BELLINGHAM PLANNING BOARD
2 MECHANIC STREET
BELLINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS 02019
(508) 657-2892 FAX (508) 966-2317
September 11, 2008 Meeting Minutes
Patricia M. Buckley (PMB), Chairman
Glenn C. Wojcik (GCW), Vice Chairman
Stephen Bartha (SB), Secretary
David Brown (DB)
Brian J. Sutherland (BJS)
John Sexton (JS), Associate Member
Other officials: Stacey J. Wetstein (SJW), Town Planner (absent)
Amy Cook (AC), Commission on Disabilities
Amy Sault (AS), Coordinator
PMB opened the meeting at 7:00pm.
New Business
LIG (81-P) Ed SanClemente, LIG; Joe Antonelis, attorney representing LIG.
Mr. SanClemente advised that they had two 81P’s and were reviewed by SJW to make sure that they were correct. Mr. SanClemente explained that they were separated into two separate lots which are why there are two 81P’s due to land court request.
SB: Motion to sign the 81P for the LC Lot J as shown on Plan LCC 7594-A in Bellingham, MA.
BJS: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
SB: Motion to sign the 81P division of LC Lots 168, 169, 170 and 171 as shown on Plan LCC 7594-40 in Bellingham, MA.
BJS: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
Stall Brook (81-P) Bill Halsing, Land Planning
Mr. Halsing plans to divide the property into two lots which meets the minimum frontage of 200 feet.
BJS: Motion to approve and sign the 81P for the plan of land owned by Bellingham Farm, 118 Water Street, Worcester, dated September 3rd 2008.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
LIG Athletic Fields, Maple and High Street, Development Plan Review, Continued Public Hearing, Major Business Complex Special Permit, Continued Public Hearing
Joe Antonellis, attorney for the applicant; Ed SanClemente and Ted Doyle, LIG; Scott Thornton, Vanasse & Associates, Inc; Dan Feeney, Beals and Thomas; and Dan Mills, MDM Transportation Consultants, consultant for the Town.
Mr. Antonellis advised they would be going over traffic this meeting. Mr. Antonellis advised he spoke with Don DiMartino, director of DPW, regarding traffic mitigation for their proposed project. Mr. Antonellis believes it is still early on in the project to talk about a mitigation amount.
PMB opens up the 1st Public Hearing for the Scenic Road Special permit with regard to MX365 Motocross arena at 169 Maple Street.
BJS: Motion to waive the reading of the public notice for MX365 Scenic Road Special Permit.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
Mr. Antonellis advised that they have preliminarily outlined the traffic and where it will be coming from between MX365 and this project and the degree of impact between High and Maple Street is still unknown. Mr. Antonellis stated that it is premature to talk about mitigation. Mr. Doyle advised that there will be about 4-6 large tournaments per year, beyond this, there will be events of various sizes with smaller scale tournaments about 1 every other month or so. Mr. Doyle advised that these tournaments tend to be on Saturdays and Sundays. The morning and evening hours are counter peek. Mr. Doyle advised that one of their major goals is to keep people on site for the food service to provide meals and a fun atmosphere.
BJS questioned the noise levels with the larger groups. Mr. Doyle advised that most of the communication is through leader boards not a PA system. The PA system is more for alerts than for play by play. SB questioned off peak tournament play time such as in February or winter months. Mr. Doyle advised that it works out to be 6 per year or the every other month average that he previously mentioned.
PMB questioned the hours of operation, Mr. Doyle advised they would be opened until 10pm outside and until 1am for the inside fields.
Mr. Antonellis advised that due to the increase popularity of lacrosse, they might try to offer this as well. Mr. Doyle added that they will be able to accommodate lacrosse, soccer, field hockey, flag football and Frisbee. PMB questioned trip generations and if they had studied similar facilities. Mr. Antonellis advised that because there are so many different activities going on throughout the course of a year that it is hard to narrow down the trip generation. Mr. Doyle advised that the 4-6 larger tournaments would include soccer and lacrosse mixed.
Stall Brook Business Park, (formerly Lot 2), Farm Street, Development Plan Review, Continued Public Hearing
PMB opens up the Continued Public Hearing for Stall Brook, formerly lot 2, Bill Halsing, Land Planning, representing the client. Mr. Halsing advised the Board that they are requesting a withdrawal without prejudice for Stall Brook, formerly lot 2. BJS questioned if they plan to resubmit a project for this property. Mr. Halsing advised they will be coming back to submit two separate Development Plans for lots one and two in the near future.
