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The Planning Board will have three warrant articles for the fall Town Meeting.
Planning Board Chair Jack LeMenager and member Brian Vernaglia explained the purpose of the articles during a Select Board meeting Oct. 5.
LeMenager said the proposals will “simplify zoning bylaws to make it easier for homeowners and developers to get their projects through the development loop. They’re simple changes which will make it easier for applicants to get their projects through.”
Article 4 would amend Section 3.5.5 of the Zoning Bylaw to add insufficient lot width to the circumstances under which a reconstruction, extension, alteration, or change to a conforming structure on a nonconforming lot may be permitted; and to amend Table 4.1.1, Table of Dimensional Requirements, to reduce the minimum lot width in the Residential District A (RDA) from 120 feet to 100 feet.
Vernaglia said the changes to 3.3.5 “will help residents modernize their houses.”
“If you have a non-conforming lot you can do stuff to your house,” he said. “If someone comes in with a non-conforming lot and wants to build a conforming addition, that is allowed.”
Article 5 would amend Section 7.3.15.2 to eliminate the Central Business District (CBD) Review Subcommittee and provide for concurrent design review by the Design Review Committee and historical review by the Historical Commission instead, with each submitting its own report to the Special Permit Granting Authority and to amend Section 7.3.17.5 to remove the reference to the CBD Review Subcommittee.
LeMenager explained, based on the Planning Board writing the CBD bylaw in 2014 and 2015, developers had to go through multiple, redundant reviews, which were hard to arrange logistically anyway.
Article 6 would amend Sections 9.4.3, 9.5.4, and 9.5.5 to remove the required number of paper copies for special permit and site plan review applications, deferring submission requirements to the rules and regulations of the Special Permit Granting Authority; amend Section 9.5.5 to assign transmittal of site plan applications to the Special Permit Granting Authority and extend the transmittal period from three to five days and amend Section 9.5.6 to provide that where a use requires both site plan review and a special permit, the site plan shall be reviewed as part of the special permit application with a single hearing and decision.
“This is something that should have been done a long time ago,” LeMenager said.
Select Board reaction
“How dare you threaten one or more of our redundant committees that make development more expensive and slow,” Select Board Vice Chair William McGonigle reacted in jest. “I can’t believe you are championing efficiency internally and externally. All joking aside, thank you. This is a step in the right direction.”
Select Board Chair Anthea Brady asked LeMenager and Vernaglia if they anticipated any objections at Town Meeting.
“It is the Winchester Town Meeting,” she said.
“Who knows?” LeMenager answered.
“I have ideas where I think they will, but I won’t say any out loud,” Vernaglia added.
He also said reviews of the bylaws are ongoing and may come up at the spring Town Meeting.
“We have significant challenges and can imagine rewriting the whole bylaw, but we’re not quite ready yet,” he reported.
The Planning Board has discussed these changes as far back as April 7. The agenda that night contained an item “to refine the procedures, standards, and criteria associated with special permits and site plan review in order to support clear and predictable development review processes.”
“The zoning bylaw dates back at least 15 or more years. In the intervening years, there have been numerous changes and additions proposed to and approved by Town Meeting,” LeMenager said in the spring. “Each such addition and change adds unanticipated complications and possible contradictions, particularly the site plan review and special permit, which appear in multiple places in the bylaw and where this effort is focused.
“The result is a zoning bylaw that is difficult to navigate and sometimes confusing, especially for the average citizen seeking to improve their property,” he continued. “This effort by the Planning Board and its consultant will strive to find those complications and contradictions and simplify the bylaw.”
Town Planner Taylor Herman added there are three different versions of site plan review, including those for the Main Street Mixed Use District, the CBD and the Zoning Board of Appeals, all of which are slightly different from one another, and it would be best to have one uniform process for all cases.
Neil Zolot has been a freelance journalist more than 40 years. He has worked for newspapers on the North Shore and in the Boston area.
