Planning Board — 2020-06-08

Minutes

MELROSE PLANNING BOARD MEETING MINUTES Special Meeting Monday, June 8, 2020 7:30 PM Remote Meeting PRESENT: Mike Cassavoy, Anne DeSouza-Ward, Paul King, Robert Mercado, Carla Morelli, Sharon Petrillo, John Sadowski, Greg Sampson & Jack Welch ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Denise Gaffey, Director, Emma Schnur, Senior Planner & Lori Massa, Planning Coordinator The meeting was called to order at 7:40 PM by Ms. DeSouza-Ward. Pursuant to Governor Baker’s March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, §18, and the Governor’s March 15, 2020 Order imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Melrose Planning Board was conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and/or parties with a right and/or requirement to attend this meeting was found on the City of Melrose’s website, at www.cityofmelrose.org. No in-person attendance of members of the public was permitted, but every effort was made to ensure that the public could adequately access the proceedings in real time. An audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings was posted on the mmtv3.org website as soon as possible after the meeting. A link was also available on www.cityofmelrose.org. Meeting access information was found at the following link and the application materials were posted to the City’s website: www.cityofmelrose.org/remote-meetings. MODIFIED DEFINITIVE SUBDIVISION PLAN Swains Pond Avenue, 0 Swains Pond Avenue Realty Trust (continued public hearing) Ms. DeSouza-Ward reviewed the permitting timeline for this case. The case was discussed by the Board on January 27, May 4, May 18 and at the current meeting. The Conservation Commission met on May 21 and issued waivers from the Wetlands Protection Act and local wetlands ordinance required for the project to move forward and they will be issuing an Order of Conditions. Planning Board Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 Page 2 of 6 Sean Szekely, Owner/Developer, and Rich William, Civil Engineer, as well as other members of the development team were present remotely to present the revised plans and additional information. Mr. Szekely said that he met with the neighbors individually to answer their questions. Three of the twenty pre-blast surveys were conducted without complaint. They submitted a written response to fifty questions that came up at the last meeting and additional documents to address questions and concerns including a construction sequencing diagram, stockade fence examples, a sketch of the blasting and cut depths, a letter from the blasting contractor about inspections with Covid-19 protection procedures, a plan showing the width of Maple Terrace, a plan of the temporary construction road and topographic plan. Frank DiPietro, Civil Engineer, who is the third-party peer review consultant that the City hired at the Applicant’s expense was present remotely in case any questions arose about the second supplemental peer review report of the project. Mr. Sampson MADE a MOTION to open the public hearing. Mr. Welch SECONDED the MOTION. All members by roll-call voted in favor. None were opposed. Ms. DeSouza-Ward explained that members of the public could use the chat function of the virtual meeting or email the Planning Director to alert the Board that they would like to speak. She read a letter from Brent Robie of 58 Crescent Lane, Malden & 0 Hemenway Court, Melrose into the record as requested. The Board received a letter from Sarah Farooqi of 57 Swains Pond Avenue who also spoke during the public hearing. Some of the comments and questions included the following:  The letter details various reasons against building the house on lot 9 and what that land could be to help mitigate the loss of habitat from the development and connect people to the trail system.  A granite curb over a bituminous curb should be installed along Swains Pond Avenue.  The utility pole 1081 does not appear to fit in the right-of-way.  Is there a new design for the intersection?  How will communication work going forward?  Is there a stop sign at the bottom of Patrick’s Place?  The sidewalk will increase the occurrence of people going down to the stream on the west side of 57 Swains Pond Avenue where there is a drainage easement. Ms. Farooqi would like guidance on installing a fence to block access to the stream.  There was a request for paper communication onsite as well as email or paper mailings.  The City should hire the Clerk of the Works to ensure transparency. The Planning Board members discussed the following. The Applicant’s responses are below.  The City hiring the Clerk of the Works can be difficult due to municipal finance law. The City is involved with the hiring of the Clerk and the City Engineer is comfortable with this approach. The City of Boston hires the Clerks of the Works there but they have so many projects that it is a different situation. Planning Board Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 Page 3 of 6 o Mr. Szekely said that City staff frequently inspected the Regan’s Way project and did not only rely on the Clerk of the Works. Rick Cantone in the Engineering Department visited hundreds of times. The Conservation Agent and others also visited the site.  They discussed if the Clerk of the Works could be responsible for the communication with the neighbors regardless of who hires him/her. o Mr. Williams said that Mr. Szekely would be the best person to communicate with the neighbors because he will be there all of the time and have the best information on what is happening. The Clerk has the technical skills to review the work.  A member asked about the possibility of posting communication at the site. o Mr. Szekely said that there are problems with having a bulletin board like where to put it so that there is access during construction. He would rather electronically inform people. He would mail letters, call or stop by to speak with people that do not have email. o If there is a problem neighbors will call the Planning Department or Inspection Services and City Staff will call Mr. Szekely quickly.  Is there room for the utility pole 1081 without interfering with the sidewalk? o The pole was drawn at 3 feet wide for emphasis. There is space for it. It will not be on private property. Additionally utility companies make sure that poles are in the right-of-way.  Is granite curbing proposed along Swains Pond Avenue? Granite is far superior to asphalt because it will last for much longer. The City requires granite when home owners replace curbs. o A bituminous curb is proposed for Swains Pond Avenue because that is what exists on the street. If it is damaged it will be more expensive for the City to replace than if it is granite. The City is installing bituminous curbs on Dexter Road. Mr. Szekely said that he would install granite curbs along Swains Pond Avenue if requested by the City and tie it into the existing bituminous curb. He was planning on using granite through the rest of the development.  Has the intersection changed? Where will the stop signs be located? Ms. Gaffey explained that the City Engineer reviewed the stop sign locations and said that the proposed intersection should be safer than the existing intersection. She reviewed Ms. Farooqui’s sketch for the intersection and did not agree that this would be a safer alternative. The hatched pavement markings are a typical feature to let pedestrians know that they are in a safe area. Staff have discussed with Mr. Szekely that we will see how the roadway works and evaluate its effectiveness. There maybe an opportunity to make modifications. o There will be two stop signs but they are not yet on the plan. One will be on Maple Terrace at the intersection with Swains Pond Avenue and the other will be on Maple Terrace at the junction with Patrick’s Place to stop before turning left. o There will be a cross walk at the end of Maple Terrace. o Mr. Williams asked that the areas be painted on the binder coat to do the evaluation so that they are not ripping up the newly constructed street. Planning Board Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 Page 4 of 6  What are the hours of construction and hours that trucks will be hauling stone? A proposed condition is that the hours will be 7am on Monday through Friday and 8am on Saturday. Ending hours will be between 3 and 5pm. These hours are more restrictive than the City’s Noise Ordinance because construction has impacts beyond noise.  Why are heat pumps not proposed? During the winter months it will be dangerous to have trucks delivering propane. o Residents can choose to upgrade to have heat pumps instead. They will still need a furnace. The propane tanks are allowed to be buried.  There was discussion about the number of truck loads of stone that will be removed to give the neighbors a sense of the level of activity. For 5 ½ months of blasting there will be approximately 10 to 12 truck trips a day or one every 20 minutes to an hour. It is understandable that they have not done borings all over the site because that is usually only done when a ledge is supporting a structure. Will crushing of stone be done onsite? o Until they strip away the dirt they are estimating how much rock will need to be blasted. o Stone will not be crushed onsite.  Are there any slopes steeper than 3 to 1? Rip rap should not be used in the development. o Lot 9 will have a ledge cut that will be steeper. The land in front of 9 maybe terraced or there may be a sloped wall with larger flat stones. Rip rap will not be used.  What are the final fencing materials? o There will be PVC fence for Lots 1, 2, 3 and possibly 4.The abutter requested that the fence along Lot 1 and 2 be brown or black. The abutters at 14 Hillside Park requested that the fence at Lot 9 be a decorative vinyl coated metal fence. They will leave it to the abutters. No one chose the black vinyl coated chain link fence even thought this it the one that is least prominent.  The documentation of some of the development elements states that they will be constructed according to city standards. The City does not have standards for all of these details.  Is there a level of vibration that is not acceptable? o Yes, this is in the blasting contractor’s written statement.  Will there be crack monitors on the existing houses? Some have stone foundations and it would be best to have close monitoring of them for everyone involved. Will the wells be inspected pre and post construction? o The blasting contractor had left the call. Mr. Szekely said that they would do what is required. No wells are registered. The abutter from 77 Swains Pond Avenue who spoke at the last meeting said that he has a well. That will be documented during his property pre-blasting inspection. o Mr. Szekely is offering to pay for blasting surveys for abutters within 500 feet of the site whereas only abutters within 200 feet are required.  How will people be notified about the pre-blast survey? o They will receive an email or call to schedule a convenient time.  How long will the temporary road be in existence and what will it be made out of? o It will be there for approximately two months and will be made of gravel. Planning Board Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 Page 5 of 6  Who pays for the police details? Who will be enforcing the traffic flow when the police detail is not there? The developer will pay for the detail. People will complain to the City if access is blocked and action will be taken quickly. Also, a truck route will be required.  The constructing sequencing of this project will be difficult and needs more attention. There is going to be no way for trucks to turn around.  All documents that were submitted as part of the application are attached to the approval. Some of the documents change or add to the plans. The Board members will have a chance to review the final plan when they sign it. Mr. Cassavoy MADE a MOTION to close the public hearing. Mr. King SECONDED the MOTION. All members by roll-call voted in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Sampson MADE a MOTION to approve the eight waivers from the subdivision regulations. Mr. Sadowski SECONDED the MOTION. He said that all of the waivers except for one were common. The reduction in the roadway width allows for less aggressive site work and less impervious surface. The percentage grade of road is not typical or encouraged but in this unusual circumstance it is appropriate. All members by roll-call voted in favor except for Mr. Mercado who was opposed. Mr. Mercado said that the development will have a big impact and irrevocable harm on the neighborhood. Also, there are unanswered questions about how the construction will be done. Ms. DeSouza-Ward said that a 9-lot subdivision was approved in the past and a 40B project was approved by the site for the site. This is the reality and not a threat. Something will be built here and this is the best proposal so far. It is a work in progress but there will be controls on the development. Mr. Welch said that he has grave concerns about the construction as this site is woven into a neighborhood. Ms. Petrillo said that Mr. Szekely discussed improving the property in front of houses on Maple Terrace and Swains Pond Avenue that will be disrupted with the construction. Also, the abutters have agreed to the width of Maple Terrace as shown on the plan. She asked how these items are documented into the decision. The emails regarding the work are in the file and will be mentioned in the decision. Ms. Gaffey reviews the draft conditions to attach to the approval. The Board changed the conditions in the following ways.  #1 –Any deviation from the final approved plans and materials submitted as part of the application must be approved by the Planning Board in advance of construction, except as otherwise noted herein.  #14 – Add: The construction work shall be done during low flow conditions.  #23 – Add: The Applicant/Owner shall also provide an example of the sloped placed stone wall. No rip rap shall be allowed. Planning Board Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 Page 6 of 6  #41 - The Applicant/Owner, its successors and/or assigns, shall submit a copy of the recorded easement and deed restriction to the Office of Planning and Community Development that designates the area entitled “Open Space” just west of the intersection of Patrick’s Place and Hillside as undevelopable open space in perpetuity.  Add: The plans that the Board endorses shall have all of the plan elements discussed and agreed upon including the granite curb and stops signs.  Add: All curbing shall be made of granite.  Add: The landscape plan shall be designed by a professional landscape architect.  Add: The rock removal vehicles and equipment shall be outfitted with Broadband Noise (White Noise) backup alarm devices or backup alarms with proximity sensors rather than the conventional audible backup alarm to reduce excessive noise.  Add: Queuing of trucks on the residential streets shall be kept to a minimum. Mr. Cassavoy MADE a MOTION to approve the modification to the subdivision plan with the attached conditions as amended and with the original conditions. Mr. Sampson SECONDED the MOTION. All members by roll-call voted in favor except for Mr. Mercado who abstained. None were opposed. Documents: Subdivision Application Materials Construction Sequence Diagram Letter from Blasting Contractor Second Supplemental Peer Review Sketch Plan Showing Blasting/Cut Depths Sketch Plan Showing Road Layout Widths on Maple Terrace Sketch Plan Showing Temporary Construction Road Stockade Fence Examples Topographic Plan OTHER BUSINESS 87 Essex Street has a mockup of building materials and colors that is ready for the Design Review Subcommittee to review. The Subcommittee planned to meet at the site on June 9 at 5pm to review the mockup. NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for June 29, 2020 at 7:30pm. The meeting adjourned at 10:45 pm.

