to Sort of recover from the renovation project to stabilize and to have enough time to start raising funds again should it have to You know we not get the amendment and it has to do the apron so I know none of those are are good reasons from a zoning perspective or a planning perspective But from an operational perspective They would go a long way an extra year for the school Thank you, thank you Michael do you have anything else to add or can I open it up to First Miss Bestrup and then the planning board members I think that's we talked about other aspects of the project last time the rain garden being added and so forth and Improved ADA access safety with the fire access lane that the fire department has always wanted So yeah, I think at this, you know, I think we're ready to open it up and listen to any comments Questions from the board Okay. Thank you. I'm gonna recognize Chris Bestrup first and And then I see Jack and David Chris. Are you there? I'm not here. I am here and I wanted to say that the plan Even with Even without this request from tonight Yeah, meets the zoning requirements because the zoning requirements allow up to 30% of the lot to be covered Within pervious materials, so it's really the deed restriction that we're talking about tonight. I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you That helps Jack Yes, I was just wondering the the the project is Originally accommodating a repaving effort Is that correct? Mike. Yes. Yep. So what are you repaving the entire drive? Yes, if you in it's present with it if you recall the paving ends right about here right now at the end Where these parking spaces are so we're we want to repave this drive and then pave this What is currently a gravel parking gravel turnaround and gravel parking spaces? So that's gonna better define where cars are parked Formally so that you know one car doesn't take up two spaces, etc on the gravel and then the gravel moves around every year with maintenance and plowing and so forth So that's kind of in pervious area on the site has actually kind of expanded over the years. I think unfortunately So this is gonna better define, you know What's vehicle versus what's green or pedestrian? So yeah, so my question is would you Continue with the repavement in the areas that are they could Turn to the you know permeable pavers There or would you not do those areas? With the risk that they you might have to pull up the you know, right? So if I and Kevin if you're there correct me if I'm wrong with the schools Willing to commit to putting permeable pavers in these purple areas here the parking spaces in the fire lane and Deferring this area You know given that three-year time limit to try to execute that the change in the deed restriction, you know with the state This would be If this if they can do this this construction season this would all be asphalt in the in the front part of the driveway, but if for some reason they can't execute it then yeah, they're gonna have to bite the bullet and and Cut this pavement out and install the permeable paving but they've made a commitment to do it here up at the turn around and With the realization that that's a betterment to the project overall The dilemma is That the apron portion as we're calling it at the front of the drive is is the most decayed Portion of the asphalt. It's the worst section of all. It's completely pothold So we're we have no choice but to improve it in the meantime Right and just looking at you know what other areas could possibly accommodate it It just didn't make sense to do permeable Anywhere else and unfortunately with the driveway there, you know, it requires that Long of a distance from the property line basically almost to the to the opening of the that first parking lot on the right You know to be permeable to get that coverage percentage down below 25 percent now Hopefully we don't have to you know We can the paperwork can be executed and and everything is going to be fine and dandy and well under the 30 percent That zoning allows plus the deed restriction would be modified or amended to 30 percent If that's the case, then you know where then the site would be well under The 30 percent and I might add that I went back and did a calculation that if everything was asphalt If there were no purple areas and we kept the six Parking the paved parking spaces here along the driveway the coverage would be 28.9 percent so even if it was completely all paved of asphalt, we'd still be under the 30 percent However, we have this this you know this deed restriction of 25 percent now that is Really putting you know a crimp in in the plans But you know overall, I think we're still going to get a better project if the school is willing to do the permeable up in this area Thank you. Thanks I see uh david now and then next will be dug Uh, hi mike hi kevin. Um, i'm sympathetic with the operational concerns and uh, and the goals of the project for sure But but i'm still trying to track Track the logic of your presentation mike And here I think is my question. So you're saying that as proposed with the permeable pavers and the the change In the to the to the taking out some pavement and putting in some grass and green space there it'll fall it'll be under 25 percent Of what would be impervious surface of the lot of the total lot? 20 25 percent of the Lot that's outlined in red Of the a lot that is outlawed in red when under this proposal. Yeah, be now Uh, be now Sorry, I'm looking at a different screen a screen Um uncut it would be covered that would and preventing any Uh, the growth of any vegetation, right? So the as proposed here this driveway is under 25 percent of of A covered surface preventing the growth of vegetation, but then so And that's the total lot area. Yeah, so then you're also saying that for the that apron that that last little bit that connects to the street Which is currently paved If that were paved which you'd like your you're asking us to approve That would bring the lot coverage still under Closer to it would it would increase the lot coverage to 30 to closer to 30 percent of the lot. Is that is that No, it would it would push it over the 25, but we we'd still be yeah, we would still be under 30 percent, right? So as proposed your proposal is to actually not reduce the Impervious surface, but is to increase the impervious surface. However, a portion of that will be permeable pavers Is that right? No Go ahead Kevin if you have a coming No, a portion of that is sure the the parking spaces and the the area for the fire truck access Are permeable pavers And that allows you to do the calculation of either 24.9 or Somewhat more than 25 but less than 30. Yes Is it am I tracking that am I following what the presentation is? What the proposal is Yes, I think so basically this plan that you see on the screen Puts the wet area which is described in the deed In compliance with the deed restriction of 25 If However, the zoning allows 30 and yes, if the deed can be amended Within three years Then we can we don't have We don't have to do the apron quote unquote out front at the beginning of the driveway But you're correct. If we if that area is paved it will push the coverage of the red area over 25 Now if they build it you have that number Michael You know, I don't I'm sorry 26.2 26 And you want to do that paving now because operationally it makes more sense Right. So you want us, you know, that's part of the Presentation tonight is to do that paving on the on the apron What we're calling we're calling the apron the last little bit to the road. Yep That's that makes most sense to you if we if we don't approve The paving of that then you the more expensive option is to do the permeable pavers But that's the less preferable option from your point of view That's right. That's exactly right. Exactly So the here's my confusion So thank you for thank you for helping me follow for walking me through that a little bit more easily for me As I read I'm reading I'm now looking at the deed Okay And the deed reads in part So subject also to a conservation restrictions and then it cites cites the mass general law In favor of the town of Amherst granted it by the grantor herein requiring that at least 75 percent of the surface area of said premises shall always be maintained uncovered by any structure or pavement And in a condition suitable for the growth of vegetation So I and that's where you get that 25 figure 25, you know, right? I I believe yes However, I read the deed now and And that seems to me to be referring to 75 percent of the whole lot Needs to be needs to remain remain open to vegetation which to my mind would include the buildings Whereas you're and I don't know how that figures into Your the driveway and parking lot calculation. We didn't talk about the buildings, but all the structures on the site plus all the current what's currently paved And gravel because the town considers gravel as impervious and the buildings all together I can't I think the coverage on the lot currently is already at 20 I think it's 28.2 or 28.3 percent You're already in non-compliance. We're already in compliance with the deed restriction So so you're including in your calculation the the amount of the the the area that the Buildings and other structures. Yes prevent the growth of vegetation on the slot. Correct Okay, thank you very much. I'm sorry. I'm so slow On the uptake here, but thank you very much. I didn't mention it earlier. I might have we might have talked about that Um at the last meeting. I don't quite remember but yep I'm glad we can clarify that So if what we heard from mr Campbell is if you do what you're proposing here It'll be at 26.2 With the hope that within you're asking for three years that the deed would be adjusted to To allow a higher amount And you could just leave it the way it is But if that is not possible then at that time you'll go into the apron area and turn it to impervious Exactly Okay, so that's what they're proposing. I'm going to go dug is next and then I see janet mcgallon. So dug Thank you. And my first question is for maybe for chris breastrup What is the duration of a planning board approval? Typically Oh, do you want me to answer that christine? Yeah. Oh, yes. He's directing it to you. So go for it a plan the duration of a planning board approval is really Into the future. There's no You know cut off What we what we normally say is a site plan review Approval is Good for three years Or excuse me for two years But if you start doing the work that is described Within the application And you continually work on it then it can last longer than that But I think what you're asking is Would the site plan review approval allow A three-year duration to complete the work described and I think if it's specifically spelled out in the conditions It would allow that But you're saying that if work starts within two years We wouldn't even need to put it as a condition because as long as the work keeps moving along Nobody's going to object I think you would need to put it as a condition because it's deviating from what The applicant actually wants to do the applicant actually wants to pave that Right hand portion of the driveway And you are allowing him to Explore whether or not he has to in fact Created as an As a pervious area And if he does not have to create it as a pervious area, then he'll just leave the pavement there So you're allowing him, you know, three years to kind of figure that out Okay, thank you So my second question is for mr. Campbell You cited the two years of interim leadership as a reason for the extension say from two years that Mr. Zomek was Proposing to what you are requesting I assume during the next two years this interim leadership team would be actively working on Resolving this question with this state and that you wouldn't just wait two years for the new Leader to arrive and have dump it on his or her plate Oh on on the I mean on the contrary, we you know, it's in our best interest to make this go away As quickly as possible Okay, thank you. So yes, thank you. All right, and then you also Said that A couple of years in the future it might be a hardship for the school To have to come back and spend $6,000 to put in the remaining permeable pavers if you were unsuccessful With the state Would you be willing to put up a bond now to ensure that the money is available to do that? I didn't say it would be a hardship in the future. I said it would be a hardship now and it might be a hardship, you know I simply wanted to ensure that it didn't become a hardship and it didn't become um an issue of sorts and um, I I'd hate to have to over complicate this with with a bond, but um I I'm not sure how to you know Well, I guess the question sort of behind my question is say Three years goes by and you've Not been successful with the state How do we compel you to complete the work And you know as shown I guess that's for you to tell you to tell me So can I throw it back to chris bestra? If we put this in as a condition chris What happens if a condition does not get fulfilled? um Then someone can complain and the building commissioner will um issue an enforcement order and he can He can slap a fee of I think it's 300 dollars a day for someone out of compliance with approval So, um So that could be a remedy No further questions That's a good incentive I mean, I would say for what it's worth is that the school is uh out of compliance at the moment and um in terms of best faith We're proposing we're already bringing it down from 28 plus to 26.2 percent to a goal of 24.9 So we sure are headed in the right direction Of of of trying our best to to become in compliance After such a long period of time