BJS: Motion to accept the request for withdrawal without prejudice of Stall Brook Business Park, formerly lot 2, Farm Street, Development Plan Review.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
LIG Athletic Fields Continued
Mr. Antonellis advised that there are other facilities in the area that are larger than their proposed site. BJS suggested they look at the blending of traffic between two different sites as they are offering both indoor and outdoor fields. Scott Thornton advised they did look at other similar facilities. Mr. Thornton advised that he would not want to base mitigation on events that only impact traffic six separate times per year. He also advised that basing the mitigation on the normal daily activities would best suite this facility. Mr. Antonellis advised that between all the traffic consultants he believes that they have collectively done their study. PMB added that she thinks this will be good for the Town of Bellingham but she questioned if they had further looked into a playground for the
siblings to play while the fields are in use. Mr. SanClemente advised they are still looking into this and will get back to the Board at a later date.
SB questioned if the Board wanted to see a study of the regular weekend traffic or should they wait until a tournament to get specific traffic counts. GCW advised that the traffic counts could be skewed because people may just come in just to watch. Mr. Doyle advised that it averages out to be 2.5 people viewing per playing person. Mr. Mills advised that it might be tough to get an accurate traffic count due to the fact that this proposed facility is so different than any other sports facilities in the area.
SB questioned the other sports and barriers between the fields. Mr. Doyle advised that there is netting and fencing for both soccer and lacrosse. PMB questions the type of turf, Mr. Doyle advised that it is synthetic turf.
Jim Dunlea, High Street, asked if tournaments would be playing late into the night. PMB advised that the Board had already addressed this question and that it is proposed to be opened until 10pm for the outdoor fields and until 1am for the indoor fields.
Dawn Davies, Grove Street, asked the amount of tournaments per year. Mr. Doyle advised it would be 4-6 large tournaments per year.
BJS: Motion to continue the Development Plan Review of LIG Athletic Fields, Maple and High Street to October 9, 2008 at 7:00pm.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
BJS: Motion to continue the Major Business Complex Special Permit of LIG Athletic Fields to October 9, 2008 at 7:00pm.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
Dwyer Business Park, 316 Hartford Avenue, Development Plan Review, Continued Public Hearing Rick Goodreau, United Consultants, Scott Dwyer, owner, Bill Scully, MS Transportation Systems, Inc. and Dan Mills, MDM Transportation Consultants.
Mr. Goodreau advised that they have pretty much summed up what the Board has asked of them including addressing all of Meridian and MDM review comments. The Board wants to see the building plans prior to them making a decision. Mr. Goodreau asked the Board if they would consider receiving those plans after the Building Department has made a decision. DB advised that per the Zoning Bylaws it cannot be done this way.
PMB advised that the only other outstanding issue is the discussion of mitigation. Mr. Dwyer advised the Board that he priced the study out and it would only cost them about $10,000. Mr. Mills advised that he believed that Don DiMartino, Director of DPW, wanted the Town to be able to do the study themselves for consistency. Mr. Mills also brought up the driveway location and the rounded exit. Mr. Mills also advised they were looking to see a greater separation from the driveways by shifting one of the driveways over about 10-15 feet. BJS advised that seems it would make the driveway movement awkward.
PMB advised that she would like to see them submit their information to the Building Department by Monday and have the set of plans requested to the Board prior to their next scheduled meeting.
BJS: Motion to continue Dwyer Business Park, 316 Hartford Avenue, Development Plan Review to September 25, 2008 at 7:10pm.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
MX365 Motocross Arena, 169 Maple Street, Development Plan Review, Continued Public Hearing, Scenic Road Special Permit, 1st Public Hearing
Joe Antonellis, attorney for the applicant, Russ Cobb, owner, Lou Allevato, sound engineer, Andy Carballeira, Cavanaugh & Tocci, Steve Karan, B.E.R., Dan Mills, MDM Transportation Consultants and Mike Burr, Town of Bellingham Tree Warden.