Transcript

▶ 0:00 We're recording. Okay. All right. Today is June 8, 2020, and this is the regular meeting of the Melrose Planning Board. My name is Anne D'Souza Ward, and I'm the Chairman of the Board. Due to the pandemic, we are meeting remotely under the authority of executive orders from the Governor of the Commonwealth, and I have to read a statement that is required by the state at the beginning of every remote public meeting. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, general laws, chapter 38, section 18, and the governor's March 15th, 2020 order imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in 1 place. This meeting of the Melrose planning board is being conducted via remote participation. No, in person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access.

▶ 0:55 the proceedings as provided for in the governor's executive order a record of this meeting is being recorded and will be posted on mmtv which is www.mmtv3.org as well as the city of melrose website which is www.cityofmelrose.org as soon as possible following its conclusion i want to remind planning board members that they should mute their microphone except when they're speaking to minimize feedback and keep the meeting easy to hear for all of us as well as for the public all votes must be done by a roll call vote when we're in a remote meeting like this we understand this is a trying time for everyone but our goal is to ensure as much as possible that city government and the planning board continue to function for everyone

▶ 1:46 during the public meeting members of the public can see and hear us but they may not participate applicants will be invited to speak as needed and they will be seen and heard when they are speaking during the public hearing members of the public may speak when recognized tonight the only business we have on our agenda is the continued public hearing on the application of zero swain's pond avenue realty trust for a modified subdivision on swain's pond avenue this case was continued from may 18th and again from june 1st 2020 since the previous evening of public hearing the applicant has submitted further information and modifications to his plans and in addition the conservation commission has met deliberated and issued an

▶ 2:34 order of conditions for this project the peer reviewer that we consulted has also submitted his final comments and report. I believe he's available for questions but his final report is his final statement on the case. Before we open the hearing to the public, I'm going to give the applicant an opportunity to summarize the changes and the plans or anything that he wants to summarize that's happened since the last meeting before we move on to questions and comments from From the public, so Sean, or his attorney, I forget who's going to be speaking for us tonight. Sean. Okay. Okay. Thanks again. Good evening. Hello. My name is Sean. Um, some of this is repetitive prepared marks I have here. I'd like to start by pointing out the conservation commission issued the waivers for the wetland protection act and local wetlands ordinance required for the project to move forward at their May 21st meeting.

▶ 3:33 you'll be issuing the order of conditions at the next meeting on june 18th this approval should help to bring closure to many of the issues that have also been discussed at these public hearings i'd also like to thank denise for encouraging me to meet one-on-one with the butters uh those conversations i had were very fruitful i've now met with the butters some of them multiple times in person to discuss their specific concerns and i hope they understand and are more comfortable with the plans for the project going forward. Since the last meeting, our independent contractor has conducted three of about the 20 or so required pre-blast surveys for three of the homes. There were no complaints regarding the manner in which those surveys were conducted

▶ 4:21 and other abutters now have an unbiased frame of reference to discuss the process with their neighbors so since the last meeting we have provided some additional written material in direct response to questions from the board and abutters those materials include 50 written answers to questions asked use of example stockade fence construction sequencing diagram that highlighted areas where road construction phases likely overlap a grid diagram that showed the average depth of cut necessary to reach the proposed grade in each 20 foot by 20 foot area a slope detail plan with additional information on slopes a plan outlining location of the temporary road a detail of maple terrace which labels the exact width of the right of way at four foot intervals

▶ 5:14 and a letter from the blasting contractor that gave additional information on specifics of COVID-19 precautions, home safety, monitoring techniques, inspection details, and insurance. Lastly, I'd like to point out that as we are about to open the fourth public meeting for this modification of an approved development, we have already answered 136 questions in writing, many of them asked multiple times over the course of months. All of those questions and answers are available on the City of Maryland's website. I've made myself available to abutters and groups and now individually. Additionally, I'd like to point out that there are three currently sitting board members that signed the original Colucci

▶ 5:56 plan, excuse me, Colucci estate plan in 1999 when it was approved, and unless specifically modified by the new plan, provisions of that plan are still in effect. Tonight we have no new engineering, legal, or blasting presentations, formal presentations to make at this time, but those members of my team are all present here in case they need to be consulted for any reason during the meeting the only one i'm not too sure about is brian b co he is i checked the attendee list should be on the on the as a caller so therefore i'd ask the board and the public terrain refrain from repeating questions and concerns that have already been voiced and addressed and move forward to the next step of the process at this time thank you okay thank you

▶ 6:47 Thank you. Before we begin the public hearing, I'll explain the process during the public hearing members of the public will be recognized to speak 1 at a time in order to be heard. You can ask to be heard by using the chat button on your screen, which is the little bubble. At the bottom with all the icons, it looks like a speech bubble and just make a request to to speak. Uh, you can also send an email to the city planner. D. D. G. a. F. F. E. Y. at city of Melrose dot org. She's monitoring her email during this meeting and she's our meeting leader and she will. Put you in the queue to speak you also instead of speaking may always write your comment or question through chat or through email and it will be read into the record. If you would like.

▶ 7:41 Your voice will be heard when you speak, but you will not be visible on the screen when you speak. Finally, let's see, there will be an opportunity for anyone that wishes to call in and ask a comment or question by telephone. As always, you can send written comments or questions by regular mail or email, and they are included as part of the record as long as they are received. prior to the close of the public hearing. And we do have quite a few of those. This will be slow, we'll be only patients. It is difficult having these kinds of hearings remotely, but everyone that wishes to be heard should have an opportunity to be heard. Remember to state your name and address for the record when you begin to speak or when you write.

▶ 8:27 And members of the public should address their comments and questions to the planning board, and then we'll take them up with the applicant. Right, so this is the process, unless there's anything from the city planner that I should remember to go over, I'll leave it to the board to see if they'd rather ask questions or open the public hearing. Is there anything else prior to the hearing? Not really. No. Okay. So members of the board, would you like to open the public hearing for questions and comments from the public? Or are you ready to did you have any comments or questions you wanted to do prior the applicant? The only thing I'm thinking about procedurally is. Did we have to take attendance by roll call and I apologize for not remembering the.

▶ 9:25 Or is it just as long as we do a roll call vote. For everything we do, I think we've just done roll call votes. Sorry. Yeah, I don't. Right. I just crossed my mind and I apologize. not remembering okay does anyone want to make a motion to open the public hearing that was greg uh samson that made the motion do i have a second this is second this is jack i'll second that second by jack welch um all in favor you'll have to say i or no but when your name is called because um we have to do this by roll call so Denise, you're on. Sure. Mike Casamoy? Aye. John Sadowski? Aye. Paul King? Aye. Karen Petrillo? Bob Micardo? Aye. Samson? Aye. All right, it's unanimous. We're opening the public hearing. I did receive one letter that had a

▶ 10:54 a request that it be read into the record um so i'm going to read that into the record first before we ask first members members of the public to speak so this is from brent robey and asked that it be read into during the public comment portion my name is brent robey and i live at 58 crescent lane in malden we own a parcel at zero hemmingway court in melrose about 500 feet across the wetland from maple terrace for the following reasons the building of the ninth house should be on the table in the current plan after years of construction and after 1200 truckloads of stone pass down it the temporary road will be demolished and the passage to hillside park blocked a large house behind hughes and chain link fence on a retaining wall with

▶ 11:48 chain will walk large over maple terrace instead this house can't be sold until all other work is complete i presume and is distinctly separate from the other nine houses pro eight houses proposed the ninth lot has been in play before in and it says see this 40b townhouse proposal when the developer reduced the number of lots from 44 to 36. retain the temporary road and replace the underground storage pond with a native species bioswale extending the agreed to wetland replacement on the other side of patrick's place this would help mitigate the loss of habitat from that construction as well as filter and slow down water entering the wetland below it would also require very little maintenance the retained road

▶ 12:42 Which is the temporary road, I guess would provide safe pedestrian access to hillside park and to the conservation area trail system beyond. It will preserve the existing ecology and provide a quarter for wildlife, such as the turkeys who run through this area. For 1 example, otherwise, wildlife will find their way blocked by the barrier of the 9th house plus suburban ecology of the 8 house. Enclave the retained road could be a showpiece trailhead for access to the minerals conservation land, including those areas already to be deeded to the city by the developer. The hillside park trail would be accessible by T, a short walk away at the Lebanon loop. This additional buffer of conservation land would enhance the privacy of those in the 8 house. Enclave as well.

▶ 13:31 Pedestrians and hikers will have no need to pass through their neighborhood. Lastly, for those of us who will endure the noise and convenience, and frankly, the tragedy of this plan as it stands, it would help if there were some benefit to the ecology, the neighborhood and the city at the end of it. Thank you for your attention. Okay, and. I believe we have at least 1 other letter, but it was not requested that it be read into the letter, and it has been made available to all the members of the public. It was part of the record, so that this time. If there's anyone who has asked to speak to nice, you can recognize them and I think we could. Here from members of the public that would like to speak. So I haven't.