Thank you, uh, I recognize janet and then next will be michael Thank you. Um, I think I have three quick questions. Um For for the common school folks or mr. Lou Um, can you just tell me what the process is for advising a deed restriction? With the state, um, what the probability of getting approval is And then do you need the town support since the town holds the conservation restriction? Uh, kevin, I you probably have some more insight into this, but the town has already well given its approval back in Whatever it was 2002 2003 the paperwork was already started. Luckily that was found. Um, but it went to And I don't know for what reasons, but it did go to the state, but they never signed off on on the um The amendment to that deed restriction. So I don't I don't know what the process is I'm not familiar with that, but it has to go to the secretary I think the secretary of environmental affairs because this is a conservation Restriction so it technically it has to go to the state to get Uh, to be changed or amended and for whatever reason that process was just Not completed there. We have we have kevin correct me if i'm wrong, but I think we have some signed paperwork from the town already That um, you know that shows that this process was initiated I just don't know the history, you know from back then of why it was Kind of put aside Do you do you have any idea whether it's likely just to be approved or not because part of me is just you know I'm feeling very flexible about your request, but I'm wondering if it's just here to spend the $6,000 now And just move on but I mean he's likely to be approved doesn't anyone know I We can't I mean we can We're going we're we're the little bit we know as we've Done our research here, and we've been working as closely as possible with Dave Zomek on this Is uh, we're we're proceeding based on a couple of things one is the existence of of evidence of the town's support for this And and recorded and And then conversations with Dave as part of this proposal perhaps the one thing we're we're leaving out is that the proposal Puts forth that that that the school would submit application with the town's support So that is what we're we're hoping and assuming will happen and continue to happen and three it's While we don't know the outcome All of the previous documentation, which was significant between the school and the state But ended up never being signed. I mean one letter after the other back and forth back and forth in 2002 All of it led to the belief that this was going to be signed um I'm not a lawyer, but the the state on the state's end The state's position was Why do you need an amendment to do this? That was if you read the text of all the letters they said over and over again Why do you need an amendment to do this? We think this he didn't say it's a matter of right They did not see this as as um, maybe we were somebody was over complicating this at the time And then it just fell off the map Nobody at the common school remembers from back then why it just ended, but it did um, so that's a long way of saying um We we have a fair amount of belief that this is worth pursuing and that and that it wouldn't take a long period of time to get an answer One way or another. Okay. That's all I want to know. Thank you Thank you. Chris Bester if I see your hand up Yeah, I wanted to let everyone know that I did speak with Dave Zomek today And he confirmed the fact that the town is in support of this application to the state He also had mentioned to me previously that He believes that the person who was supposed to sign the document whatever the document is um, either moved his office or left his office and that's why It was never signed. There wasn't the objection on the part of the state It's just that they never followed through on their end. So that's just what I wanted to share with the with the planning board Thank you. I recognize Michael Burt whistle thank you in Talking and talking through the question of a 25 coverage and a 30 coverage Which is apparently what the zoning requirement is for 30 for a 30 percent Um, and this since this falls well below the 30 percent Uh, why are we concerned with the deed if if as a planning board our responsibility for site plan review is to make sure the zoning bylaw is Is uh upheld uh, why are we even concerned with this deed restriction? That seems to be a matter between other parties and it seems to me we should simply approve the project as it's proposed Because it meets the 30 percent requirement Hmm Chris, do you have an um any? I'm not really sure I I don't really know what to say to that You know, that's kind of my that was my feeling about a month ago and since then You know, there's been a lot of conversations. So I I don't really Know exactly what to say to that Was legal counsel asked No But I guess what I would say at this point is Why don't you just approve what is being proposed? and hope that The school can Managed to to revise the deed restriction and if they can't Then the plan that's in front of you now is what will be built Okay Michael do you have anything else? No, he's good. So I don't uh So I don't see any new hands going up. I see um two members go Coming about again. I'm going to answer those and then we're going to open it up to public comment Um, so janet and then I see david Um, I was just going to move So move christine's um Idea, but I I think we should listen to the public first Yeah David and then I see jack I'm responding to uh chris breast strips. Um suggestion the thing that that i'm sort of wrestling with Whether I should be or not. I don't know but um Is that Is that the proposal asked the planning board to approve something that We know to be violating the deed Sure, it means the zoning law zoning zoning by law But but where and then and then we're and then we're approving As I understand it and it's a little confusing to me still I'm not quite sure why it's so confusing to me where what we're approving is the Having of the greater surface which makes a lot of sense But with the promise that if if the deed can't be um revised To allow for a larger In covered surface If the deed cannot be revised in three years, they'll dig that up Which makes no sense or and they'll put in permeable pavers, which still we're kicking the question about whether permeable pavers is meets You know is is is is not is a structure is not covering the The surface we're kind of punting that now i'm willing to punt that I don't know what but um I I just find that we're we're being asked to approve something that That is giving The school what makes sense what it wants With but maybe they'll dig it up. It'll never get dug up So we're effectively approving something that we know to be Contrary to the current deed even though it might be better than what's the current state Well, sure, it'll be better than the current state. That's why they want to do the improved project That's all I'm I'm I'm troubled by that. I don't know If anyone else is that's it. Thank you Uh, I see jack and then dug Jack I'm sorry. Uh, I was wondering technical question for mike. Um What first what? Factor is applied to the permeable pavers is it Is it uh zero percent pavement? or 50 percent pavement or is I just wondering about that I'm sorry. Could you repeat the first part? I didn't quite hear. Okay. Uh, the permeable pavers It's not a hundred percent pavement. Is it zero percent pavement or does it contribute? 50 We're we've been we've With we've talked to dave zomek and I guess we're agreeing that 50. It's about a 50 percent open call it an openness ratio If you will Okay, you can get grass to grow within those voids and I this um These pavers are used at nine research drive If you're familiar with that, um, I worked there. I worked there. Okay. Um, That's that's exactly what we're using on the parking for the parking spaces And there there is vegetation. I don't know what they planted there. Um, it might be some kind of fescue or something, but Yeah, you're talking 15 research drive Uh, is it 15 or nine? 15. You're right. Sorry. I'm thinking of yeah 15 is the next building I was thinking of the first one. Yeah 15 research drive. Sorry. Um, but that is what they're using at that site too And I went by there just to make sure and there is vegetation growing in those voids It's it's not lush green grass Um, but you know, I think that would take a lot, you know, a lot more work to for with fertilizers and what have you I think they've chosen some other type of um of like I'm saying like I think of fescue that requires less Maintenance, you know less watering fertilizing, etc Something that's a little bit more green Although not really the color green Well, I I'm sure that I'm in the minority, but I've seen just Grass work pretty good as parking You know emergency parking You know, you know most of the time Uh, Hickor Ridge has overload When they were a function of golf course had an overload parking lot overflow parking lot there um, and You know It's you know, I'm just wondering if that isn't a consideration just just to get you know cut through all this Uh consider, you know, just lawn as as you know, like where the fire is that's never been a road anyway so I mean, we all want fire protection there, but I think if it's just lawn that's leveled and graded properly We'll get you to the same place Um Anyway, there's just some thoughts there Mm-hmm Doug Yeah, I was gonna just suggest I assume we need a drawing to go with whatever approval we have And that the drawing before us is not adequate And that we ought to have a note around the apron area that says This area shall be permeable pavement completed within three years unless you know Not required by the deed in which case it'll be asphalt I think we'll have that in the conditions That's what goes I think we can add that note on the plans. Um, as I mentioned, we did submit a full set of um Black and white site plans um with this project I just thought this would be a lot obviously a lot easier to to use as a presentation tool The the plan you see in front of you I'm just saying that I think somehow we need I think it would be useful and maybe I'm the only one but I think it would be useful to have some plan of graphic A graphic depiction of the alternate reality that might be the final result So Doug we can put that in the conditions and refer to a plan It's however we write up the conditions. So when we conditions we can We can refer to a plan um Anything else Doug or I'm going to move to public comment Thank you Okay, so at this point I'm looking at attendees And if anyone is here to speak on a comment or a question regarding this project, please raise your hand Pam I'm just going to double check with you in case there's any on the phone um So I see one hand at this point and I just when I call on you, please say your name and your address and um I'm welcome So I see one hand and I'll call on Kevin Noonan And I think you're allowed to talk If you hear me Yes, I can welcome. I appreciate it. Thank you Uh My name is Kevin Noonan and I live at 36 Jeffrey Lane. And if you look at the Opposed purple spur for the emergency access road My property is right in the middle where this little spur off of that spur is Begins our property begins there. There is a proposal that we only learned about last time you met That they want to move the dumpster there First of all, we don't know why it would be preferable to move the dumpster closer to the children's parking the children's playground but our other concern mine and the My neighbors on either side of me is that it's going to bring Rodents and and we've had bear in the neighborhood. It's going to attract more wildlife to that spot There's going to be odor. There's really no reason to put the dumpster there rather than where it is I think that the justification that mr. Loone used last time was that they had to give up one parking spot, but The if you know the first parking Lot on the right just after that area Of the apron to referring to almost never gets used and when it when there is an event It's rarely full Plus the old Hitchcock Hitchcock center There's parking spaces in front of that that are rarely used. So It just seems to us that to be an imprudent idea And we're also concerned about what might be stored around the dumpster Currently where the dumpster is now they store the material to treat the the asphalt the existing asphalt for snow during the cold weather They also have some other Recycling there. We're just concerned that There's going to be noise when the truck and the truck is going to come up that Emergency access road and probably crush those non-permeable. I mean those permeable favors because As we all know any anyone who has a dumpster They leave ruts wherever they go. And of course, they always say they're not responsible for that So we appreciate that we appreciate the common school to neighbor with But there for 30 years. This is not an envy situation. We want them to stay. We really value what they do We're a little disappointed that didn't communicate with us Because we had been asking for the last months to talk with someone But there's in our minds no need to put a dumpster right at the edge of our property When it can stay where it is or be moved down to where the if you notice just beyond that apron you refer to There's a barn And there's no reason the dumpster couldn't be put there if they need if they need the space So, uh, you know, we're just concerned and then recently there was somebody had discharged either paint or something In that area. So we're worried that this is going to become an industrial area and You know, there's I think mr. Liu referred to there's