Category Archives: Zoning

Zoning suggestion for Marijuana clinics

Posted on January 30, 2013 | Comments Off on Zoning suggestion for Marijuana clinics

Memorandum

To:                   Members of the Planning Board

From:               Sarah Raposa, Town Planner

Date:                January 18, 2013

Re:                   Medical Marijuana Dispensary Zoning

For your consideration:

To amend the Zoning Bylaw for the purpose of regulating the locations of medicinal marijuana facilities to create a new section “5.4.4.10.a” after section 5.4.4.10 so that it reads as follows:

  Use

A

R-E

R-T

R-S

R-U

B

B-I

I-E
5.4.4.10.a Medical marijuana treatment center (as defined by MGL)

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

SP

Summary –

The intent of this bylaw amendment is to address possible adverse public health and safety consequences related to the passage of  Question 3 on the November 6, 2012 State Referendum. It is the purpose of this amendment to minimize any potential adverse impacts on the quality of life in the Town.  It is the intent of this bylaw amendment to establish specific zoning standards and regulations for medical marijuana centers (treatment and dispensing facilities), medical marijuana infused products, medical marijuana paraphernalia, etc;

To provide for the limited establishment of Medical Marijuana Treatment and Dispensing Facilities in appropriate places and under strict conditions in acknowledgment of the passage of Initiative Petition 11-11 (Question #3 on the November, 2012 state ballot);

To minimize the adverse impacts of Medical Marijuana Treatment and Dispensing Facilities on adjacent properties, residential neighborhoods, schools and other places where children congregate, local historic districts, and other land uses potentially incompatible with said  Facilities;

To regulate the siting, design, placement, safety, monitoring, modification, and removal of Medical Marijuana Treatment and Dispensing Facilities; and

To limit the overall number of Medical Marijuana Treatment and Dispensing Facilities in the Town to what is essential to serve the public necessity.

* The Board of Selectmen have requested a joint meeting to discuss this proposal.

Is February 5 available to the Planning Board?

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Posted in Planning, Zoning

Business of Medfield is homes

Posted on January 7, 2013 | 2 comments

Yesterday, on my way to Shaw’s for the weekly groceries, I made what was for me a long postponed first visit to an open house at Olde Medfield Square, and learned several surprising things.

20130107-Olde Medfield Square-picture

  • it is comprised of 42 customized and all different condo units of 2-3,000 sq. ft. each, on a total of under 7 acres, each selling for upwards of $1 m.
  • 2 school children total live in the 25-27 homes that have been sold – one of whom just moved in and the other will graduate come June (so, basically, one school child)
  • property taxes to the town will run $600,000+ per year, making it a major revenue generator, profit center for Medfield
  • no architect was used, instead Ralph Costello, the developer, Sharon Bartelloni, his Marketing Director, and their staff just work out each unit on their own, saving about $25,000 per unit per Ralph
  • they have copyrighted each design, so they can easily replicate the homes
  • they have had requests form municipal officials in other towns, asking them to replicate the whole project in their towns
  • original plans to construct four large five unit buildings along Rte. 27 were altered when they learned people preferred the detached, but closely situated units
  • this density is allowed, as of right, in our RU zone in the downtown.
  • I really like the look from having the garages in the rear
  • while the units are close together, one can see that the fenestration is planned mainly on only one side of each unit, so that adjoining units  do not have the feel of looking into one another’s homes

Lessons for Medfield:  The business of Medfield can be providing the housing that draws people to town, as it is not just the schools that draw people to town.  Given Medfeld’s distance from major highways, it will always be a hard sell to get large businesses and retail to locate in Medfield, so we cannot count on expanding our tax base in reliance on those fronts.  Therefore, the town will be better served in the long run if it actively promotes more of the type of housing, such as Olde Medfield Square, that requires few municipal services.  Such projects will balance our existing single family housing stock which attracts the high numbers of school children.

Ten years ago, as a new selectman attending a seminar on municipal issues sponsored by the Attorney General, I heard the former town planner for Lexington say that his studies in Lexington discovered that it averaged 1.5 school children per single family detached house, but only 0.15 school children per unit in attached housing.  He recommended to us was building housing to increase our tax base, but the “right” type of housing.

The Olde Medfield Square example shows us that it it not just attached units that have fewer school children, it is also the densely packed detached units without yards large enough for a swing set.  In addition to having dramatic curb appeal and providing a different housing option, these homes are a real fiscal win for the town.

2 Comments

Posted in Budgets, Development, Downtown, Planning, Town Services, Zoning

ZBA approved Gatehouse’s 40B by 2-1

Posted on December 6, 2012 | Comments Off on ZBA approved Gatehouse’s 40B by 2-1

This afternoon the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Medfield voted to approve the Gatehouse application for its 40B project on West Street by a 2-1 vote.  Zoning Board of Appeals chair Bob Sylvia was the dissenting vote, and reportedly resigned from the ZBA after the vote. Bob had served on the ZBA and been its chair for forty years.

Bob Sylvia was arguing for an approval for sixty units.  However, the town’s legal consultant for the Gatehouse application, Mark Bobrowski, and the town counsel, Mark Cerel, both opined that such a large reduction in the number of approved units would allow Gatehouse to easily have the ZBA  decision reversed by the state Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) as a constructive denial. 

Mark Bobrowski had been earlier tasked by the ZBA to write a draft decision, including what concessions he thought legally achievable and appropriate.  Bob Sylvia disagreed with that draft, and he then recently undertook to author his own alternative version of an approval decision. 