▶ 14:21 Seemed any request yet. Okay, thank you. Sarah is interested in speaking of Sarah. Go home. Okay, Sarah, can you hear us? Hi, can you hear me? We can. Go ahead. So, once again, my name is Sarah, and I live at 57, which I own together with my husband. I have sent this a copy of this letter to the planning board. I'm not sure exactly where that goes when I send it, but there are a few items that I'd like to. Bring to attention, because I know it's easier to see things in this public meeting than to try to search for as a member of the public to search for other public documents. We did have the letter just for the record, but go ahead. Thank you. I've looked at the updates from Sean, including the questions he's answered. So, thanks for those.

▶ 15:22 And he also took the time to come to our house and meet with my husband. We could go Friday. Unfortunately, I was busy, but he was able to give my husband a better sense of what's going on. Following that, there are still a few issues that I'm not quite sure of from the developer perspective. I would like to finally confirm what the materials are that are going to be used on Maple Terrace in front of my house. This has been something that's been shown as Granite curbs on both sides along the road, protecting a sidewalk. This is in the typical detail, which one would assume is typical for the entire length of the road until there's a reason to assume. It's not typical. But when Sean was out talking with my husband, he said something about the two minutes curbing or something.

▶ 16:11 I think it's generally known that granite is far superior to the two minutes in construction because it holds up to the weight of heavy trucks. Like construction vehicles and also, um, propane delivery trucks and gas and oil delivery trucks. So I think we should stick with the granite option and I don't really see any reason not to do that. But having that on the plan and solidified in the drawings would really give me the confidence that what I am imagining for the site is what. Is actually intended to be built on the site and also I'm still. The, the utility pole, I know it seems like a small thing, but it's the kind of thing that if we don't solve it now, we lose design options. The further along we get into construction, so there are 23 feet and 6 inches of paved road sidewalk and curbs shown in the typical maple terrace detail.

▶ 17:07 The utility pole is a foot wide, the total space is 24 feet. So that to me seems like there's 6 more inches that needed to need to come from somewhere. a drawing to scale that shows where this fits and that it does fit would just solidify things for me that yeah it does fit we've solved this problem it's we have a real solution that we can move forward with so those were the areas that I think having you know finalized in the drawings would be really helpful for me the next few questions I want to address towards I guess I'm not totally I'm not fully sure how this process works, so forgive me if I feel like I'm grabbing it from different people, but I think the DPW is the one who's deciding how this portion of Maple Terrace that's not owned by the parcel that Sean is developing is going to be developed.

▶ 18:01 So, to whoever is making this decision, I was hoping that there might be some more updates about what is actually intended for there because there weren't updates in Sean's drawings about that intersection and I am concerned that the painted sidewalk is just not going to be sufficient to protect pedestrians from impacts as we increase the speed of traffic on that road. If there is someone who can answer these questions at the DPW and it would be more appropriate for me to talk with them, please do send me an email at the same address that I sent my email from and I can talk with them more and ask more directions. I did notice some additional markings spray-painted out on the road labeled DVX but I don't know what that means.

▶ 18:54 I'm hoping it's a new crosswalk but that's you know seeing what I hope. And then also for the consideration of the Maple Terrace and Patrick's Place new intersection there's a condition it's unclear to me yet if there's a stop sign intended for the bottom of Patrick's Place and I asked about it because the cars driving from way back in the neighborhood west on Maple Terrace towards Swains Pond are going to be going through that intersection like they always have without stopping and the cars coming down Patrick's Place are going to be thinking that they're going straight onto a road even though the name of the road changes so it seems like someone should have a stop sign there I don't know exactly where it is but that's probably something that the

▶ 19:42 DPW can handle and then I would for additional reasons like to see a stop sign at the bottom of Patrick's Place because the road first of all is steeper than any road that anyone would really like to have and Maple Terrace is more narrow than any road that anyone would like to have so I think encouraging people to stop in their coast at the bottom of that road before they get onto a road that's shared by pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles and is more narrow, just is going to help prevent collisions and just make everyone at least maintain the same level of safety that we have now where cars are only going 10 miles an hour. And then as an additional question, which I haven't brought up before, but we're putting

▶ 20:32 in this new sidewalk along swains pond avenue in front of my house between the road and the drainage stream i know there's an easement for the drainage stream but people have been utilizing it as sort of an improvised restroom or letting their kids wander down to it and play at the edges and i don't think that's especially safe it is technically on my property and I'd like to put up some kind of fence or barrier so if someone can help me figure out what I'm allowed to put up in that place it's my front yard so I want you know something really appealing as well as opaque so that people aren't distracted and invited down to this stream that has really no safe access but I do understand that I need to maintain access for the drainage

▶ 21:23 easements so if anyone could point me in the direction of I find guidelines or design suggestions or someone I can talk to about that I would be especially grateful and then a couple issues I would like to mention for the planning board themselves communication from the site during construction I would like to ask that we have some form of paper communication available on site. This could be something as simple as a pin board with a plastic sheet over it that the contractor's site supervisor can just post things to. And this would be really useful for conveying the specific construction schedule as it is made. So on the site, the site super is going to be scheduling the fire department to come out and witness the blasting they're going to be scheduling deliveries they're

▶ 22:23 going to be scheduling trucks to haul away debris this is all stuff that they're going to be scheduling ahead of time you know maybe a week maybe two weeks depending on the project schedule but i think it would be very helpful to have access to that information so that i can say oh this is going to be a super busy day maybe i want to chill out or try to find somewhere else to go or oh hey look you know thursday is finally going to be a day where they're not doing a ton of deliveries maybe that's the time when i can have someone come to my house and not have to worry about a lot of trucks going by and things like that so it would be very helpful to reducing stress in the neighborhood and having it publicly available to anyone who walks up to the edge of

▶ 23:06 the site is a very good way and an inexpensive way to make sure that everyone even people who have had problems with this level of technology of these public meetings can have access to this information and can get a better sense of what's happening right next door so you don't have to worry about it all the time and then this if you're printing it out and sticking it to a board emailing a pdf to people who sign up to be on an email list or dropping a paper copy on other addresses for people who might have mobility issues it's just like the icing on the cake to get everybody on board with what is happening on the site so you're not wondering all the time and then finally i'd like to take a second to just address the melrose city clerk of

▶ 23:54 the works policy it's not necessarily specific to this project but in general it's greatly preferable for the clerk of the works to be hired directly by the city i know that there might be some monetary concerns of how the paperwork works for that but for the neighbors if the clerk of the works is hired by the city then the clerk of the works can be a liaison so someone the clerk of the works is someone who has experience with the type of construction that's being done and they can then translate that experience to the neighbors and there's never any and to emphasize this point i'm not talking about any specific clerks here or any specific contractors just the appearance but there's never any appearance that a clerk

▶ 24:42 might be tempted to favor the person who is signing their paychecks in terms of how they report something that's happened on site so if the city is the one signing the paychecks and decides who to fire fire and who to hire then it's it creates much greater level of confidence in neighbors so if i were to say hey what happened on site today i could trust with confidence that this clerk would have no reason whatsoever to fudge things even a little bit i think that's something that could be revisited moving forward and that's i think the summary of what i've said in my letter there's more details in there but thank you all for your time and thank you for hosting these meetings this way thank you thanks i had the letter but that was a nice verbal summary

▶ 25:38 Okay, there are some things that obviously could be addressed, but I would like to hear if there's anyone else that would like to speak and we can maybe address everything at once. So, sorry, I have notes and details on all of them. So whenever. All right, so I'm ready to go. Yeah, we'll we'll ask. Yeah, we're just waiting to see if anybody else's wishes to comment. I don't. see anybody at the moment so maybe we can take those responses and look back after that and see if there's anybody there's a change of heart I before we ask the applicant some of these things the clerk of the works but today it's my understanding that it's it's a lot of financial gymnastics to have someone hired directly by the city and get onto the city payroll versus the way we

▶ 26:33 usually do it uh and i don't think we've had a problem with the system because up until now we've never had any reason to believe there's a problem because the city has to approve the person right it's uh he has a lot of input in who that person is and has to be fine with it so he said i would like to hear from you but it seems to me i think that's one thing that we could put to rest that I don't think there's been any ever any problems with partisanship by a clerk of the works and in fact the opposite they don't get hired otherwise and I think the financial problem trying to change that system and somehow or other have some temporary city employee and have money paid into the city general fund that somehow only gets paid for this is difficult the way

▶ 27:23 Denise Gaffey: municipal finance laws are so i think that's something that would be just one of the points here some very good points that i think we could probably put to rest is there anything i'm missing um i can speak to that and just to say that um you know over over the years the city has done it um several different ways they've done it both ways where they have brought a clerk of the works in and just or they've even used somebody from the city who's already on the city payroll to if it's a smaller project just to monitor the work in this instance with with our current um city engineer who's also our newly appointed director of public works um she's very comfortable with this arrangement whereby she approves the resume of

▶ 28:15 Denise Gaffey: the clerk of the works who is identified by the applicant i specifically went back and talked to her about this issue because i know it was brought up by some of the planning board members in previous meetings and she confirmed that she was very comfortable with that approach she was very it would be the exact same approach that was used by the same app applicant um off of dexter road for the regan's way subdivision so she's she's very comfortable with that so denise may i ask uh through you anne or however this uh we'd like to do this yeah that's fine go ahead in terms of peer reviewers to anne's point which i do appreciate uh how how has that arrangement been in the past are they working for the city and and reimbursed or are they working for the

▶ 29:00 developer or the applicant so the peer review is um being paid for by the applicant and is being retained by the city we we solicit for the um care review consultant so i'm one of the ones or i was the one that brought that up and only because um city of boston for example uh where i have a lot of my projects uh the city uh does not allow uh the clerk to work for the contractor and it's for that very reason now that's different in so far as say a private project where it's paid for by you know the owner if you will in this case you know the owners the applicant and the city is the authority having jurisdiction so I realize it's it's not as easy and it's more cumbersome from an accounting standpoint

▶ 29:52 so it's a point I think well brought up and discussed and I don't feel so strongly as to require it but I think it's a good part of the discussion to have here. And could I add to that real quickly, please? Sure. Just to, you know, to add a little more layer of protection or whatever, if you want to add, you know, the several people that actually do work and are on the payroll of the city that can arrive on site at any given time. Rick Cantone is sort of the city engineer in the field, if you will, who probably visited Regan's way hundreds of times. We informed engineering and DPW when we were performing some of the infrastructure construction, and Rick would show up even though the clerk of the works