nothing but roots there. Well, the previous administrator of the common school not not the current one On the guys of uh under the guys of uh safety felt that the trees needed to come down because they might be diseased And when they came down there was really no evidence that they were But nothing has been replanted and so that's why there's nothing but roots and the ground has eroded so, um, you know, I know that mr was referring to this as an improvement over what's there and that that would be true now, but it would it would appear that someone should have Replace the trees that that had been cut down before there was also a tree at the at the beginning of the driveway which uh Was removed. I think because it blocked the sight of the drivers and there was nothing wrong with that tree either So there's about 18 trees that are now missing and are affecting the watershed in our opinion Um, so anyway, our primary concern is that please don't put the dumpster Right on our property line when it when you have other options And we're asking the committee to please ask them to amend this this proposal so that the dumpster does not go there Thank you Thank you At this time I see no other hands So I'll come back to board members. Um, I just have one question. Um So we're looking at a property in the red line Does the dumpster need to stay on the property for that or could it go on to the other properties? Just wondering I I don't know if I can provide a full answer for that, but where the dumpsters currently sit as you know is right here Uh on it would be on your left side as you get to the end of the paved drive Um right in this area If we were to put the dumpster Dumpsters back there. We would you know, we would lose at least one space which is not the end of the world um, but it is It has been troublesome and an inconvenience to get Refuse and recyclables and so forth out to that location because they have to come from the buildings and somehow You know, uh get get the items down across the gravel drive, etc um To this location The reason we put it here Uh off of the emergency road is that um since there is A quote-unquote, you know semi paved drive there. It made sense to allow the dumpster truck to use that as well Um and pick up the refuse and recyclables Here it's a much easier path or much easier task to get The refuse and recyclables from the buildings down this walk And over to the dumpsters rather than having to you know cross over the gravel area and in this case If it was back here, the you know, they'd still have to you know, whatever cross over the um the pave the pavement um There there might be a couple or one or two other areas to consider. I I guess I'd have to um I'd have to have a discussion with kevin at a minimum about about those locations, but um Um I don't you know, kevin. Do you have any thoughts about that? Do we do are we can we make a commitment that we can not put the dumpster location here up against or closer to the property? uh to the neighbors property um Do we need time to look at that or? I think when we need time to look at it. I don't want to I can't make a commitment, especially if we're going to jeopardize I don't approval in any way because then that would that would completely jeopardize our time frame, but Mr. Noonan if it would be of any I mean well two things one Not being somebody who works directly at the school, but nevertheless I apologize that you've been trying to speak to somebody over there and nobody's gotten back to you But two one of the parts of the plan that doesn't show up on here Is that that the dumpster area unlike as it is now would be enclosed? All right, there would be a a you know a fence enclosure around it, especially on the backside of the property Um so that and it would it would be it would be enclosed on the front as well So uh bears would not be able to get in there, but also you would not be able to see the dumpsters From the from the rear of the property. So that's that's one thought The other thought is is we we we surely would look at alternative options I don't Suggesting the barn the barn location, which if i'm Assuming this is the structure Mr. Noonan was referring to I mean that's like, you know double the distance of what they're doing now to haul You know whatever carts or whatever down the road is I think they'd need to get some carts or something Impossible for the students to empty trash or recycling or anything. Yeah, there is a hill That's just far away. I think um, I'm gonna recognize Um Christine best jump and then go back to the board members. I see maria has her hand up I just wanted one quick question where the dumpsters per um proposed right now and the red line I was at the site visit But I can't remember what kind of fence or is there a fence what what runs along those properties current Oh, it's right now. I mean there is screening There is vegetation, but you you know, you can see through the trees to the neighbors Um, some of the neighbors have more vegetation than others along the backs of their lots um But there's not a fence There there's no there's no I think there's one neighbor that has fence right see that simply right Okay, this neighbor has the neighbors that put up fences. The school does not have a fence on that property line Correct. Okay. Thank you. All right. We are proposing some evergreen Screening around the back of that dumpster location as well That's good to know that's what those little circles are They're plantings. Yes. Thank you. So I'm going to recognize chris bestrop and then I see maria's hand chris So I wanted to suggest that you could um create a condition that would deal with this you could say that um You would approve the plan as it is shown in this um in this drawing And then have the applicant come back to you prior to actually paving the parking lot in the driveway to show Where the dumpster might be relocated and if it's not possible to relocate it They could make that statement at that time have them come back to you at a public meeting And perhaps at that same meeting they could Come back to you with a revised plan showing the note that mr. Marshall talked about putting on that area down at the apron of the driveway about You know stating exactly what was going to occur there and when So that's just a thought Does that sound reasonable mr. Lou mr. Campbell I think so. Yeah They'll give us a little bit of time to discuss. You know what we can do with the dumpster Um, I have a couple ideas, but you know, obviously I like to Hit right Kevin that way we could move ahead with this, but then you just have to come back before you start Before we start or before we're finished Um chris start. Yeah That's what I thought um I'm going to recognize maria Well, um, no. I yeah, I just lower my hand. Um I wanted to mention it's not shown on this drawing you're looking at but on one of the drawings It looks like the dumpster is actually about four feet lower than the adjacent property So not only will I have trees right dancing? They're talking about it's actually sunken down quite a bit So I'm pretty comfortable with the location because of the access for the trucks The proximity to the students and staff being able to Um get to the the dumpster and you know, wherever it's located along that um North property, it's going to be next to an adjacent Property, you know a neighbor and so, you know because the school sounds like they're being good neighbors I assume that they're going to you know, take the proper Precautions of good neighborhood with their um dumpster and also I just wanted to go ahead and move that we approve the plan with the conditions that miss breast strip just mentioned about Um, possibly locating the dumpster although Um, I'm actually fine with it as is but it sounds like there was Discussion leading to having that as a condition as well as the condition. Mr. Marshall mentioned about Noting the permeable permeable paving possibly coming if the deed restriction is not revised in the three-year time period So I think that was a motion And that would be also closing the public hearing. Um, is there a second to that? You're second Okay, I hear dug for a second May I say something? Yes Chris did I did send you some possible conditions in an email today They're pretty minor, but you might want to take a look at them before you actually vote Uh, I was gonna go through those I have them in front of me. Thank you chris for that reminder Um, I do want to go back to mr. Lou Um, maria brought up a great point I had forgotten about that you had talked about this is the last time he came to us about lowering that That hammerhead area and how low would that go? So would that set the dumpster down? Yes, it would um the and the the reason why it's lowering well The approach to that area is pretty steep and the fire department has said When they've tried to drive a truck there sometimes they can't even get up that initial incline so they required that the emergency drive be at a 5 maximum slope if we do that it requires um, I believe That the road is cut down approximately two feet lower than what what the existing ground is so There's going to be a an embankment if you will cut around that dumpster area to be able to This have it cut into the hillside so to speak so it will be lower in grade than What then then the elevation at the property line and I didn't check it But I appreciate you're looking at that maria if it's about four feet Um, I guess, you know that that's we'll take that bit of information And and run with it So we have about a four four foot grade difference from where the dumpster is to the property line So would there be a retaining wall on that l that's not on the drawing but we'd be losing some of the We probably have to thin out some of the trees right at the face or you know, right at the tree line But we are again, we're trying to add the evergreens in there To have a more solid screen Visually to the neighbor for the neighbors Um If it's to remain in that location So I I can't remember exactly. I know there is a hill and you're cutting into it So we're saying somewhere between two and four feet you'd be cutting into that putting a retaining wall and then putting evergreen On top of that. There's no there's no retaining wall. We're just Embankment, um So how many feet two or four because wouldn't four have an erosion? No, not necessarily You know, we we can still do a two to one slope there And that's easily managed. You know with vegetation Okay, that's sure if you plant things that will help hold it.  Do you have any comments on this right? No, sorry. I'll lower that So at this point, I'm going to ask are there any other comments from the board? Um, if not, I'm going to go through the conditions I we did receive them today late in the day But there are there's four of them. Um, I don't know if you have them Pam. I'll just so So Mike, I'm gonna I'm gonna, um, ask you to to stop sharing your screen and I can share mine Okay Thank you That all right, is that set? Yes. Thank you So the first one was the driveway and parking area shall be built substantially In accordance with the plan submitted to the planning board on whatever date that is And that's standard. Okay. So the second one the driveway and parking shall be manage management plan um and approved on With the exception that the six parking spaces along the driveway will be returned to grass Which I think the new plans we have show that they're back to grass Yes The third one landscaping planting plan continually that looks pretty standard and the third fourth one Okay, applicants shall work with the town to seek relief The state from the deed restriction limiting the amount of impervious surface to 25 percent if this relief is not granted by the state The applicant shall install permeable plan Paving at the entry drive or the apron as we've been referring to it as shown on the plan entitled overall site plan option two Uh reduction of the impervious dated june 10th 2020 within two years of construction Seasons of the date of this site plan Approval so maria you made the motion. Uh, it was unclear whether you were proposing two years or three years Um in your motion. Sorry. I can match the conditions when it says written Well, these are draft so we can change these conditions to whatever we want So I have you in the seat now Um, this is and we get you can we could do three and then debate or we can do two, you know and have people talk, but um speaking about three years as the What was presented as the preferred time period the applicant would prefer three They originally and originally proposed five and it was countered by the town for two and now they're coming back asking for three Okay Uh, I feel like our discussion Had it as three, um, please correct me if I'm not speaking correctly Well, I will look so if if you're saying the motion contains three We're still in the discussion part, um of the motion so If we just put it out there right now as three and then if any of the other board members have a comment or an issue We'd like it to be two they can raise their hands Um, also any other board members can raise their hands if there's additional conditions they want to include um And miss bester, please if you've got anything else to add um Chris I see your hand So did you want to add a condition about? coming back to show um potential other location alternate location of the dumpster or do you want to just let that be Maria we Leave it as it's shown. Um, and we keep the condition As the number four condition as three years um as well as conditions one through three if those are um clear enough So that's the new motion is leave the dumpster as is um have the four