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Minutes of the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on January 10, 2008
Meeting convened at 7:35 pm in the Donaldson Conference Room at Town Offices. Present: John Kimball, Chair, members Anna Hardman, Joel Freedman, Jeff Macklin, Win Quayle, Steve Daigle, and Dorothy Blakeley, ZBA Clerk.
1) Food Project, 10 Lewis Street, M/P 95 31 0, seeks special permits for two new tenants, Jamey Pope, a furniture maker, and RE-Max, a real estate firm. Appearing on behalf of the Food Project was Jen James, Associate Director, along with the prospective tenants, Jamey Pope and Sheila Harding. It was noted that the Planning Board has recommended approval of these tenants and submitted a written recommendation to the ZBA dated January 3, 2008.
A) Jamey Pope - The Board discussed Mr. Pope’s business operation, including the fact that it is mostly hand work, not machine driven and that he is a single proprietor with no assistant. Mr. Pope produced photos of his work to share with the Board. It was noted that this tenant would fall under 10.2.C section of the Zoning By-law which allows craft workshops including retail sales.
B) RE-Max, represented by Sheila Harding, realtor. This applicant was asked by the Board about the number of employees expected to be employed at this location and parking. Ms. Harding responded that 3 people are employed at this location, but not all at one time; as two are realtors who also work out of their homes and one is a part time assistant. Ms. Harking stated that parking is not an issue. It was noted that this business would fall under 10.2.B section of the Zoning By-law, allowing business or professional offices in the B-2 district.
Mr. McCart, business owner at 22 and 24 Lewis Street, stated he is not opposed to anything, and that his only concern is parking. Jen James noted that the Food Project has staff meetings every 6 weeks on Wednesdays when all staff is required to attend. This creates a parking issue that she will address by having the staff “stack” their cars in the parking lot and avoid parking on the road. It was also noted that at this time of year, the roads become narrower due to snow and that this makes parking more difficult for everyone.
Motion to close the record approved unanimously.
Action: Motion to approve these two new tenants and to renew the Food Project’s tenancy approved unanimously. Panel includes: John Kimball, Chair, Anna Hardman, Joel Freedman, Jeff Macklin, Steve Daigle and Win Quayle. Joel Freedman is the Decision writer.
T-Mobile Business Discussion:
The Board members reviewed and discussed the extensive record compiled in the matter of the T-Mobile/Omnipoint Application. The Board members discussed whether or not the applicant had demonstrated a gap in the area to be served by its proposed tower, what the record showed about the extent and significance of the gap, and, if there was one, whether the wireless communication facility proposed by the applicant was the least intrusive means of filling that gap. The record showed that the gap covered much less of Route 126 than shown by the ellipse sketched by the applicant. The Board members also believed that the record showed that much, if not all, of the remaining area of potentially weak signal strength could be eliminated in various other ways: such as by locating its antennas on a wireless
communication facility within the Lincoln Wireless Overlay District and supplementing these antennas with a small number of pole-mounted antennas along the public way in the area where the signal may get weaker, or by antennas on a site in Concord planned by the Applicant. The Board noted there were no practical or legal barriers to obtaining a 120 foot tower at the Public Safety building.
Balancing the visual and other detriments to the Applicant’s proposed location described by the abutters and interested parties, against the alternatives pointed out by the Planning Board and the Board’s radiofrequency consultant, David Maxson of Broadcast Signal Lab, the Board concluded that the balance favored the latter. In light of these feasible alternatives and the Planning Board’s ongoing history of working productively with providers of wireless communication services (including the applicant), the Board believed that this application did not demonstrate that denial of the present application would amount to a prohibition of services under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Board, Anna Hardman, Joel Freedman, Jeff Macklin, Win Quayle, Steve Daigle, voted to direct Mr. Kimball to
prepare an opinion for circulation and review that embodied a decision to deny the application and to encourage the applicant to pursue feasible alternatives. The Board’s decision would become final upon signing and filing with the Town Clerk
Administrative:
Completed decisions signed.
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