▶ 30:51 that we were paying for was already there. And there's oversight by the stormwater plan through uh conservation so there's plenty of people that uh actually do uh get a paycheck from the city of melrose that that sort of can show up and you know have the authority to look in on things check in and and whatnot and i would just add i think those are points well taken uh i think unlike the city of boston which has so much going on it's tough to get an electrical inspector or or or such um i would imagine that the frequency of the melrose visits uh as just was represented is is a lot more frequent so i think that's a point well taken can we um can we talk about the granite curb and the utility pool location and can i just before we leave the

▶ 31:52 click of the work sorry no just great there's no reason why we couldn't you know the scope of services for the clerical works could include um being a liaison to members of the public i mean if we if that that's not necessarily excluded from the role regardless of who you know hires them to the extent we want to have i mean not a liaison necessarily but um is if there's a role to be answering questions um in providing uh information i think it can be part of the scope whether it's hired by the city or hired by the developer that's a great point that helps with the communication issue which i think is important in this case someone who and maybe that's part of the engineer's review of the resume is making sure it's someone who you know is is

▶ 32:48 amenable to being a resource to the you know for the project i think that's a good point i think we should probably consider making it clear somehow uh maybe in the condition about the clerk of the works yeah i can add to that briefly um i think that's a good point because very often the resumes or the backgrounds of the individuals that fulfill a clerk for the works requirements are former superintendents and on projects that involve occupied uh construction uh very often they have those skills to communicate with uh you know occupants in this case of butters so i think that if the resume shows that's the case i think that that's a good fit anyone else who has a idea about the clerk of the works i would trust concerns and still get

▶ 33:40 this done as easily as possible uh you know so it's not too cumbersome financially can i speak about the cliff of the works sure go ahead bob yeah some of the cities and towns declare the works are usually is being paid by the developer or the applicant so you know sometimes they can they can come up with an allowance on the project and uh and i see some of the clerk of the works that being hired by the uh i know in wakefield the friend of mine is a clerk of the works uh he works with the with the city but uh the money is coming from the developer and he works only about part-time you know maybe four hours of a day you know and then he has uh you know direct communication what you know what has to be done on this couple during the day

▶ 34:36 you know you don't have to be there all day to watch the you know like they say putting the curve he just probably come and the curve is done and he wants to see it's if it's grand grand curve though you know I don't think I you know clerk up the work you don't have to be full-time though you just have to make sure that he checked out what's a proven drawings in the plan I think that's Similar to the model we use here, Bob, who will compensate for the clerk of the works? I just don't, I just don't see it that the, you know, the city is paying for it, but, you know, coming from the finance. No, no, the city is not paying for the clerk. It's not paying for his time. No, no, the applicant. Okay, yeah, I think the proposal was just.

▶ 35:29 Have the applicant pay the repay the city, have the city pay for the clerk and then the applicant would. Give the money to the city, but. We're going to we're going to try and work in the model that the city engineer would like, which is the applicant pays directly to the clerk of the works. The city approves the clerk of the works and tells the clerk of the works what they want done. And that we're thinking about adding communication, because that is a big part of this job. All right, um, I know that. Could I add something? Sorry. Applicant sorry, go ahead engineer. I just think that I, it should be pointed out that there are, there's a lot of work that's going to occur on the site that won't need the oversight of the clerk of the works because there's bulk earthwork and things like that.

▶ 36:28 that he won't be there for. I think ultimately the best person to be communicating with the neighbors is the developer. Although some people might not think that, he's gonna be there all the time and he will be the person that is generating communication, whether it be written or through email or the blog, whatever that's decided. He's gonna have the best information. So if for some reason the developer isn't responsive, then the town can get involved and maybe get the clerk of the works to go out there. But to depend on the clerk of the works is probably not the best for communication with the abutters. Let me ask, is the applicant willing to be that person, the communications person, meaning members of the public would also be able to contact him and ask questions?

▶ 37:30 Say, I thought there was going to be no blasting today, and there seems to be blasting. You know, it's probably a significant enough job that we would need to be sure he'd be comfortable with that. Yeah, I didn't want to prolong the clerk and Rick's discussion here. we've already discussed it a lot here but i agree with rich the buck stops with me so for me to pass off if you guys want me to pass off communication to the clerk of the works one less thing i got to worry about but i don't think that's the way you guys really want to go it was sort of talking ourselves into a circle we really we focused many many points of discussion upon communication i've agreed to communicate with all the butters city officials anybody else that wants to be on

▶ 38:18 a list an email list of what's going on on a weekly basis and obviously if i do that through email they can respond through email uh most of the butters now have my cell phone right so i might have to get a burner phone at some point to get rid of that but anyway i'm kidding i'm only kidding please don't throw that back at me but um you know the buck stops with me i don't certainly if you want to add in if if the applicant is not communicating properly then somebody can go up and talk to the thing talk to the clerk of the works i think the main job that the city wants the clerk of the works to perform here is to have the technical knowledge of of the uh installation of the infrastructure utilities and properly report all that back all that back to the city

▶ 39:13 as being done properly and in a proper fashion so to add to his resume good communicator with the butters i'm sure plenty of people that can do that but i i believe i'm the one that signed up for for the communication point person at this point if you're willing to be the communicator i think that the board is just planning on having someone do it and that was my only question if you're okay with that um i do want to just follow up on the fact that email doesn't always reach everyone did you have any other ideas or how would you feel about doing it any other way well if email doesn't reach everybody um then i'm certainly happy to um if there's one person that needs uh something through uh u.s postal service mail we can do that um i'm really not interested

▶ 40:11 in maintaining a bulletin board on site that we have to discuss where it's going to go are we going to have access to it what happens if it rains and the the piece of plastic gets blown away um you know people you know if we had this discussion three weeks ago you know there were members of the board that didn't want me to print out pieces of paper and deliver to their house because they can read it all electronically that's you know we are in the 21st century pretty much everybody has email if there's certainly one or two i understand that's members of the board but i'm just talking about in general um and i understand i understand the concerns with the bulletin board just curious about how you would like people to be able to

▶ 40:57 reach you if there's a problem they say i know my neighbor doesn't have email i what would you like this person to do i'm just asking do you would you oh yeah no no it doesn't have to be a mailed uh you know with a stamp but i'm just saying would you say well i'll give them a telephone number or tell them to you know what i i'm just asking for a suggestion so so we we'd be happy to accommodate any exception through emails we will accommodate exceptions through emails either by phone calls uh regular mail um you know stop clients and talking to them i mean literally like i said i believe now i know you've been there a lot i'm literally you know i i was at regan's way today and i talked to three different uh butters and neighbors there yeah i'm sure i'm

▶ 41:47 sure it'll be that way quite a bit it's just you know it's just the concern of living with it every day and thinking if they are suddenly saying who can i call there's nothing more frustrating than i i don't even know who i should get in touch with i think there's something going on i'm worried about today so that's all i think that's gonna be important no i and like i said any exception you know if any issue comes up you know they're not gonna you know hesitate to call the planning department the building department ppw and as soon as one of those calls is made i can assure you i will be contacted within five minutes of that phone call and you know i answer to all of those people so any and i need and i need all of those people to uh proceed along the project so there

▶ 42:36 are many checkpoints along the way that you know if if denise has received 37 phone calls and people don't like sean anymore uh it's going to be difficult for me to proceed on a very very uh large project okay anything else from members of the board i think we've uh certainly spoken a lot about the clerk of the works as well as the communication uh concern here and i do know the granite curb and the utility pole location are probably something we should get a response on also okay i'll start that and rich can probably jump in if needed um if you if you got referred to i don't know if we really want to bring it up on the screen again at this point but we all have the uh maple terrace plan uh that has the intervals of width every four

▶ 43:34 feet um that shows existing utility pole number 1081 at that location just so you know as a note here utility pool is drawn only for emphasis to scale at three feet wide in the field they only exist at 12 inches one or not diameter right the current note with the width at Maple Terrace referred to back by Sarah for rookie at that location is labeled as 25.4 feet wide we also have some play if we need so therefore that the 23 six of the detail plus the 12 inches equals 24 six you know we still have a little less than a foot to play with as you move another four feet away from that location the width widens to 26 feet wide this is a utility pole that spans I believe the length of two different Lots could be placed anywhere in there and I

▶ 44:53 can assure you that we will not place the utility pole on the ferrucci property um it will only be placed on property uh that is in the right of way of maple terrace the utility company would not place it if you've ever done that there's an extensive application the utility companies make you go through um we need to provide them the location all the engineering and uh they will not place something unless they have an easement or or it's in a right of way so um the utility poll number 1081 uh will not go on the ferrucci property it will be in the right of way and you know even that's even if it has to be moved there may be enough room to sneak everything by there um but we will start the process with the utility company to confirm all that um

▶ 45:52 do we want to stop and discuss utility poll or do you want me to move on to granite curbing versus the two minutes burn other members of the board anyone else want to um speak on the utility poll question okay hearing none i think we'll listen to the granite curbing question okay um the current plan uh has always existed in the same fashion um the proposed curving as labeled on many of the different um uh pages that you have on maple terrace is granite curving okay there is a uh section at the very beginning in front of the uh uh peruki i'm sorry i don't i keep saying for rookie i guess i should say 57 swains pond road um if you if you look at some of the details and some of the larger plans that have blown up you can see it says existing curb to be removed

▶ 47:02 um there is a bituminous curb that runs down the length of swain's pond road we were only suggesting that we would continue bituminous curb up to the portion of the sidewalk which will i assume be a uh ada uh ramp that goes into the uh that leads into the um side uh crosswalk excuse me uh and would end the two minutes curve there um we chose that material to match what's existing on swain's pond road as a condition if we didn't do bituminous curb and change it to granite we would have to do a transition from the new granite that we put in into the old uh tumulus curve that's there i've heard some comments that clearly granite curving is better than the tumulus curving um you know that's obviously an opinion uh i think most

▶ 48:02 people would say it looks better um if you have to go back and replace damaged granite vertical granite curving it's far more expensive to go back and replace for the city um if it does get damaged by one of their snow plows um so i guess i have just cited an example of why granite curving may not be considered better if you're the person that has to pay for the replacement i.e. the City of Melrose. So again, this is not an issue that I want to make my stand on. If the Planning Board and the DPW feels that it's appropriate for me to replace the Tutimis curb with granite curbing and stop and tie in to the berm, that's, you know, obviously we're not talking a whole whole bunch of length here um so that's something to be decided

▶ 49:02 i guess um but um i think that on the plan i think the rest of that sort of stands besides that the two miss curve that ties into the one on swain's pond uh we're we're intending to use wherever it says a proposed curve like sarah ferrucci said in the um detail that would say granite curving um i can tell you that the uh the city the dpw and engineering is currently working on a sidewalk project for dexter road and their plan is to use the tune this curb on dexter road currently at this point so it's not like it's something that's you know back from the 1800s or something like that it's still still in use and existence today in melrose okay members of the board did you have any questions about granite curve or comments uh i certainly do um so you know i don't want

▶ 50:08 to suggest that we uh ask for or require something that's unresolved here in terms of just continuing to extend the limits of the granite curve but i have to say that the granite curve in melrose that's been here since the 1920s and had some settlement and so on but repeated plowing uh banging against it uh i'll take granted any day over by two minutes from a plowing standpoint because i think that i'd rather replace that after 50 to 75 years than concur every other season but again i think we need to look at that and be reasonable here because i recognize that there's a lot that's going into this development and there's a reasonable point at which the ask should stop but I'm disappointed frankly but we'll get into

▶ 50:55 it in terms of Dexter Road I don't think bituminous is a good material particularly if there's a sidewalk going installed because it's an added protection measure as well for that said that's my comment all right so you're satisfied with the mix bituminous as existing and then granite from there on I'd have to look back at the plan, which I'll endeavor to do in the course of the discussion. Okay. Anyone else? Bob, did you want to speak? No. I agree with John, though. You've got to stick with the granite curve, though. They can always put transition where they disturb it, though. I was surprised, like John on Dexter Road, they're putting sidewalk against the bituminous curve. Bituminous curve, when people hear it, the heavy equipment, you will see it has been damaged.