conditions and have the um Up we can come back in three years Or do the work within three years Yes, do that And hopefully they'll hear from about their deed before then Okay, uh chris your hand is up is Do you want to make a finding that this? Proposal meets the relevant requirements of the section 11.24 of the zoning bylaw And you're talking about all sections and that I can't remember what that part is or is that the uh 30 percent That section is the section that we normally go through on a big project We'll go through it um line by line and say Whether it does or does not meet that particular criteria. It's the list of um of site plan review criteria And normally on a smaller project or a more simple project You just make a blanket statement that it meets the Relevant the relevant requirements rather than going through Those items step by step because you've gone through them and you know, okay Yes, and of course included Um, I'm seeing no other hands. So at this time Um, we have a motion on the table. We have conditions and a finding um And we'll take a vote. I do see doug's hand just came up Yeah, I thought I'd second maria's motion Great. Thank you All right. I see no other hands Um chris i'm going to put your hand down. I don't think Yep, okay. So at this time I will do a roll call for the motion Um Lost my list so I know michael's on it first michael Yes Uh maria approve david approve jack Janet And myself approved did I forget anyone Doug Approve. Thank you So that's unanimous. We have seven So I thank our applicants for coming Thank you very much. Thank you all right. Thank you. I I know you all worked really hard I never thought uh, just some Repaving a driver would be so hard Either did we Thank you. Thank you for your Thank you. All right. Good night. So we're going to move on here to our agenda We're going to move on to the next site plan review Um, this is It is now 751 And in accordance with the provisions of mgl Chapter 48 this public hearing has been duly advertised and notice thereof has been posted and just being held for the purpose of Providing the opportunity for interested citizens to be heard regarding spr 2020 dash 11 Amherst community television dba Amherst media Corner of gray street and main street Request site plan review approval to construct a new building and associated site improvements for Amherst media a 501 c3 educational institution under section 3.3 30 0.0 of the zoning bylaw bn zoning district map 14 b parcels 250 and 251 So first i'll just ask, uh, are there any board disclosures raise your hand if anyone wants to make a disclosure statement I'll give that a second. Um And then we will move to the applicants Um, i'm seeing no hands. So i'm going to introduce we have i know bucky sparkle here Are presenting the applicant. He's the engineer Yes, do you want me to give a history of the sure first or do you want to introduce everybody first? Um Let me just identify who's here for them. Um, and then yeah, just, um I was gonna say raise your hand chris and I won't forget about you. Um, just so I'll just ask mr. Sparkle Who else do you see? Um, who else is here? For the applicants All right.  So yeah No, this is good. This is what we work out Okay, I'll uh raise my voice as best I can normally this works just fine. Is that better?  Is everyone else? Can you hear him? Okay, yeah, I get some so-so so just a little quiet speak up I i'll do my best to speak up. I know i'm going to be speaking a while tonight. I don't want to burn out So I know it's also possible to adjust volume on your end. So I'm I'm hopefully we can keep that to answer the question about who is available tonight Um, Jim Lesko the executive director of Amherst media. We have board member ed severance is here uh, bill gillen the lead architect from gillen collaborative architects is on the line And uh, I'm not seeing any other names from the team on the screen. It is possible. We have john kripka As well as attorney michael pill our legal counsel May or may not be waiting in the wings this evening Um, I'm lucky. I could not see those people or I could not see those names in the attendees. So It's possible. They may not be here tonight. There are various things happening in their lives that Um, I feel that representation is adequate Okay, I think we have some don't we pan my seat bill gillen and I have moved bill gillen in as an attendee and ed severance and jim lesko So it was um attorney pill and john kripka that I could not see Okay All right. So thank you for coming. Um at this time I'll just ask if miss bestrip director planning would like to Give us an introduction or a summary because this did come to us. Um, like a year ago Yes, I just thought I would give a little bit of a history on this project. Um, it's been a long time coming so i'm chris breastrip planning director and um, the property was formerly all one property which included the henry hills house the two front properties on which the emmer's media project is going to Is supposed to be built and three single family home properties along gray street. That was all one big property The henry hills house was formerly used as the emmer's boys club. Some people will remember that in 2007 and 2008 It was the property was subsequently purchased by two llcs I think At least one of which was associated with barry roberts And subsequently jerry godara bought the property and subdivided it into six parcels So we have the one parcel containing the hills house the three along gray street and the two frontage lots that we're talking about tonight In 2013 town meeting rezoned the two frontage lots on main street along with other parcels along the north side of main street from rg To which is general residents to bn neighborhood business This was done to create a small village center in this part of town The property on the other side of main street had already been rezoned to business village center at around that same time So mr. Godara and others moved the homes that are along gray street From other locations in town to create a new streetscape along the west side of gray street formerly that had been lawn area and a lot of trees and brush The henry hills house was renovated and it's now owned by new owners And I believe it's operated as both a single family home and a bed and breakfast But they may be able to create create correct that later if that's not the case At the time of the rezoning mr. Godara had been discussing the two frontage lots with amherst media So this was back in 2013 Who needed a recognize that they needed their new home Mr. Godara showed town meeting a plan for the amherst media building which was located at the southeast corner of the two lots With the parking lot for the new building to be located on the western portion of the two lots So that was shown to um town meeting back in 2013 At the end of 2013 amherst media which was then known as amherst community television purchased the property And they'd been working on developing the property as their new home since that time In 2019 amherst media submitted a site plan review application for a new building That was to be located on the western portion of these two lots And it received a lot of criticism from the planning board from the public and eventually from the local historic district commission Amherst media withdrew their site plan review application in the summer of 2019 So that was about a year ago And then they began a lengthy conversation with the local historic district commission about a new building Designed by a local architect for these two lots So after months of public hearings with the local historic district commission The commission issued a certificate of appropriateness for the design that you will see tonight So I just thought that information would be helpful to you in your review Thank you Thank you. Oh, it's helpful So at this point, I'll turn it over to Mr. Sparkle who is going to Give us a presentation. Is there anything you'd like to share on your screen? Christine can I just interrupt one? Yeah Did you ask for the board disclosures? I think I did Okay Were there any I'm sorry. I missed no they weren't no they weren't and So we'll have the uh applicants presentation and then we'll get into the site visit and stuff Okay, thanks Bucky, you should be all set to share your screen as a panelist I cannot hear you at all Yep, you're muted Or oh, I can barely hear you. You're really quiet. Is that any better? Little better. I might be having microphone troubles here today I apologize. Normally zoom and my system worked just great. I did just move my office. So Maybe I dropped my microphone. I will speak as loudly as I can And I'm sorry that tonight tonight that I'm finding out I have a microphone issue That's okay. Well, you're speaking we can all up our volumes to to better hear you Okay Well, hopefully this works out. Um, can I verify? Do you do you see the screen with my logo on it? Yes All right, great. All right, I see what appears to be your first slide. Yes, it is First of Several I'll warn you now. There's quite a bit of information to cover on this project a lot of details that have been considered now for A couple years and have been through multiple versions of public processes So we've already done a little bit of discussion regarding the application team myself Amherst media We have Jim Lesko here executive director at severance As well as they're supporting our supporting personnel architect Who's more than supporting is really the the lead on this project in terms of site design and building design gilling collective architects and a legal council of michael pill Who may or may not be here this evening It's already been stated that amherst media is a 501 c3 non-profit educational institutions been operating at amherst since 1977 Been performing public service on that entire time And this evening and for this project the goal is a permanent home An office supporting the educational mission and community services That it strikes a balance between the interests of the local historic area And the needs of a modern basically technology Enterprise which really is what amherst media is and Before I dive a little further into my presentation. I do want to give jim lesko an opportunity to chime in and unmute himself I know he has a statement. He'd like to present to the board before I continue So jim if you're available, please go ahead A good evening madam chair and planning board members Amherst media is architectural and site plans to build our new media facility On the gray street property has significantly evolved since we were last before you on march 20th of 2019 Since that time we have secured a certificate of appropriateness from the local historic district commission as christine has already stated Our journey to this point in time has been shaded publicly by those opposed to anything being built upon this parcel of land This included the widely distributed thought that amherst media was offered sufficient money for our land And part of land be turned over to the town as a park We were to move into one of the schools and everyone would be satisfied To quickly clarify the amount offered for our land was 25 less than the properties assessed value The town expressed concern and doubt regarding the allocation of funds to maintain the donated Parkland and finally the preliminary discussions with the school department Raised some limited possibility that would require an addition to be built to attach high school Regardless of being told in editorials that we should accept this offer If we really cared about the amherst community or else we should expect no financial support for our capital campaign It is obvious amherst media did not agree with either part of that argument Now we are in the midst of a coveted 19 pandemic And the town's financial picture is very precarious And the schools are trying to reorganize their classrooms and general facility space To accommodate the new state safety reopening mandate The proposals would not have been made everyone Not have made everyone especially amherst media satisfied We are here to offer an opportunity to the residents of amherst to witness the construction of a new independent media center A center propped up on the shoulders of those Residents and students staff and board members and most importantly viewers who for the past 44 years created captured and watched The political educational cultural history of this community It is within this building. We see the publicly called for expansion of civic dialogue and interaction For all people the amherst area and beyond to have the opportunity to be heard That has always been our mission and will continue to be so While the site plan you have tonight is not the same plan submitted by us last march this plan does however Reflect the advice this body gave us The one piece of advice you gave that proved to be the most beneficial was quote to adhere closely to the recommendations made by the local historic district unquote The founding points were the recommendations the lhdc made to amherst media and presented to you on march 20 2019 one explore the possibility of placing the building on the east portion of the property Two considering lowering the ridge line of the building Three examine alternative building forms that reflect the historic setting on the north side of main street And four retain a professional registered architect suitable to design a building appropriate for the significant important property in amherst The planning board reiterated the lhdc recommendations adding a desire for a 3d model lot size verification Collaboration with town engineer to explore alternative groundwater control and