Mr. Antonellis wanted to hold off on talking about traffic. Mr. Burr advised the Board that he has met with Mr. Cobb and it depends on where the entrance would be to determine how many trees would be taken down. Mr. Cobb advised that they do not want to cut anymore trees that they have to. Mr. Burr advised that the large oak tree will need to come out either way due to sight distance issues. Mr. Mills advised that there were two access driveways on the original proposal. Mr. Burr said that the access driveway in the middle works for the scenic road.
Mr. Antonellis advised that they will be in touch with Dan Mills regarding traffic. BJS questioned a cluster of trees on the north of the property. Mr. Burr advised he was not aware of the tree well.
Mr. Karan advised he would be talking about carbon monoxide. The calculations were taken out of the Mass code and are calculated at 25 parts per million. PMB questioned if this was an open facility, Mr. Karan advised that air is pumped in and is an indoor facility. Mr. Karan also advised that it is safe for a person to breath the inside air for up to 10 hours at a time. SB questioned if people will be working on the track and wanted to know what the employee responsibility is on the track. Dave Cobb advised that the likelihood of a person being on the track for 10 hours at a time is highly unlikely. Mr. Karan reiterated that the air is safe for people in the building. Mr. Antonellis advised that alarm levels would go off due to polluted air. JS has questions regarding the dilution process of the air. BJS questions the impact to the smell quality of the air as a result of the carbon dioxide emitted by the exhaust. Mr. Antonellis clarified that the Board wants a statement
saying that the outdoor air will not be contaminated.
PMB questioned the hours of operation and whether people would be permitted to park their trailers in the parking lot and sleep there if they plan to ride for an extended period of time. Mr. Cobb advised that this was not a part of their plan.
Dawn Davies wanted to know how often the air quality system was tested. Mr. Karan advised that it is tested as suggested by the manufacturer.
Jim Dunlea, High Street, wanted to know if this arena is under same qualifications as Formula One.
Mr. Allevato advised the roof would be metal paneling, the sides of the building would be finished with high quality paint and the building will be fully protected by a sprinkler system. Mr. Allevato advised that the floor plan included some snack areas and some shopping at the entrance level off the street. Then along the top of building would be a storage mezzanine. BJS questioned the clearstory windows and if the interior building light would glare onto neighbors properties. Mr. Allevato advised that it would not glare onto the neighbor’s properties and he would verify this for the Board.
Mr. Carballeira advised that they propose to move the air generator to the south side of the building so it is not close to the nearest abutter and that the building itself would work as an actual sound barrier too. Mr. Carballeira advised that the proposed site would be at 25 decibels. BJS needed clarification. Mr. Carballeira advised the sound will not significantly affect the current sound on Maple Street. PMB advised that the Board would like to see an air purifier and how much it would cost.
Jim Dunlea, High Street, questioned the lighting and the shielding of the lights and how they came about their decibel levels. Mr. Carballeira explained.
Dan Mills questioned the viewing capacity and what space is available for people to view. Mr. Antonellis advised he will get Mr. Mills the number as it relates to parking and mitigation.
Dawn Davies, Grove Street, questioned if there are his and her locker rooms. Mr. Cobb advised that there is.
BJS: Motion to continue the public hearing of MX365 Motocross Arena, 169 Maple Street, Development Plan Review until October 9, 2008 at 7:30pm.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
BJS: Motion to continue the public hearing of MX365 Motocross Arena, 169 Maple Street, Scenic Road Special Permit until October 9, 2008 at 7:30pm.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
BJS: Motion to extend the decision deadline for MX365 Motocross Arena, 169 Maple Street, Development Plan Review until October 24, 2008.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
BJS: Motion to extend the decision deadline for MX365 Motocross Arena, 169 Maple Street, Scenic Road Special Permit until October 24, 2008.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved
General Business
Stonehedge Road Street Acceptance Request
The Board discussed the condition of the road and that the Town cannot complete the work needed with the remaining funds.
BJS: Motion not to vote in favor of supporting the street acceptance for Stonehedge Road.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
Sign Vouchers
BJS: Motion to sign the vouchers.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
BJS: Motion to adjourn.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0 Approved.
Minutes Accepted on: _______________________ ______________________________________
(date) (prepared by: Amy Sault)
__________________________________________ ______________________________________
Stephen Bartha Brian J. Sutherland
__________________________________________ ______________________________________
David Brown Glenn Wojcik
__________________________________________
Patricia M. Buckley
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