▶ 51:59 Granite curve is almost like a lifetime though. It's hard to damage it. That's very hard stone though. And we use it all the time, granite curve. I know it's more expensive, but that's the best you can find for curving. this is yeah this is jack if you take a simple walk down batal street where i live and you look at the granite curb versus the bituminous curb the sidewalks that have bituminous curb have virtually no um curb left uh whereas where we have granite curb stones which frankly the city told me when i did my sidewalks over that i had to use granite curbs in concrete just just as a matter of what they what they were insisting on but um it is a huge difference i mean the there's virtually no bituminous curb left on batal street or any of

▶ 53:02 the streets that feed off of it from the plows hitting it and and the granite curb is still in you know decent shape and can i jump in sure so i just noticed that from sarah ferrucci she's saying that i'm misrepresenting the existing condition of swain's pond avenue the granite curb existing condition at 51 swain's pond you know what i'm more than happy to put granite curbing everywhere i put curbing okay much better product i'm more than happy to do okay granite curbing throughout granite curbing for everybody greg you had a uh i think you had a question or a comment about it no it was just um you know I assume as it stands we were deferring that judgment call as to what was going to be required that specific location to the

▶ 54:00 city departments and I was comfortable with that so if if the end result is that we're gonna have any new curb will be granted I'm fine with that too okay Thanks anyone else want to weigh in on granite versus bituminous there it was a question about stop signs and crosswalks I'm wondering if I think we've heard about this route from the city from the city engineer Denise could you address that because I think we already have information about what's been proposed and what the city wants to see their first stop signs and well I can just represent that the city engineer has reviewed the plans and the proposal including all sidewalks stop signs and things of that nature and supports the supports the design actually

▶ 55:17 Denise Gaffey: agree that the way the intersection is proposed it should be should be safer um and we're not did not and i did i did ask the city engineer to review the sketch that was provided by miss ferrucci and she did not agree with um some of the suggested modifications that mr he was suggesting yeah i saw we had a letter from the city engineer um and i believe there's one stop sign at this point that is proposed that that the city want that would just be at the bottom of maple terrace i think before going into swain's pond or do we want to have that clarified i guess Yes, I'm curious. I thought I saw that somewhere, so am I wrong that there is? I can answer that question. We're proposing two stop signs, one where Maple Terrace intersects with Twain's Pond Road.

▶ 56:20 Okay. And then one where Maple Terrace coming from, I guess if you were coming from number three Maple Terrace, which is um where our subsurface infiltration system is going towards patrick's place there will be a stop sign so that those folks stop um before taking a left okay thank you yeah i thought i saw a stop sign i was trying to figure out where it was okay so where where maple turf tariff makes the the curve the hurry okay which she did those on can you um they did not make it on a plan as of yet that was something that we discussed and agreed that we would do in the final drawings okay thank you okay cross walk i feel like there's been discussion and there is one crosswalk but can you also address that is it just i'm sorry it's probably the amount of information the

▶ 57:48 Denise Gaffey: amount of times i've looked at the plan so i just want to be clear i it sounded like the cons oh wait i'm sorry i thought we were talking about the sidewalk and the hatch marks um never mind you were asking about crosswalks oh yeah that's right there were some some hash marks on on the ground out there yeah i know miss miss rookie raised that as a concern but i think that is a um a pretty uh typical feature when you have a drive expanded driveway opening you can't install the curb there so the this this hatch markings will indicate to the pedestrian the safe harbor on the side of the road okay thanks and then crosswalk with hadn't been discussed well there's a there's a crosswalk at the end of maple terrace at twain's

▶ 58:47 Denise Gaffey: pond um is there a place where it crosses the street to get to the sidewalk beginning or something like that yes okay that's what i'm thinking of right okay i mean i do think what makes sense and what i talked to the city engineer about is that um there's going to be a lot of opportunity here because this period this project will expand you know it will it will take some time to develop and to build the entire subdivision but I think there's there's an opportunity to see how these measures are working in terms of safety and vehicular speed and if it's not turning out as promised or is desirable or there's some safety there are some compromises that we are the city and isn't comfortable with then I think there'll be an opportunity to

▶ 59:44 Denise Gaffey: mark to make modifications and I think the appropriate I think we could customize a condition like that that would allow for a little bit of flexibility in terms of like installing it as proposed and then evaluating the effectiveness once once things are built I can just add to that that I had several discussions to that effect with both denise and with elena from from dpw and engineering that certainly uh you know this is the proposed plan that everyone seems to move to be looking to move forward with but i'm agreeing to you know if if if it turns out it doesn't work out or there could be a modification made a reasonable modification made and i'm certainly happy to discuss that and make that modification can i make a suggestion sure that the um maybe the condition should be

▶ 1:00:41 that those areas are painted out when the binder is installed and before the finish and that if that um if if the configuration isn't acceptable that it would be agreed to before the finished coat and um all the finished curbing is is done so that uh so that we don't take apart a finished product to um to uh reorient whatever uh is decided if that's the case and it would be the city engineer's call that would be the acceptability would be reviewed by her um that sounds reasonable to me um it's probably something the board can discuss as part of a condition okay are there other questions and comments from the board i mean we've spent a lot of time on this uh it's a modification of a plan that actually was approved 20 years ago and it's uh i it's better

▶ 1:01:57 than the one that was uh you know um uh approved 20 years ago that's it has definitely been approved it's a difficult parcel but it's it's definitely better so we've gone over an awful lot here it's a ton of material but we are lucky to have everything and the city planning department has given us some draft conditions if we feel ready to start discussing how we would condition this the project but more questions and comments more things this is jack could i i just have a couple of points for clarification um so the my first point is um working hours um i noticed when they were talking about uh the amount of trucks and truckloads to remove the uh stone from the site that they were going to do this on a six day work week and i didn't know if that is within

▶ 1:03:01 the city guidelines or not nobody from the neighborhood spoke out in opposition to that um but um my thought process was that we generally allowed five days a week and i couldn't be wrong but just wanted to clarify that i guess that's my first point we could sort of get through that first okay um yeah actually that it's the that's a big concern the amount of trucks that are going to be going 11 to 1200 over like six months I'm not hearing emma did i miss can you hear me i'm not used to using this computer um the noise ordinance says monday through saturday say again i couldn't hear you the noise ordinance says six days a week okay and the neighborhood has complained so you know i uh that's fine uh my um

▶ 1:04:22 My other question is, going back to the propane, I noticed in the comments and response back from the developer that they were going to offer high-energy heat pumps as an upcharge over the propane. And I was a little confused by that because in general, it's been a while since I had to estimate a big HVAC job. But, you know, it was always much cheaper to put in a heat pump than it was to put in a submerged propane tank, a high efficiency gas furnace and air conditioning condensing unit. So just wanted to get a feel for, if I'm reading that properly, I didn't sort of understand that. Bill, do we have an answer for that? So, yeah, we talked about this. We're going to have to offer, you know, some type of fossil fuel in the house.

▶ 1:05:29 So we're going to offer propane as the main source for fireplaces, hot water heaters, high-efficiency gas furnaces. If somebody wants to upgrade to a heat pump, I mean, I'm not sure of the technology that you're talking about, but we did we did one house on regan's way that had heat pumps and they're essentially a back there there you know you do need a a furnace as a backup we still need to um um to have propane there so you know we're allowed to you know under guidelines from building and under guidelines from fire we're allowed to bury propane tanks and that's our intention we'll offer heat pumps as a as an upgrade which would basically you know work during those months that don't have super cold temperatures that would

▶ 1:06:37 work efficiently and effectively so we didn't make any decisions to not put propane in in the development they're buried tanks they're not tanks above the surface all right does that help jack it helps that might one of my big concerns is not just the tanks but actually making the deliveries on on those steep surfaces in the winter time whether you had oil if we were talking back in the day when you used oil or propane you've got some pretty big trucks that have to maneuver on what can be some pretty icy surfaces and And so accidents can happen. That was my, that's my level of concern. Okay. Did you have another question too? Cause we talked about days of the week and propane. You have a question from Sadie Brown.

▶ 1:07:47 What hours during those six days? What hours? During those six days. Oh, the hours. yeah what hours uh would be operations during those six days a week for the truck loads and everything all the blasting so again if we refer to the noise ordinance i i believe emma would be able to answer this i didn't i didn't look it up this afternoon but from my recollection it started monday through friday and 8 a.m on saturday uh in general you know ending somewhere in the three to five o'clock i don't know on the uh noise ordinances but we would be fully adhering to the noise ordinance of melrose okay but you're not sure if it would be three o'clock or five o'clock for ending i understand starting at seven but it makes a big difference ending time again

▶ 1:08:51 Yeah, can I ask Emma, is there a reference to the noise ordinance at the end? So I actually think it's seven to six, all seven days of the week, but on Sundays and holidays, the maximum allowable decibel level is lower. I think it's more than noise. I think we'd like to know about disruption to the neighborhood. but I mean, I think we'd probably want a little less than seven days a week, 11 hour days. The conditions as drafted that we're gonna review, I take it as part of this meeting, I think is limits to three o'clock, but we can discuss that when we get to the conditions. And it does not allow construction on holidays and Sundays, the way the conditions are drafted right now. did anyone else have a comment or a question about scheduling hours I have a

▶ 1:09:55 question about the rock I'm sorry rock yeah I wanna I can I have a question about the rock removal yeah they said is about I just want to correct my math on this there is a 65,000 units of rock that they have to remove and there is about 230 days on the sixth month and you're talking about 500 yards of rock a day to remove that's going to be hard i thought you know how many truckloads they're going to take out today on this uh you know how many trucks they're going to be running how many loads they will make per day i think they should uh so at least the neighbor will know that though you know the neighborhood will know that uh what kind of traffic they're going to encounter so again Again, part of the communication that we talked about all along is letting people know when we're hauling trucks.