size and materials for all signage What was vehemently stressed by both yourselves and the lhdc was the need to and i quote Secure a professional architect who can assist in looking at the project holistically with great sensitivity to the adjacent parcels and scenic view We followed your collective advice The level of professionalism and cooperation displayed by gillen collaborative and responding to lhdc commissioners and community input Regarding the building's design was of the highest order We are equally appreciative of our site engineer bucky sparkle who overcame the numerous obstacles inherent to the property Their expertise in high professional standards makes this submitted submit a worthy of public appreciation and support I'd like to now introduce you to again our site engineer Back to bucky sparkle who will walk you through the submitted plans plans that reflect the lhdc certificate of appropriateness And thank you for giving me this time Thank you, okay um This formal presentation time so in terms of an outline I'll get to the formal application request We'll do a little more background some of this has been covered so I can move quickly a little about the historic district commission process We'll talk about the site plan architecture content of the application There are a couple of waivers that we are looking for regarding parking and traffic And then we'll wrap it all up here tonight The formal request is that we are seeking site plan review approval under amherst bylaw section 3.3 30 non-profit educational institution We are requesting waivers from bylaws 7.004 0.103 11.22 I can't see it because there's stuff on my screen that has everybody's face on it You can probably read it and I can't that's funny. Oh wait 11.221 I figured out my technology and 11.2436 Plus the planning board rules and regulations article 2 section 3b additional information item 6 The last three of those have to deal with traffic studies impact statements The first two of those have to do with with parking So I'll get into those details a little bit later We talked about some of the background I'll move quickly The lot was created by the previous owner of what is now the henry hills house The zoning was changed in 2013 amherst media purchased it in 2013 after the zoning changed There was a comment that the previous developer gedera presented a plan That was amherst media's proposal or something along those lines I want to be clear that that's not true that plan was not amherst media's plan That was a concoction of that owner and developer In fact, if you look at the little tiny text on the side of that plan It says something like ssc building It was not for amherst media and that proposal was on the gray street side a three and a half story building So if people were happy with that back in the day We're proposing something much much smaller But I think that's just a minor misconception We did apply previously 2019 Brought in gilling collaborative architects Who then spent several meetings going through the process of redesigning the site with the historic district commission And we earlier this year did receive the certificate of appropriateness Jim already talked about these is do my job Says we need to the board said hey get a get a more qualified architect We brought in gillian collaborative Who if you're not aware is an architect bill gillian himself helped write the rules for the historic district the rules and regulations Has been involved in many historic property Projects in the town of amherst. I don't think his offices are directly across the street from this project it has a vested interest in maintaining a beautiful view of henry hill's property And I don't think he could get a more perfect match For this project on this site in this town than gillian collaborative. So I think it was a very lucky stroke that we were able to obtain them We did provide some 3d modeling for the historic district commission. I'll show some screenshots from that basically We have adhered very closely to the historic district commission's recommendations One of the strongest of which is move the building to the east Which we have done The local historic district commission we had seven hearings with them between august and january That had a major impact on the site plan. There were many versions of the building and the massing and the placement and juggling all the things that of building needs to have And the commission said, you know, you need to do a few things You know, you definitely have to preserve the historic muscape So that that was the the primary thing We've done several things to change the building a little bit so that It fits both the residential character of the buildings on gray street because this is transitional property We have residential zoning and residential residential homes On one side of the lot. The other side is business and there are businesses to the east and to the south So we wanted to have a facade that sort of reflected that and still be The character of historic buildings In order to put the building On the east side below part of the site We had to move the stormwater management system or portion of it just the infiltration To the uphill portion of the site. So I have made water go uphill for this project And other things that the district commission said was We don't want any anything to block the view so we can't have any tall landscape features on the west side So we don't have any trees or similar plantings that would obfuscate the view And the commission did write a letter of support in addition to the certificate of appropriateness That letter was to the planning board and I'll just quote one sentence Saying the commission approved the plans because the placement on the property Makes the building consistent with the historic character of the district You'll find wording like that multiple times in the letter of support So we think we've done a really good job meeting the commission's requirements Which were heavily based upon not just the commissioners opinions, but a great degree of public input Briefly the lot itself there was a question the lot size is 24,010 square feet According to our surveyors. So just over a half an acre It's currently vacant. It's slopes to the southeast The parcel IDs have been stated for the record. It is his own neighborhood business Historic district, I also want to point out if you were to go to the master plan and look at the economic development Growth of existing businesses including creation of downtown business and mix you Bucky, uh, you're cutting in and out. Oh, no. Yeah Jack you have something to ask what like maybe you should just call in with this phone And just use the audio on his phone Is that possible and still share this screen? Yes, you you stay where you are Add another Here to get around my technology Um, and you sound it okay, but just it just started to start cutting up then Okay, it does not we were moving a wire Yeah, so you have a mic issue somewhere a short no wire. I I guess I do He will need to mute his zoom microphone. I will do that once I get us through Thank you, Doug. We can tell everyone who are the zoom experts now I thought I had this down. All right, so give me a second while I guess I talked to a computer and input the id Can I just verify while I'm waiting it says three one three six two six six seven nine nine Pam can you confirm the number I'm to dial? That number should work. Yes, it is ringing And then she'll bring you on you'll have to I'm gonna say star nine Oh, it tells me to let me try it again three one three six two six Three one done six two six six seven nine nine I'm Somewhere between laughing and crying right now. Nope. Keep breathing. It'll be fine I think there's a secondary number which is six four six eight seven six nine nine two three Yes, okay. I'll try that one next because the other one went to a message Is it asking you would push star nine? This is no one is available to answer the call. So I'll try the six four six number Six four six eight seven six His voice is coming through pretty well now. It's working out. Okay. Well, I'll just leave that number on on my screen Yes, so if we'll let you know if it starts to get weird again, and we'll try the other news I'm and I do apologize. I I have no idea why the tech is leaving me down tonight. Don't worry. That's murphy's law. That's what happens Of course I have at least a zoom meeting a week. This is the first time I've had this problem. So all right, I'll I'll keep going here um I had been speaking a bit um About the master plan and the village center And just emphasizing that the type of development for this land is is very much in line with what the master plan and the village center ideas are So let's start looking at a couple of plans then This is the existing site right now The darker green is the property later green is uh residences around gray street is to the east main street is to the south Uh, it's presently open The original site plan showed uh a retaining wall on the northern property at 14 gray street some uh fencing shed a little bit of pavement Landscaping that was all moved about two weeks ago So, uh, this existing condition plan is a little out of date and as much as there is now even less on the property So it's a blank slate with a couple of stumps You can also see on this plan where we did soils testing, which is in particularly important at this point, but it could be later Looking at the proposed site plan The simplified version of it here. So the the building in yellow and the parking area in gray We have a retaining wall on the northern side And i'm going to zoom in a little bit just so we can see some of the Detail here. I think that makes it bigger for everyone Uh, so you can see the retaining wall that will be a field stone retaining wall and more of um Goshenstone styles designed to match the existing retaining wall that belongs to 14 gray street We have an emergency egress only on the east side, which is why it doesn't have the continued sidewalk The main entrance from the parking lot is on the northern side of the building in this area And then we have the pedestrian entrance for a main street That will have the sort of front entrance Through here The parking lot is Effectively sunken and well hidden by the building to the south and you will see there's landscaping and other features we can get into that and briefly going through the dimensional regulations Well, we have nearly twice the lot area we need we have more than twice the punches that we need We have the setback that we need and this i'll take a pause a moment. There had been a point raised that Lucky it happened again again. Okay. Um, is it better now? It is. Yes. Are you touching a wire or something? I am not touching anything. I have a mic that sits on my desk um, and i'm not touching it so I Not sure what else to tell you right now, but Don't lean back and look up Right as long as you stay leaning forward. Is there a wire running on the floor? No, no, okay. I'm sorry. I wish I I wish I had better information here Just let me know when I go out um But the the setback issue I think is important to bring up at this point And that is because part of the bylaw indicates that for an educational use or religious use That the setback would normally be doubled for most zoning districts we Had some confusion around this and the building commissioner rob mora wrote a letter this afternoon That clarified that section 6.6 does not apply to this application And that the setbacks as shown are appropriate for the project. So we have what we need and Um That may come up later in the meeting, but the commissioner has determined that we're okay You've cut out hockey. Okay. Um, how are you back in? Thanks for letting me know we'll just have to Manage this I guess Hope us on the table lean forward. All right. I'll get I'll get as close as I can here. Maybe that'll make a difference, but Um So building coverage we're just over half of what's allowed a lot coverage You know, you're gone again. Okay. Let me try the phone number. Try the other one Am's ready Dialing for dollars Okay, yeah That's Well, we look okay now He's an east captain I am in leads. I just moved. Oh Oh, it looks clear there Did I make a pen? One phone call in listener. Yes Okay, where are you? Are you four zero zero four? Yes. All right. I'm going to move you into the panelists. All right, and I'm going to mute my PC's Oh, I can't move him into a panelist, but I can allow him to talk. Let's try that Okay Now you need to mute your computer Basically, yeah mute my mic Is that better? Yes, yes Okay, because I do need to hear everybody else talk, but then my phone picks up that same sound So the next question is am I able to manipulate? So do you see the site plan now? Yes. Yes. Okay, and then to mention. Okay, so Here we go again Uh Just to cut it short, we need all the dimensional regulations. All right Moving down the line here This is a drainage and utility plan what we are looking at is a Let's see the details most of the utilities run out of the north side of the building connect to gray street So the sanitary is in green. We have blue for water We are proposing a hypothetical gas service Doubt will ever get to use it, but we at least wanted on the plan in case we have that opportunity We have power and communications coming from the nearby utility pole over the northeast corner And then all of the orange is the storm water management system We have the detention tanks these 12 000 gallons of underground storage through here with control structure That would feed a new storm manhole on gray street This has been reviewed and approved by jason skeels