The Zoning Board of Appeals faced a Hobson’s choice, per the counsel it got from Mark Cerel and Mark Bobrowski.  The classic legal advice is that the ZBA has to approve such a 40B application, but with reasonable conditions, if it hopes to survive a developer’s appeals of its decision to the HAC.  The strategy for the ZBA is to know just how far they can push the concessions in their decision, and still have the decision upheld by the HAC.  The ZBA’s disagreement today was apparently over just how far out the ZBA decision could successfully push that line, and skilled attorneys disagreed over where that line could safely to be drawn for Medfield. 

Of the other ZBA members, Russ Hallisey is an attorney who deals with real estate issues, and Charlie Peck is a banker.

It is too bad that a professional disagreement amongst attorneys resulted in the resignation of Bob Sylvia, an attorney who has successfully volunteered for and lead the ZBA for forty years.  I served for ten years on the ZBA with Bob, and have great respect and admiration for his leadership of that body that I witnessed.

See Patch article.

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Posted in Affordable housing / 40B, Zoning

Medical marijuana

Posted on November 28, 2012 | Comments Off on Medical marijuana

The Board of Selectmen got (1) a letter from the Walpole selectmen asking us to support their request to the legislature to delay implementation of the medical marijuana statute, and (2) resident Joe Cavanaugh’s suggestion for a zoning change to control where the marijuana “clinics”  can be located in town, along with copies of bylaws enacted in two other towns.

The Walpole delay is to be able to plan for implementation, and to enact regulations and make plans on how to deal with the whole new enterprise.  The zoning changes would be to set out where the stores can be located.

I think Massachusetts missed a huge opportunity to get tax monies from marijuana, as the ballot initiative positions our marijuana “clinics” as non-profits, from which the state will get no revenue at all, but the state will still incur a lot in costs to regulate and police this new business.

And I continue to be concerned for what is apparently the detrimental effects of the marijuana use on our kids, which use will certainly go up once there are the stores around.

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Posted in Children, Elections, Legal, Teens, Zoning

Town planner

Posted on October 17, 2012 | Comments Off on Town planner

Exceptional town employee Norma Cronin, Senior Secretarial Administrator to, but really the heart, sole, and glue of both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals is retiring.  The town has opted to try to replace her (we who have worked with her know she cannot be replaced) with a town planner.  See here the town planner ad posted in the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s monthly magazine The Bulletin.

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Posted in Employees, Planning, Zoning

Goals for the next year

Posted on September 27, 2012 | Comments Off on Goals for the next year

Selectmen will discuss their goals for the next year next Tuesday.  These are my suggestions.  Let me know if you have ideas for different things the Board of Selectmen and the town administrators should be working on this next year.  I just sent these to Ann and Mark and asked for copies of theirs – as I hope to get them before we meet.

2012 Goals and Objectives for the Medfield Town Administrator
and the Board of Selectmen

By Osler L. Peterson, Selectman
September 27, 2012

1.    Conduct a zero based review and revision of our town government departments and their systems to determine whether we are using best practices.
a.    Establish expectations, policies, and procedures for all town boards and departments.
b.    Evaluate staffing levels and positions.
i.    Consider hiring a Finance Director.
c.    Consider partnering with an educational institution to get interns for this task.
d.    Reconsider using the former selectmen to perform this task.
2.    Have Town Administrator institute use of annual calendar for the Board of Selectmen.
3.    Hold a Board of Selectmen joint meeting annually with all town boards and commissions to review our shared purposes and goals.
4.    Determine road repair plans, priorities, and funding – Superintendent to outline.
5.    Work with Water and Sewer Commission on its operations and its master plan.
6.    Oversee the process of dealing with the clean up and reuse of the Medfield State Hospital site.  Complete the bylaw review for issued related to the Medfield State Hospital site.
7.    Annually get written five year written plans from the Town Administrator and department heads.
8.    Work with planning board for new economic growth, on Town’s master plan, and on  downtown zoning.
9.    Develop a strategy for maintenance and renovation of all town buildings.
10.    Develop a strategy to build a new DPW Garage, Public Safety, and Community Center.
11.    Examine opportunities for additional revenue streams.
12.    Identify opportunities for regionalization of services.
13.    Target completion of union negotiations before contracts expire.
14.    Create an evergreen three-year financial forecast of the town, working with the Warrant Committee and the School Committee.
15.    Implement succession planning for key town staffing positions.
16.    Installation of solar PV arrays on town owned land.
17.    Become a Green Community.
18.    Solve the issues about the Veterans Service Officer position.
19.    Perform an analysis of whether overtime is being used the way the town wants.
20.    Maintain town’s fiscal status.
21.    Plant street trees.
22.    Develop a historic house walking tour.

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Posted in Charter & Bylaw Review, Development, Downtown, Employees, Planning, Select Board matters, Town Services, Zoning

Proposed zoning changes at 4/30/12 Town Meeting

Posted on April 27, 2012 | Comments Off on Proposed zoning changes at 4/30/12 Town Meeting

There is an Annual Town Meeting warrant article that proposes changes to the use table under the Town of Medfield’s Zoning Bylaw.  The zoning bylaw use regulations in section 5 of the Town of Medfield’s Zoning Bylaw are proposed to change as per the additions (in green), deletions (in gray), and changes (in yellow) noted in the attached material.

https://medfield02052.blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120427-atm-proposed-zoning-changes.doc

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Posted in Town Meeting, Zoning