▶ 1:10:54 We haven't contracted people, obviously, yet. We'll probably be running the trucks. They own hundreds of trucks. If you're doing $500, you need about . um you know doing the math you're talking about 12 loads or something like that how many years you think a truck can take on the rock i think we need a hundred years rich did the calculations i gotta ask rich i think well sometimes the trailers but dump trailers so you think the dump rail will make that hill and my next question also the the 1200 truck loads that you have to take out how many yards is that a prop that you have to remove offsite. Does that mean there's about probably 20,000 you're taking out, about 45,000 you're going to reuse on site? 65,000 yards of rock, and you said about 1,000 yards of truckload

▶ 1:11:54 to be removed. When I assume that you remove offsite, that's about probably 20,000 yards. If you have 65,000 yards of rock, what are you going to do with the other 45,000 yards? I reached it all the calculations I got I got it you know we're throwing around all these I don't want to start misrepresenting stuff here yeah I can answer that well the trucks are 40-yard trailers so that's what would be coming out per truck you can report the actual Detroit and Rick yeah come on now yes that's all the weight you know I don't think you know the you know the time don't really can carry only about 28 to 33 tons per load or else you're gonna be overweight and you know you're paying what to say per pound you know when they

▶ 1:12:54 get grabbed I don't think any truck driver will carry the port it for the yards so the trailer you're gonna go you know OSHA is gonna go after you they won't be able to carry more than then they're allowed to carry for sure okay which is about 30 yards okay 30 yards that's about 1,200 trucks over six months, right? Yeah, and on the rock you think you carry, you know, that's a, you know, you don't have any voids or any rock when you're carrying it. You're lucky if you're carrying, you know, 25% on that, you know, probably voids, 20% on rock when you load it up. The groundless tree was broke up pretty good, so. Not only did you cross it, Ulrich. I think, you know, let's be a little bit more accurate on our figure here though you know I think you know I think we're

▶ 1:14:05 being accurate I do it's it's by weight right so you're talking the voids don't weigh anything okay yeah they say that 30 times maybe they carry on the on the then we 20 yards on the rock on the 30 tons right how times per cubic yard so a 40-yard trailer has voids in it if you do the math it ends up being about 30 yards and you know we say 40 yards because that's that's the the volume but there are voids in there so you can consider that that you know you had solid rock it would be 30 so that's about 1200 truckloads and again 36,000 yards right on a 1200 yeah what what do you do under me on the 60,000 yeah he used on site you say almost 30,000 yards on site or are you gonna cross it and probably hold it off site and sell it as a crust stone that's the only thing I

▶ 1:15:12 can you think you need that is the project on fill that you need that 30,000 to grade it. The way I see it, you look like more excavation than fill on the job, though, right? I think you take out, I thought you may have to take out, anything you excavate, you end up taking it out. It's just, you know, it's just not too clear to me, you know. You know, do the maths and do the site work and the job. Yeah, I mean, again, we're estimating it. We don't know exactly because we don't know how deep the rock is everywhere. We've only done test holes in certain places. We're assuming for our calculations that the rock is to the surface, which it's definitely not. There's some overburden there. So until we strip the dirt from the rock, we won't know exactly. We're just trying to give a feel for what's happening.

▶ 1:16:13 whether it's you know 3,000 trucks or 1,500 trucks I'm sorry 1,500 trucks at 1,200 trucks I don't think that it really changes the operation about how much you can possibly use on-site so this this number is actually a work in progress that can change all right quite a bit when they come up with the quantities they have the plan that they they go by you know that in front of us that they'll prove right the site plan so what are you saying that it could change so are you changing the the profiles on the plan on the you know the the finish grade that you you know the proposed grade i just i you know i just don't understand when you say 65 000 yards i thought i assumed that 65 000 yards is your estimate based on this plan that you have between the proposed and the existing grade

▶ 1:17:29 the question was how much rock how much blasting is there that was the answer to how much blasting is there it wasn't it wasn't a question about what are the cuts and fills and what's the export it's how much blasting is going to occur and that was the answer to that question okay in the 65 000 yards that's just a guesstimate did you do any kind of test fit you know so you know where your rock elevation there we did some but we didn't do them everywhere on the site okay and that's what i said this is just a guesstimate that could go lower or it could go higher we're assuming that the rocks at the surface so i don't think it could go higher it would only go lower 65 000 is an uh sort of a maximum guess yes

▶ 1:18:26 and of the 65 000 you think you could use 30 000 on site no i think we said around 20 000. I mean, I don't want to be stuck to that because we did not do a cut and fill volume to report to the planning board. It was just a guesstimate based on looking at the plan. Those numbers have not been accurately determined what the exact cuts are and what the exact fills are. All right. No, I just want to get a feel, you know, what you're getting into with the, at least when you explain with the neighborhood there, you know, they can expect, you know, oh, I will have probably 1,200 truckloads going out or 1,200 trucks load. And then all of a sudden it becomes 2,000 truckloads or 500. I think it should be a little bit more, you know, it's this conservative asset.

▶ 1:19:26 Yeah, we're not going to change the project though, so our profiles aren't changing, and we're not going to pick the house's way up out of the ground. We can't do that. We can't make it work, so the project won't change as a result of that. All right. That's fine though. I think what might be helpful here is if you look at the sequence plan, it's five and a half months of blasting if you assume over that period of time that you've got 1200 trucks you can do the arithmetic if i did it right it comes down to an average of 10 trucks a day that's one every 50 minutes if it's seven out of the eight hours of the work day if it's twice that then you know it's every half hour so i think that if i did my math right that's what it comes

▶ 1:20:18 down to but for the point being no one knows how deep the ledge is so that's right how many years you figured john on that uh you know for the load i figured uh uh i used the 30 that we talked about and that's how we got to 1200 trucks all right yeah through my experience you know over 30 years on site work. I've never seen carry 30 yards of truck for load though. Well, I hear what you're saying, but if, again, if it's between 1,200 and 2,400 trucks, it's roughly, you know, every 50 minutes or, on average, or every, you know, 20 minutes to a half an hour, you know, in that range. That's probably the best we can do at this point. Yeah. All right. No, this is a guesstimate though, you know. Yep.

▶ 1:21:07 That's right. When you do this math, John, you're guessing between 10 and 18 trucks a day, something like that, carrying 30 tons out. Correct. Which is, you know, what I would expect might be the case. Which are significant. And that's over an eight-hour day. Some of the cuts, according to the, and I appreciate what's been submitted here, I did review all the added information. And the deepest cut, I think, is something like 56 feet. And we don't know whether that's 10 feet of ledge or 20 feet of ledge without doing borings. And you don't typically do borings for a site like this. You would do borings if you were supporting a structure that you're trying to. Just a split. That's not including the utilities, John, right?

▶ 1:22:02 I don't know. You have to add more for the utilities, though, the underground utilities. don't know how many percent is that you know i assume it will be another probably five ten thousand yards on the utilities if it's on rock yeah there is some rock but that you know that material will go back um um in the hole is back though so okay can i ask is there any crushing plan to be done on site no there's no crushing to be done on site okay as soon as they blast they just uh probably chip it and make it smaller and hold it out we're not going to pay to chip rock when we have we have the ability to blow it up to the pieces the size we need there may be larger pieces don't forget we have an extensive amount of stone walls

▶ 1:23:01 to build we're going to use all of the uh rocks from that material from that from that site to build all the stone walls uh there's there's some slope walls there's some vertical walls that we talked about last meeting and uh you know there may be a few large chunks that need to be banged up a little bit but for the most part as it as it's blasted comes out of the ground either goes directly into a truck or pile on the site so the majority of the removal is by blasting not whole ramming that's you know can be worse than blasting frankly in terms of not 90 99 of the of the removal or you know will be through blasting correct there may be a few spots here and there they've got missed uh by a by a hole or so of course chipped out but but yes and and you know

▶ 1:23:52 as you all know you're better off with the with the blasting than hearing that whole ram go for for eight hours a day there is no doubt about that okay and it sounds like these are estimated conservatively so it may be less yeah if that's right about 500 yards a day they had to bless okay based on the quantities though okay and when I look at the five and a half months it looks to me like the first first half a month is really just pre-blast surveys so it might actually only be five am I correct on that I think that's right yeah but again there's so many unknowns here it could be plus or minus I would expect I mean our concern is just trying to keep the neighborhood as livable as possible for families that are going to

▶ 1:24:54 be near this so that's why we're trying to get at exactly what it's going to be light I don't think this is condition-based it's more for the public and for meeting notes so that therefore there's a very important could be that volume of truck traffic that's all that's just the reality just for information doing it well I think the the condition that it speaks to is the hours of operation because that's where the disruption that's the only limit you put on this this kind of disruption all right uh other questions from the board so like jack uh if i may i'm going to try to go very quick here there were seven or eight items that were specifically addressed the questions that i had raised i'll try to go through them

▶ 1:25:46 very quickly i just have a couple clarifications so the first one in terms of the cut line being the erosion uh control line under understood uh in terms of the topo plan that was provided The only question I have is that, for the most part, it's shown, which I appreciate it. And by the way, I should preface here that understanding that this project was approved prior under another applicant. And that context, I do appreciate both the public concern in terms of the, what it takes to develop this site and the potential impacts to the neighbors. But at the same time, the patients that the current applicant has had in responding to a lot of questions here. So on the topo plan, I appreciate you labeled for the most part three to one slopes.