And we have on the west side the infiltration system, which is all of this area through here It involves a collection tank. We collect the roof water We put it in the settling tank. We have a recharge volume And a pump and that's how we get it uphill and in this Orange shaded area is a pressure distribution system That will then disperse the storm water over a three-day period at a rate of roughly five 100ths of an inch per hour So that's how we get the water back into the ground in a very slow drip fashion Also, we do have site lights proposed and we have a lighting plan later, but we have two Poles one on the west side One on the east side the height of those Light fixtures is 10 feet. We also have a bollard Over on the east side to make sure that these parking spaces are reasonably illuminated And under each doorway. Oh, we also have a building mounted light A wall light here that illuminates this parking section of the parking lot And above each door. There's a light. I'll talk a little more about lighting later I'm going to back out so this is the architects elevation drawing with Approximate colors that they put together for the presentation and seeing what would the building look like when you're not a bird and We did receive unanimous approval from the historic district commission in terms of the certificate of appropriateness for this building This is the main street side. This is the business east side of the building. It's a broad structure. It's about 105 feet wide And it has a relatively A modest roof line considering there's a television studio underneath it It's a 26 foot high to the peak from the finished floor level and Has a nice entrance area a lot of glass fenestration and a series of other windows Also, we do have a sign a pin mounted sign over the main door And over on the edge of the the building on that side toward gray street It's a greek revival style and it definitely blends the residential commercial character of the neighborhood Going back in time just a little bit Hopefully I won't give anybody tremors here This was what we were originally proposing came from a different designer who was not An architect familiar with historic district principles It met amherst media's internal needs very well But we we definitely understand why the community just thought that maybe this wasn't the most appropriate building So the outline of the new building has been transposed in that Orange-ish color and you can see that it's it's a lower structure It's a more elegant structure in almost every regard If we do want to get into details of the architecture and elevations I'm happy to do so the only one I really want to point out at this point is the gray street view and vista so this is The east end of the building along gray street and This structure has is the part that is to blend much more with the residential feel of gray street so The peak of the roof while it is 26 feet high it is also Not it is lower than the building just up the street and The width of the building is about 55 feet Which is less than the width of some of the buildings abutting it so in terms of scale and math It is a more diminutive structure And it has a much more residential feel the entrance is more like an old time You know classic new england front porch entrance Even though this is not actually an entrance. I will say this is just an emergency exit, but from an aesthetic standpoint It's a residential look and feel Looking a little bit on the inside I might have to drag this Just to give a sense that there there is a television studio and a control room and another small studio So that takes up a good third of the inside of the building There are several offices for various tasks We have a conference room break room, you know, it's a business lobby and entrance as well as a computer center That and this is part of the educational aspect of this business here and Looking at some of the views. This is part of the 3d modeling that we were able to provide to the local historic district commission and There could be a lot of information that we can go through So i'm going to try and minimize where I Bring attention. So i'm going to look at the bird's eye view for a moment and So Main street and gray street are here This is the property in the slight pink coloration and this is the dimensional model of the building itself Relative to all of the other buildings. So all of these buildings are to scale and we're developed by a umass architecture student on our behalf and To give a sense of where things are relative to everything else You can see that the building height just to the east are fairly significant and quite in line with is being proposed on gray street The building across the street at 401 Main Street is actually a Story to maybe a story and a half taller than this building. So the large when you're coming down up and down main street You'll notice that 401 main street will be the the largest bulkiest tallest structure In the rear here, we have the emmerce women's club And the henry hills house at 38 gray street And from this aerial I want to point out that if There's a talk about view scape. So we The old building was way over here on the west side It was located relatively in front of the henry hills building so We've moved it to the east as far as we can place it and the setbacks have been fine-tuned by the historic district commission They wanted to match main street and gray street and what was in the neighborhood. So that's what we've got And as far as taking if you were to be walking or driving up main street the Objects that prevent a clear view of what was this was all once open lawn We now have, you know, beautiful homes here and trees. So It is impossible to see the henry hills building until you are roughly here If you were driving westward or walking westward You wouldn't be able to see that building until you got pretty much to the end of the proposed emmerce media building So the the building as we're showing it is making very little impact on the view scape and the the primary open and dead on view of that gorgeous architectural feature Is fully unobstructed by our proposal And if we want to get into some of the other details of what you can see from where we certainly can But I do want to keep moving this presentation along Looking a little bit at the landscaping zoom in a bit again What we are proposing are a couple of larger trees on the east side. We have a disease resistant elm a white oak tree various perennials and shrubbery around the building And the smaller trees here are more diminutive like There's a magnolia. There's a weeping katsura and a service berry that will provide a lot of color and as well as some food for wildlife and importantly on the west side we have a bank of They look like boxwoods. That's what is stuck in my head and What did I do there? Sorry I'm trying to get the name of that particular tree is it's called a Steeds Japanese holly It is a broadleaf evergreen tree. If you know what a box would look like That's it's very similar. It looks nothing like an arborvite And we're glad it's a case arborvites are not They're not my favorite and definitely not the architect's favorite. This was a landscape plan It does have my title block, but the landscape layout was designed by hand by Taylor Davis landscaping So they're really the brain trust behind this. I can answer rudimentary questions on it But I'd have to go back to the landscaper if we get into, you know, what one species needs versus another I was just the drops person on this particular plan Moving on to the lighting plan We I talked briefly about it first. I'll zoom back into the Site itself. We do have a photometric plan of foot candles That's what all the chaotic numbers and crosses are all over the paved areas So we we had a lot of conversation with the light designer here who is by the way Oh now the name is escaping me But it's the same light designer that has designed virtually every light that the town of amherst has installed in the last decade All the downtown lights the historic lights They're very familiar with amherst and the preferences of the municipality as well as many projects in town So they're they were a really good source for this particular project And we're trying to balance You know historic areas usually there isn't a lot of bright light So we were really trying to minimize and get down to just what was needed to provide safety And make sure that we're not you know crossing lot lines with any illumination So we've been pretty successful in that we have just a little bit of light on the sidewalk Which will help if there are pedestrians when vehicles are coming and going We've got a nice gradient in this green areas for the sweet spot of light attenuation Uh, we have on the northern neighbor, which is was about most concern of ours being a resident Uh, the vast majority of these points are 0.0 There is an odd anomaly and we talked to the guy about the model that even though we have zeros here here here here Somehow past it we have a couple of point ones point one and I do want to point that out because The light designer says that the software itself will I mean it's not a glitch, but its margin of error is 0.1 foot candles So it's his opinion that since there are zeros in front and zeros all around it that that's just sort of statistical warbling in the software And I do want to point out that that this is there's a trench drain here and this part of that Property is a relatively steep slope. It's not a place where people hanging out There's quite a bit of plantings and vegetation through here So even if somehow the software was right and it went from dark to light again from 0 to 0.1 There are plantings that really the light would never get there anyway, and it's nowhere near the building So that was a lot to say that I think we're good at the lot lines Uh, there are uh, three lights that we do want to keep on for safety around the clock at night And those are the three lights over the doors All the lights in the parking lot will be on photometric sensors and timers and they're designed to turn off at 9 30 p.m Emirates media closes at 6 but you know, sometimes people stay overlay at work so we wanted to make sure that um, people were able to get in and out safely and Have a dark parking lot at a reasonable hour adjacent to Residential neighborhoods So even all of these values out here and in the street, they would all blank out at 0 at 9 30 p.m And take a moment to look at the signs a little bit Need to back up here so um The the way the information was presented to me it comes in two sorts So we have what are pin mounted signs and I pointed these out on the facade of the building above the door and on the east side Several feet off the ground These are attached to the building with pins. They're only four entire letters So they're fairly diminutive And just adequate to be able to read from the street But definitely not distanced Uh, a more ornamental sign is proposed on the site. Oh, I should point out where that is. So let me go back to here so On the north side of the driveway entrance Is the ornamental sign. So this will be a Sign that would have a stone facade such that it will Reflect the stone walls along the back of the retaining wall and the neighbor stone wall So going back to that image, you can see the hand drawn sketches here from the architect where it's it's you know an elegant and fairly stately sign with The embers media logo and Stone facade that would match the goshen stone At the top it has a slate cap if you look in the cross section as a two foot wide slate cap a little hood for led light that would just Uh, just like the face of the sign. It's shielded on three sides So you would have to be directly under the sign to Get any light bleed off from that The ends it's it's going to be on the ends in the north side All look like that stone wall that Is pre-existing and we are going to match Looking Into getting away from some of the visuals and getting into the application content We we do have to talk about a management plan. So quickly There isn't going to be a dumpster on this site. It's just going to be barrels that are hauled off to the side when it's time for pickup Uh professionals are going to handle landscape and snow The operating hours are I think 10 a.m. I mentioned that or 10 a.m. To 6 p.m. Monday through Friday And that's important to remember when we get into the traffic and school school scenario discussions As far as employees, there are three full-time employees plus interns of a varying number And they're in a usually a part-time state As far as sound and storage and deliveries are very minimal And similarly noise dust odor and building maintenance are also minimal All right. So a little bit into the I said I talked more about parking. So this is this is part of it So we the facility has been around I wrote down 45 years. I realized it's only 44 years So I do have an error in my presentation. I apologize But for 44 years Amherst media has been operating there well aware of what their parking needs are That this is not a new building a new office a new shopping center Where people are making a guess about what they're going to need Their needs are very well understood There are just three staff A couple of interns a couple of short-term visitors that come and go for brief periods of time After reviewing their use and photos from the blessing of satellites or curse there of satellites The I've never seen more than four cars in the parking lot The Amherst media says that they Rarely rarely get over five vehicles in the parking lot and when I look at various photos Historic data the average number of