▶ 1:26:34 I understand that to be that within three feet, you drop a foot. Is that correct? That is correct. Yes. Okay. So obviously, a one to three would be a lot more severe. there are other areas in the topo that look like it's significantly more than that is that correct or am i mistaken in reading the topo for the most part we've limited the the grading that is natural grading that would be would be vegetated to three to one okay there are a couple of locations and that is on um i think for the most part on lot nine where we have a ledge cut that will be steeper than that. Then we've got some slope in front of lot 9, which hasn't really been figured out. It might be a tiered retaining wall or it might be a wall that's on top

▶ 1:27:44 of a sloped one-to-one riprap or one-and-a-half-to-one riprap. Yeah, I mean, that's that's basically what we're getting at here, or at least I was getting at. I want to make sure we understand that there is an extensive amount of just dumping rip rap because. Me, that's very unnatural to clarify. I specifically talk to reach about this. We're not using 1 inch minus when rich says he's talking about larger placed folders from onsite on a slope area. Right? Rich. right it would be it would be a like a wall but it would be a sloped wall in other words it would make the the boulders would be or the stones would be placed in a flat surface to make the slope if you know what i mean not not dumped riprap there's nothing we have no locations where we're

▶ 1:28:42 proposing to build a dump riprap slope yeah what we're trying to avoid is an interstate highway look to for lack of a better way to describe it that's all no you know okay that's fine and then to finish quickly here uh let's see the third item was the retaining walls uh you said by engineer obviously if there was certain heights gonna have to be by a registered professional engineer in terms of its base and height and all that good stuff uh and then uh fence uh i understood the response there per state code um the only thing i'll just comment in general there are a couple of references to as required by the city or by city standards um i'll get to those a couple of those that i just want to understand what those are i don't know that we do have a city standard

▶ 1:29:30 so on fence i understand the response let's see what was the fifth item it was um oh clerk i think we discussed that enough i'm okay with that uh six the blasting uh i understand the response there is there a requirement i don't mean to get too technical here i understand the vibration and the monitoring that's in place and it's got to be done according to i believe it's state standards but uh is there a level at which the vibration is exceeded that would uh cause the blasting process to be modified do you know yeah there is a uh and i believe if i don't if i can't answer just technically enough i believe we can bring the black on uh but to my uh to my knowledge there's a standard again i believe it is state like you said it's a certain number of um uh

▶ 1:30:23 it's the vibration level uh that all the size graphs are i don't want to interrupt but that's that's stated in the letter if you can look at the letter from the blaster the new letter from the blaster yeah i did i must have missed it yeah he uh they have the decibel levels and the vibrations by which um they're held okay because obviously that's that's the most critical is the vibration in terms of uh foundation damage which which nobody wants okay i want to follow up on this blasting after john's done okay uh and i've just finished up here the swpp i understand that it's going to be revised as you sequence through the construction but i take it that if i were to go back to that there is an ultimate uh fixed plan that you end up with at the end that isn't

▶ 1:31:16 variable correct in terms of the finished development yeah the finished development is what's shown on the plan this swpp is erosion control methods as you go through the process you might move stock pile areas got it no that's fine i'm good with that um the hoa fee um i take that'll be part of the association document um and there'll be some basis for that that you'll calculate to make sure it's sufficient to provide whether you call a reserve fund or whatever in a condominium context but it's intended to cover costs and then slowly as as the developer gets out of the development and sells the lots it becomes the responsibility of the unit of the individual lot owners correct that is all correct yes okay good at that uh let's see lastly here

▶ 1:32:14 uh there was a fence detail um so what you're showing is a pvc fence i think originally you were talking about a black chain link uh what is the what is the plan there uh so we're we're still um again in uh communication with the different butters the pvc fence i believe is still playing uh for the backs of uh from memory lot one two three and possibly four or maybe just three um i met with uh sadie brown i'm not sure she wants a white fence we originally talked about a lot of fence we're in talks with her um and then the the chain link uh vinyl coated chain link fence uh along the lot nine uh we have agreed to a more uh uh decorative but still metal safe fence we're gonna agree to move it to the top of the lake cut uh which will not be placed right on her

▶ 1:33:15 on on lot 9 and I'm sorry that the address the first house on side 14 hillside all right I'll sort of leave it to that I mean that chain link obviously is probably the least expensive but it's also a black chain link kind of disappears which is what I like about it in terms of trying to maintain things in a more natural state if there's a strong reference by in a butter and you're willing to provide a white PVC I'll leave it at that just wanted to make the other members of the board understood where that was yeah again not to not to keep discussing but the the white white uh vinyl stockade still planned for those the back of that we've we've changed the plan again we might myself the engineer agree that black vinyl black chain link

▶ 1:34:03 would be the most disappear but uh in talking to the uh butter at 14 hillside uh we've we've come up with a still sturdy metal vinyl coated metal black fence that's not black chambered all right um i i think i'll leave it at that it sounds to me like your intent is to provide uh fencing on the top of drop-offs per state code um any reference to city standards i don't know that we have one so as long as it's the code uh that satisfies me thank you that's it okay paul i think you have questions yeah yeah um i'm gonna you know refer back uh to the letter from the blaster uh where he does note that uh they'll have uh a device about 10 feet from the buildings uh which monitors the vibration and decibel levels which have limits stated um

▶ 1:35:02 I don't see anything at all of monitoring the actual structures. Is there any instrumentation to be put on anyone's homes, like such a crack gauge or a defamation monitor on anyone's foundations? You're going to do a pre-construction survey and that's fine, then you're going to do a post-construction survey, that's fine. But what if something's happening during construction? It should be a means to be able to stop and halt and change procedures. If someone has a crack in their foundation, there should be a gauge on that so that when you're blasting, that gauge, that crack's monitored, that it's not getting bigger. Some of these homes, they're connected directly to the rocky who are blasting.

▶ 1:35:51 But I see no monitors whatsoever on the actual structures. Is that the case? Unfortunately, I know he was driving to Maine this evening. He was on before as a caller. As far as I know, we're certainly doing all of the stuff that's required. If a specific location needs to have a crack monitor, I'm sure that's something we need to do. The fire department is going to request us to do that. The fire department is there with a fire watch and fire detail during all the blasting and any specific- Fire department people are not geotechnical personnel. They're not instrumentation personnel. They're fire department personnel. Typically, this stuff is monitored by geotechnical people, scientists, not firemen.

▶ 1:36:51 It's a different thing than a fireman being there. And not for nothing, but this could protect you as well, because, you know, if you see something happening, you can react, you know what I mean, and do something before it gets worse. And that's only going to protect you as well. Right. Typically, when you see blasting in this nature, that close to structures, if they're not new structures, I don't know what these foundations of these houses look like. You may want to be, if they're stone foundations, you know, I got an old stone foundation in my house. I wouldn't want it shaking. Again, the structures themselves don't have any monitoring. The other thing I want to talk about is the construction sequencing.

▶ 1:37:34 John alluded to this properly, which is, in my opinion, going to be super dynamic on this site because you're not just going to ring the site with erosion controls and you're going to be done because you're going to be moving up this hill. Now, we're talking about blasting 40-yard trucks, 30-yard trucks. I'm looking at a site that I don't think a truck could turn around on. You're going to be, let's see, I'm looking at the construction sequence, and it's really just text. I would love to see it on a plan. What areas are being done first? You know, site prep, install erosion controls, clear trees, remove stumps and brush from the site. Most of the site you can't get to until you build the roads or until you blast it.

▶ 1:38:22 you know so you're going to be basically chipping and eating your way up this hill the way i see it um so i don't see this whole entire site being worked on and cleared or or you know i mean it's going to be piecemeal you're going to be going up this hill then you have a wetland crossing which is a choke point i'm looking at the site plan right now You're going to have 30, 40-yard trucks kind of go up this hill, be loaded with rock, turn around somehow, come back down this hill over – there's not a piece of flat ground out here. I mean, I just see this as a very difficult operation, and I would have liked to have seen a little more attention on the sequencing part, because I don't think the way it's

▶ 1:39:09 written here in lines of text tells me anything, and it doesn't seem to work at all. So, again, you're going to be working the bottom of the site. You're going to be chipping, eating your way up this hill. You're not going to turn around until you get to that cul-de-sac up there, and that's after you blast 50 feet away. So, I just don't see a way for trucks to even turn around while they're working the site. Are they going to be backing all the way up? Are they going to be backing all the way in? There's a lot of logistics here that I scratch my head on. You know, I mean, you know, it's not going to change the site or what it is, but I just don't see it working too well. The erosion control stuff, we've got so many hills and depths and valleys and hills.

▶ 1:39:57 This stuff is going to be washing away like crazy. To attempt to kind of seed it or keep it from it, it's going to be a constant struggle. and there's going to be a huge need for erosion control out here because everything's uh did i saw one other thing people asked about wells that you said that we're not going to affect wells is there any going to be any testing of anybody's well either pre or post construction or during uh i'm sure you know obviously like you said in the past it behooves us to to monitor all this stuff so anything that we need to monitor anything that's pointed out to us during the uh p blast surveys we're certainly going to pay attention to so that we don't damage other

▶ 1:40:48 people's property what about the wells i see here it says home is on private well we have no reason to believe that development will cause contamination to a body well okay like that huh so there's no intention to check a well or test it before or after construction like i said we're gonna any any so we don't have any registered wells from the you know richard look through you know so anything that is pointed out to us during a pre-blast survey that we need to monitor or look into we're certainly going to do that like you said before in the past anything that we can uh fix or monitor along the way behooves us to be able to do that so it's your understanding that no one has a well in this area i believe what i said was i don't think there's

▶ 1:41:41 any registered wells but we we've been told i believe i don't have the address in front of me but I believe on one of the houses on Swain's Pawn mentioned it too well. 777. Right. Yep. Okay, so there's one house. Okay. Yeah. I just want to mention a few comments from Sadie in the Q&A. Two of them are comments and then she has a question about when and how a butternut will be notified to schedule free blast surveys. might be in the letter from the blaster so you know just we'll have the independent contractor uh you know officially we'll eventually receive a list from the from the maryland's fire department the official list of the of the pre-blast surveys need to be done uh like i said we've already done

▶ 1:42:43 three of them uh and simply uh made a phone call or or sent an email from the independent contract that it doesn't leave that survey and they schedule it uh at their convenience so they'll be notified seeing you know all the butters would be notified either by email uh if i have the email or or uh you know we might knock on the door and hand them a letter i will make every attempt to uh you know i believe i have most of the emails anyway so we can we can start with emails we have phone calls we can do uh Stopping by and setting up an appointment. For for benefit of the public, if not, if they haven't all. Seen the letter from the blaster, it does say that the process takes anywhere from 1 to 1 and a half hours. Only a portion of it is inside.