cars in the parking lot is 2.5 And this is one of the reasons that we feel that our waiver requests to have Fewer parking spaces because we are requesting a parking spaces Versus but the bylaw would normally require for an office, which is 15 parking spaces So it's a it's a big difference. However, we know we don't have more than five cars at a time on this property and We also are very concerned about the site layout and the aesthetics we can hide in a car parking lot behind the building and at the bottom of a four foot slope and and Add a little bit of of shrubbery to the west side and those cars are going to you Virtually vanish from the main street and the triangle street Perspectives you will of course be able to see into the parking lot from the driveway entrance on gray street But that is not a well traveled Not a well traveled street. Um, except unless you're a student We can get into that a bit more And another reason that there are so few cars in a building of this size four and a half thousand square feet Is that many of the users of this building are students or interns and they walk from school They ride their bikes. They take the bus and the bus stop PVTA is at the corner of gray and gray and main street So it is right there And that's one of the reasons one of the several reasons that amherst media is interested in this site Particularly is that it provides excellent public access through bus routes It provides excellent proximity to the high school to the middle school To amherst college and a short bus ride from umass and these are Many many of the visitors to this facility. So the location on main street is is excellent and Also significantly reduces the parking requirements for amherst media Um, and I do want to point out. I know off or on street parking is is sacrosanct You know, you can't use it and we're not planning on using it, but I do want to talk about the fact that it exists and There are 25 almost completely vacant parking spaces 24 7 on gray street that are on the same block You don't have to cross the street to go between amherst media and a vast quantity of potentially overflow parking We have a parking spaces. We rarely need more than five on average. We need two and a half but In the very very statistically unusual occurrence where we would have a full parking lot Then there is safe and convenient parking that is almost never occupied adjacent to this building And I also want to point out that residential use of Of street parking, you know for a party or birthdays These are evenings and these are weekends where all of a sudden you get a big surge of parking for several hours Those residential use peak times are not when this commercial business would be operating Monday through Friday 10 to 6 Is usually not when somebody has a big party So in the extra rare occasion where amherst media would need extra parking And residents of gray street would need extra parking. These two things are not going to occur at the same time By any reasonable probability. So it's sort of a the fallback position. I know we can't use it officially But I just want to point out that it is available and it is Substantially underutilized. I know I sent a letter to the town Which showed several satellite photos and They were usually zero cars parked there sometimes two cars parked there So there's quite a bit of availability All right, this does tails a little bit with the traffic impact statements As well as waiver requests three of the five waiver requests are about traffic studies impact statements We're talking about an office with about three full-time staff here That would be driving We're not this another retail establishment or church or a restaurant Facilities that generate up to 20 times more traffic per square foot than a business And what we're really talking about is the use that's going to generate about as much traffic as one and a half Residences So if you were to talk about, you know adding one or two homes to gray street it would be Extremely surprising for somebody say oh, we should do a traffic impact study and see what impact one or two homes will have on gray street Because it's pretty common sense that it would have virtually no impact And I do want to point out that and this is very important that it is understood that there is Sometimes quite chaotic traffic on gray street with buses and young drivers People coming and going to the schools up gray street That traffic is real and it happens But it does not happen when amorce media would be generating traffic These events occur at different times of the day amorce media opens at 10 a.m Schools already in session by then school is let out and traffic is gone by 6 p.m. When amorce media closes And the three staffs that work there would not be traveling at the hours that The understandable chaos that the schools generate occurs Excuse me um other than the schools Gray street is a is a very low volume dead end road. I think when Roughly dead. I know there's cross street But it doesn't feed a larger neighborhood beyond During the sidewalk yesterday. I did point out that I personally didn't notice one single car during the time we all met on site And maybe people noticed other things but when it's not school, it's a very very quiet street Additionally Amherst media's driveway is only 83 feet from main street. It will be the first driveway So visitors to amorce media are going to be coming from main street almost exclusively just because that's the the nature of Traffic in that part of town So the vehicles that would be traveling to amorce media Would not go in front of a single other driveway.  I'm demonstrating now that there's very little traffic being generated by amorce media For the situation Moving on to comments we received two letters from rupture design group edg This is an engineering company. I have a lot of respect for and in this particular case They have been hired in by one of the neighbors That has the the financial ability to bring in a legal counsel and Another engineering firm to do their best to make this look as bad as possible And that's their their right to do But the letter That we received first was about storm water. It had 13 points in it I did Respond and provided a letter to the board as well as that other engineer The ten engineer got it Jason skills had zero comments relative to the Berkshire design group comments He had a few very minor points The largest of which was that he would like to see Belt and suspenders approach to make darn well sure that there's no possibility of ice ever coming over the sidewalk so he would like us to add a bit of a Cut-off drain a curtain drain on part of the property just up till the sidewalk, which We're going to add to the plan just as jason recommended Berkshire design group also provided a letter with 17 points regarding the site plan The vast majority of which were very minor and I and I talked about those in the letter And I'm happy to go into them, but I'm doing a lot of talking here If you have questions, we'll do that There was one point Which I already touched upon that Berkshire design group brought up and that was section 6.6 of the zoning bylaw And this is when my mic was cutting out. So maybe I didn't make my point, but 6.6 would say that an educational use or a religious use would have to have a double setback requirement If you were to have a large church or a research facility or a dorm This makes an awful lot of sense the building is proposed While it does function and is you know, chartered to be an educational Facility its use is really an office and it is a very small building Relative to to a church or university building. So doubling the setbacks doesn't make sense, but more importantly And this is a quote from the building commissioner who released a letter this afternoon He says that section 6.6 of the zoning bylaw does not apply And the additional setback is not required So that's why I'm confident that the site as design does meet all the dimensional requirements of the town I am I necessarily have to talk about waivers a little bit here I'll try and move through this quickly bylaw 7.004 talks about parking spaces and how many spaces The the gist of it is We are we're looking for eight instead of 15 And bylaw 7.90 allows waivers By the board for safety aesthetic and site design reasons We have very strong aesthetic and site design reasons in this particular case being in the historic district Primarily to preserve the viewscape. This is a critical motivation for the plan and and virtually every aspect of it The viewscape of course to the emmerse women's club, which is mostly Obscured by its own vegetation, which is gorgeous, but you can't see the building very well, but really the Henry Hills house We we want we don't want to put a parking lot in front of that or we don't want to force the building to the west Just to have 15 parking spaces when we only use two and a half parking spaces on average so Additionally the historic district commission had stipulations that we did want to hide the cars We did want to preserve the lawn and even though that lawn on the west of the property is not No longer belongs to 38 Gray Street Henry Hills It does still feel like it is contiguous and historically it was contiguous with that property So we are able to preserve that continuity and historic significance by having a small parking lot And it does also minimize the impact on the neighborhood The parking lot does meet all the design standards meets or exceeds them and The spaces of the eight proposed spaces also exceeds the building needs. We have 44 years of parking And the average we have two and a half cars there and almost never more than five cars. So eight spaces Are even that's going to be more than necessary almost every single day Every hour of every day So we have confidence that the parking lot is proposed is more than adequate By law 7.103 Um, this talks about you can't normally by the bylaw park a car within eight feet of the building or drive a car within five feet of the building And in a pre-submitted meeting with Mike Roy the fire safety officer fire safety officer Uh, I think is his title the fire department Um, he indicated that that rule is because there's concern about if a car catches fire We do not want to ignite the building that it's next to this is makes an awful lot of sense But he also said that well, you can use fire retardant materials in the construction Where you are less than eight feet from a parking space where we are less than five feet from a parking space And that takes care of the concern so, um Or this is what we're proposing where we are using uh intimate and paint and or fire engineered materials Within those areas of the construction Yes, to ensure the the protection of the building itself that is definitely in amherst media's interest as well Going down the list all of these bylaw 11.221.2436 and the planning board rule and regulation Dot that dot item six talk about traffic study traffic reports traffic statements And I've already spoken about this a fair amount Uh, we are generating 12 to perhaps 20 trips per day That is about the same as one and a half residences Peak hours only going to see two or three trips. If you look at the the numbers of it The access is off a low volume road off of gray street, you know, so long as it's not during school hours, which we are not and There's the users of the building unlike a lot of offices Do use public transit and walk and bike quite regularly So it diminishes the the traffic trip generation Look this one says wrap up. So, um, I do want to mention that you know, the project does address all the bylaw requirements We have followed the board's recommendations from 2019 We do have the support of the local historic district commission Not just with the certificate of appropriateness, but with an additional letter of support And we have made significant improvements to the building and to the site From its original our original submittal more than a year ago And substantially diminished the neighborhood impact And I would like to close with kind of a hypothetical of what if I really believe that this project is going to succeed in the permitting process But I do want to provide information to a small degree to the planning board but in a larger sense to the general public and the reality of What we're looking at two viable buildable lots on main street These are prime real estate in the historic district And if embers media is not successful Then what happens next? What if they're not successful and the project is denied? So the land is going to be sold. That is the logical next step and because if embers media's project after going through the process it has is not Approvable then Really no local small business is going to be willing to step in and pick this up So if in this business district somebody wants to buy the two lots that are there and use them as a single developable lot It's in all likelihood going to be some corporate entity. So they're going to have a non-local interest They're going to have deep pockets and they're going to already know the history of these meetings and be ready to Propose something that they think is going to work and they're going to have the Wherewithal to to work that through the permitting process Assuming they meet the regulations and appropriateness everybody has to do that Um, but what's really more likely is that it won't be sold to a business It it will be left as two lots and sold as two single family residences in the historic district and in that case Many of the the dissenting perspectives that I've heard about this project The the concerns are made much worse With two single family homes going up here for several reasons one and from a technical standpoint Single family homes do not have to manage their storm water. So there's going to be increased runoff from the site the IC sidewalk condition will in all likelihood continue And the the mitigation that is being offered by this commercial development is is going to vanish that One of these lots only has frontage on main street in the turning lane So for them to be in and out of their house, they're going to have to go through a relatively tricky intersection Not intersection, but the lane widening It's it'll be a dicey little area to be getting in and out of from a residential driveway but is absolutely permissible by the bylaw And putting you know the homes that would go up on these sites They're they're not going to be small little capes not not with the prime real estate in a historic district They're going to be commensurate with the large and beautiful homes on gray street So you will see a two-story home with an attic probably on each of these properties One of which is smack dab in front of the henry hills house so That view scape is going to vanish they're going to have trees eventually and much of what people are fighting for to preserve this view Uh is is going to be utterly lost when somebody comes and build the house there because the house doesn't go in front of the planning board goes in front of the historic district commission that you just have to provide appropriateness Very very hard for any municipality as I know the board knows to say well You can't build here because we just don't want anything there If it's a buildable lot and the proposal meets the bylaw requirements The the building is is virtually guaranteed it has to be appropriate But it's almost certain to go forward as two single family homes If if a project like embers media doesn't go forward and embers media is locally oriented It's been community service for many years. They're going to manage their storm water They're going to manage the storm water coming at them from uphill from the embers women's club and from the henry hills house And this project pushed down to the east and low side of the site Is going to really preserve the view of the henry hills building So these are things that I want the board to keep in mind and really the public to keep in mind that From my perspective that the embers media proposal is just about the best thing that could possibly be put on this property I know many people say nothing should go there If you owned a bunch of property and had somebody tell you you can't build on it That's that's a bit of a problem to say property owner rights are are real and this has been plated for development for a number of years So this this is what we're doing. We're trying to meet the community needs and and move forward with this village district and ideas for the town So with that, thank you for your time And dealing with the technical difficulties I've been managing here And I turn it over now to the board for questions comments. We'll go back and forth a little bit I'll turn my volume up and hopefully if you get echoey, let me know, but thank you Thank you, mr. Sparkle. No, that was all very informative and to be expected a lot of information Um, we'll give you a break for a minute. Um, I now might be a good time for us to do our site visit report Um, and then we'll do questions from the board Jack jumps I think volunteered to do the site visit report. Are you can you do that jack? Yes um So, yeah, a group of us met there. I think everybody Uh, except Doug and Maria um, and they had outlined the footprint of the building with a string and had a survey tripod set up with the with the actually, uh, the survey Stick ruler whatever that so we get an idea of not only the horizontal layout of the structure, but as well as the height of The the crust of the of the roof line And on different ends of the building too as well So that what was uh, it was a very good site visit in terms of seeing what had to happen We observed that the drainage coming from the henry hills house was, uh converted into an underground drain that connects to the to, uh, the sewer on gray street Uh, so we saw, you know, like a disturbed area Uh, as a result of that that obviously looked like it probably remedy quite a bit with regard to the storm water Or the surface water runoff that was coming off the uphill property. We observed, uh, the new retaining wall on the abutting house uh To the north on gray street um and and then What else would we talk about Anyway, just just general background Yeah, I think that's that was basically a Um, chris, do you have anything else to add in regard to questions that were asked or anything and will a report eventually be generated from that? Um, I can write a report if you would like me to that would probably be a good idea I took a lot of notes during the site visit. Um, one thing that we did note was that What mr. Sparkle said with regard to the view of the henry hills house There are some birch trees that Currently block the view of the hills house until you get past the birch trees when you're coming from the east so the we observe that the West end of the building is going to be roughly where those birch trees are so you have to So you'd get past the building and you'd be able to see The hills house immediately past the new building if it does get built We talked about the fact that the western portion of the lot would be relatively The same as it is now. I think it's going to be raised 10 inches and graded to meet the surrounding grade So we we sort of Noted where that was going to be and we talked about What the entrance where the entrance drive would be Um over towards the east and we also talked about the fact that the town When it was constructing the turning lane onto triangle street encroached onto The samurse media property and that the town is going to Obtain an easement for members media because of that encroachment I think that's it Right. Um, yeah, the only other thing I want to add is it's great having this slide up right now that when we Stood to the west of where the building is proposed That you can see the building is actually sunk a little bit into the hill. You can kind of see that there And as jack was referencing we actually had like a ruler showing the end of that building will be about 18 or 19 feet up and um Chris talked about adding They're going to grade a little bit more Right to that to the left there on the west side. I think uh, mr. Sparkle had said it was like 10 inches of dirt or something that would be spread over that area and raise it a little bit Which will only hide this building even more And I think the peak the center part you can see there. I think that was 26 feet correct me if i'm wrong Mr. Sparkle or someone Um, I think that height was 26 which is equal or less than The next building that is to the north of it the residential house So that was a lot. Thanks jack. Um, at this point i'm going to open up to questions for from the board But I just want to clarify one thing we will be This hearing will be continued to our next planning board needing Which I believe I think is the 15th. Yeah for two weeks from now the 15th So we got a tremendous amount of documentation with this project that we've been all reading and going through And we will have time later to get into the weeds of different letters and reports that we have Um tonight I would like to focus board questions on the presentation that happened and questions that can be Um given to mr. Sparkle or the architect mr. Gillan Or even uh amherst media itself their representative. So at this time I see one hand And when I don't see any more hands in a bit if we don't have more questions for tonight Then I will open it up for public comment and Um, so I see dug and then I have jack I don't actually have a question for anyone But I did want to take the opportunity at the start of this deliberation to state what I understand to be our role in this process and that is Contrary to what a number of neighbors and maybe other people in the community Think we are not in the position of prohibiting Or stopping this project The owner of this property has the right to build on the property And we are here to review and help optimize the site plan for Uh in consideration of the surrounding neighborhood so You know People don't like it. Uh, you know this has come been been a a project that's been coming for a number of years and Unless the town or somebody else wants to buy the property and, uh That something's going to be built here That's all I want. Thank you, Doug. Uh, just so to remind everyone that is what we're addressing tight word addressing us site plan review and not a special permit So, uh, jack you're next and then I uh michael's next um, yes, I I was just looking at a pdf and I lost it. Um, but anyway, I thought that the presentation was excellent. Uh, very thorough This design Uh, just I don't want to say it's flawless, but it is so much improved and uh, and uh Quite impressive and I know the storm water was something you had to solve so i'm glad that you you figured something out, uh in that regard and I guess I had okay here. I have the diagram it's your uh grading drainage and utilities plan sheet 414 and um, you know, I It appears that you addressed the comments by birchard design group, which is fine and then You know, the city engineer or town engineer did not have Uh, any comments subsequent, uh to that um And I just I guess I'm just curious about the storm water the The water that's going up into the field. Is that all just uh water from the roof? Only All right, I think I'm back online. You are we can hear you. Thank you. Um So the roof water the vast majority of that water is being collected Um, I think I'm getting it. I go hang on. Let me there is a little echo I'll turn you down here. Um, turn me down. That's so odd Most of the roof water is being collected and through gutters and brought in. There's a little pipe back here. I'm gonna zoom in a bit Um, a pipe back here that collects water from the roof and a pipe through here that collects water from the roof of gutter system And uh that that water is considered clean as it it doesn't have any runoff from the earth. It's not a metal roof We are also there's a catch basin down here. So in addition to the roof area Um, which is I should say that there is a minimum of 65 percent of the impervious area that's being created that we capture that And infiltrate that on an average annual basis The roof area is not sufficient to achieve 65 percent However, uh, if you were to look at the property so you can see that there's a slope You know these contours that run this way we have a slope coming at us from The Amherst swimming club in 38 Gray Street That brings in two and a half acres of water into our system that flows over the ground and we're a half acre site So we are collecting two and a half acres of runoff And through this catch basin And then we are more than Meeting our recharge requirement. In fact, we are going to be putting a huge volume of water back into the earth Far more than is necessary just because we're going to be collecting it And in times where overflows, which will occasionally happen The overflow will go through the pipe system through our detention system be detained in most circumstances and then go to the Town's storm drain. I'll point out that right now. There's a catch basin On the street here And catch basins on the street here that are collecting the runoff from All of the what is now grass area So it goes directly to the town's drain system in this current condition including over the sidewalk Which is part of that icy condition So we're grabbing that water. We're putting it through a settling tank. We're grabbing a volume of it We're pumping it into this It's not really a drain field It's it's an irrigation system in some ways. It's a very specialized tubing with small emitters We're going to be recharging with roof water As well as the currently unmitigated runoff From the 38 main and the Amherst women's club Great. Well, well, thank you It looks like a very smart design. I'm glad you were able to engineer something Where you were able to move the building to the east And make use of the uh the free board above the water table over there on the on the west side for The infiltration that you needed to have so nice job I grew as an engineer on this particular design. So, uh, it was good. Thank you for the compliment Okay, uh next is michael and then maria Thank you. I echo every what everyone's been saying, uh Particularly uh Doug's point that uh, we are here to improve the project if we can and not to uh to block it. I I would I recall when I first moved to town and when I lived in the dickinson house For not 10 years Uh that the hills house and the women's club both had huge lawns in front of them And there were no buildings on the side of gray street up to the women's club up to where the boys girls club was at that point And that was a beautiful landscape And I wish that were still a beautiful landscape And it is not, uh, I think uh, mr. Gillum and mr. Sparkle have put together an excellent solution to The need for and the Inevitability of a building on this site Much as I would hate much as I hate to see a building on this site Nonetheless, there's going to be one and this is going to be a good one I think I do have one question relative to the studio usage and Its relationship to the amount of parking that's provided um I don't know exactly what kind of studio production activities are planned Uh, I do know that uh when you have studio production You have a certain number