▶ 1:43:41 They do have a COVID-19 protection procedure where he takes his temperature, he's covered with a Tyvek suit, a mask, gloves and shoe coverings. And he actually removes and destroys his entire uniform after each last survey and uses a new one each time. And so it's quite detailed in here how it goes. And now we know they'll get a phone call an in-person notice or an email to set up a convenient time well did you have more questions I do have a question sooner or later okay go ahead Mike okay thank you thank you very much Sean and Richard it's a long process I understand that the only thing I have to say is I thank you very much for responding with a temporary construction road I had a couple questions on that for Richard and

▶ 1:44:48 And 1 was the composition of the road and how long do you think it'll be necessary? Well, the road will be gravel. Um, we're going to have plenty of good material to make a road with. And how long do I think it'll be necessary? Sean might be a better person to answer this, but my guess would be a couple of months. Yeah, Mike, I, you know. i hesitate to start putting time frames when we we start discussing volumes and trucks and and all that kind of stuff i you know i would i certainly think that two months is a good estimate for now um again we plan on uh uh communicating and keeping people informed on a weekly basis uh and and certainly on a you know more than that more than just weekly when they're when they're

▶ 1:45:51 you know things like that that affect their thing but we'll certainly give people plenty of notice when it's going to go into effect uh and how long it might be but you know realistically looking at that uh the document that we provided i think two months is a good estimate for right now yeah i was wondering whether it'd be longer than that um uh because it's it's ideally so let's let's see all the heavy traffic that you're gonna have coming off the hill miss the uh you know the residential traffic that has to get to the houses and they have little kids and stuff like that so they need to have a clean place to uh walk you know to get in and out of their property so that's why i was um hoping it would be for a little bit longer than a

▶ 1:46:31 couple months you're spending a fair amount of money to put it in too so that's it uses as much as you can i guess yeah and i think that you know i mean we're trying to we're trying to work around what people have the best ideas about what stuff you know so you may think it's a better idea to have it for the short longest period of time other people up there may think it's been you know i think it's going to have to be a little bit of a fluid situation but uh you know we're certainly in no rush to have to build you know that house on lot nine in any kind of certain time frame so um if it if it's deemed you know better to have it longer during the process by engineering and dpw and planning and the butters then i don't see a problem with that okay go ahead

▶ 1:47:29 that's okay most of the other questions have been answered that i have i just want to thank you for the response okay all right other questions comments from board members the um i did want to this is off the topic of the subdivision but um the uh Butter, Sarah Ferrucci, who had asked about putting a fence on her property, asking where she should look up height restrictions on that kind of thing. It's all zoning and I think I'm correct in saying I should refer to the building department for questions about a fence. Denise, is that correct? I'm sorry, I think you're muted, but. Thank you, she, she had it was in her letter and I thought we should at least I should at least say something that.

▶ 1:48:33 So, the part about putting up a fence on her own property, she wanted to be able to put 1 in the front. Oh, right because of the condition where people are. Yeah, going down to the stream, right? Yeah, I think the building department would be where she had to go. Right? Yes. They would they regulate fence. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I just wanted to make a note of that. I think most of my questions have been answered. Is there anyone else from the board that has a question? Should we. Is there anyone from the panic 1, super quick comment? Sadie Brown asked about the. She doesn't like the white stockade fence and she says, I do hope that conversation with Sean will continue and lead to a satisfactory final part.

▶ 1:49:29 My commitment to Sadie is to continue to work with Sadie so that she ends up being happy with the color of the fence behind her house. Okay, thank you for that. Any other questions or comments from the board? Anyone else from the public that wanted to ask a question, make a comment, or anyone who has called in and just wanted to speak? We've had an awful lot of participation from the public on this, and I know it's a difficult platform to do this remotely, but they've been very engaged and we've heard from a lot of them. I think if we don't have anything further, I wonder if it's time for the board to close the public hearing and deliberate about this case based on what we have. I'd like to make a motion that we close the public side of it.

▶ 1:50:35 Okay, there's a motion. Is there a second? I'll second that, Ms. Paul. Seconded by Paul. Any discussion from the board? Hearing no discussion then. All in favor of closing the public hearing? portion of tonight's meeting signify by saying i or no when your name is called mike cassavoy hi john sadowski hi paul king hi hi bob micardo bob micardo hi greg sampson hi jack welch hi carla morelli hi and susan board hi okay so it's unanimous the public uh hearing portion is closed here and now it's time for the board to deliberate on the case members of the board um it has been a long process here but we have a lot of information here is there uh uh the waivers that's not a bad place to start um let's see we have a list here and we find them is there uh my secretary obviously is not working

▶ 1:52:12 with me here all right here we go um i have eight waivers all the members of the board have the waivers okay i do have eight even though all right um we have a list here do should we read the list of the record does everyone have them uh it's a waiver from the minimal allowable center line a radii of 100 feet to allow the proposed center line radii of 90 feet and 95 feet on portions of Patrick's Place, a waiver from the minimal allowable intersection angle of 60 degrees to allow a proposed intersection angle of 58 degrees between Patrick's Place and Maple Terrace, a waiver from the requirement that street lines at intersections be cut back and connected with a radius of not less than 20 feet to allow the proposed sideline radius at the intersection

▶ 1:53:15 of maples patrick's place and maple terrace of 10.81 feet a waiver from the minimal allowable with street right-of-way from 50 feet to allow the proposed width of 40 feet for the right-of-way and the improved portion of hillside park waiver from the maximum allowable roadway grade of 10 to allow proposed 12 for patrick's place and 14.5 for the improved portion of hillside park a waiver for the maximum dead end length of 500 feet to allow the proposed roadway length which is 651.84 feet propulsions place and a waiver from the minimum width of roadways between curb lines of 32 feet to allow the proposed width of 24 feet between curb lines oh i'm sorry and then the eighth is a waiver from the requirement to construct sidewalks on both sides and to

▶ 1:54:15 construct a sidewalk only on the westerly side of patrick's place um uh although it sounds like lot these are very common waivers for smaller subdivisions like this and we have allowed them in the past and i would suggest and not to you know prevent anyone that has further questions or comments because i think you just indicated all these are either common or have been part of this plan for some time so i don't have any issue with them with uh two comments one uh as before a lot of these in terms of the reductions of the roadway width are not only consistent with what we've done in the recent past but actually makes for a better project in terms of you know less blasting less aggressive you know site work that otherwise would be required and less pavement in

▶ 1:55:05 terms of runoff and the only exception to that I would say that I feel strongly about but still and prepared to accept as a waiver is the roadway um percentages because i think that's more unique to this particular project site for the reasons i just mentioned uh and not typical because ordinarily i would not like to see uh much in the excess of ten percent but under the circumstances i think it's uh appropriate thanks john that's well said any other comments from the board about the waivers that are requested for the subdivision okay i just had one one question was can you remind me the maximum length of the subdivision is the 651 to the center line of the cul-de-sac or is that the end of the cul-de-sac i am curious because i feel like there was another place where

▶ 1:56:00 i saw a 700 foot number can the applicant clarify that it's to the center of the circle I'll make a motion we accept the waivers just to get that so allows to discuss them further second by John okay further discussion by the board all right hearing none is there everyone who is in favor of the granting these waivers please signify by saying aye if you're opposed obviously and you would say no when your name is called. Mike Cassavoy. Aye. John Sadowski. Aye. Paul King. Aye. Karen Petrillo. Aye. Bob McArdo. Bob McArdo. I'm opposed. You're opposed to the waivers? Yes. Greg Sampson. Murley. Aye. Sam D'Souza-Ward. Aye. Okay, so the motion carries the waivers are granted and now the question becomes a approval of the subdivision and what conditions we would place on the on our approval.

▶ 1:57:44 So, we do have a list of proposed conditions that we can talk through. But is there a consensus from the board? Was there anyone who wanted to speak in general before we review the conditions? Yeah, and can I speak? Sure can, Bob. Yeah, I just want to speak about regarding the subdivision. To begin with, you know, I look at it a lot more, I spend a lot of time like everyone else and it seems like it's a lot of, you know, the subdivision will just create a lot of big impact on the neighborhood. It's going to be substantial. I thought that a reputable harm on the area and I think I have a problem with a lot of it is, I guess, you know. How, you know, the logistics, it's not too clear to me yet. How is this job going to be done? How much work need to be done? You know, you know, it's we just went through this rock removal and it's still.

▶ 1:58:53 For me, my thing is that it's a lot of unanswered. Question yet on this job and so the way it is now, the way I seen it. It's very hard for me to support it, at least speaking as 1 member of the board. I think given the fact that it is difficult property, but given the fact that there was a 9 lots of division that was approved in the past and then, in fact, there was a 40 proposal that was even more. Intrusive on the neighborhood and did get the green light from the state. I think it's likely something's going to go here and probably the best thing we can do, despite the fact that not everything is. Completely clear and it's true. It's going to be a work in progress. But the best thing we can do is put a lot of controls on it and make sure that the great people are monitoring it as it moves because it's true.

▶ 1:59:57 especially the blasting part that you brought up, Bob, that's a little difficult because no one is completely sure and it's a lot of estimating and a lot of intelligence gets seen about what's gonna happen and how it's gonna be handled. But it would be my feeling that conditioning is better than leaving it to other projects that could be much worse. And I think that's just realistic, not necessarily throughout the property has been given approvals for other projects too. Understood that. And I understand that. And I think they need a little bit more to address the logistic, how they're going to handle this rock. It's just one of the reason that I understood that maybe we don't have other choices,

▶ 2:00:52 you know, got a port to be or whatever, but it's just to go through this job now that it's a lot of unanswered question. I just don't think I can support it though, yeah. Okay, any other member of the board that wish to speak? This is Jack. I won't go so far as to say I won't support it, but I do have grave concerns over what the poor neighbors are gonna go through with this because this project isn't at the end of the street. This project is interwoven directly into a neighborhood that's in the lot right next to them and right behind them. And I'm not sure how we can condition those things, but it bothers me a lot. Thank you. any other board who wanted to make a general comment before we talk about um

▶ 2:02:03 how we might possibly see our way with this case okay i would propose to the board but um i'd be open to suggestion that we review the draft conditions that the planning department prepared for us which are uh you know suggestions for how we might conditioned the project to meet all the concerns should we approve it i agree that makes sense acceptable to the board right it's tough in a remote situation because i can't see you all nodding but if uh unless i hear something then i'm gonna go ahead and uh i don't know denise or emma if one of you would want to uh walk us through some of the conditions and we can discuss them as we go along. It's quite a few conditions and some of them are general and we're used

▶ 2:03:06 Denise Gaffey: to them. They're kind of standard for subdivisions, but a lot of them will address the concerns we have here. I think that would be helpful and important to the extent that we still are in a public meeting, if not open hearing. Yeah, I'm happy to walk through them. And some of these are standard conditions and them are unique projects. The first condition is we still need to fill in the details on the plans but we have a placeholder on this condition for our usual language which stipulates that the applicant has to comply with, has to build according to the plans essentially. So we will document all of the final plans that have been received and approved in this section this number one condition um the second condition is also um fairly boilerplate language when we do

▶ 2:04:07 Denise Gaffey: subdivisions and it's uh describes that before the board endorses the plan this um modified plan the um the construction of the roadway and the installation of all the services will be secured by a covenant that is satisfactory to the city of melrose and there's some statutory references here um next condition number four which would actually be number three um is another sort of standard language the applicant will be required to submit a schedule of values to the city which will identify all the costs associated with the roadway and utility improvements and that will need to be approved by the city engineer before work starts and the next condition um is a stipulation that because of the complexities with this project

▶ 2:05:09 Denise Gaffey: and with any project of this size and scope we would require a pre-construction meeting with all the relevant city officials including the engineering division and the fire department police department planning office building commissioner board of health and just review all the procedures and conditions that need to be maintained during construction We also added a provision here that it's number six that states prior to commencing construction, the applicant shall be required to provide detailed information pertaining to calculations of the quantity of blasting and rock removals scheduled and details for blasting and rock removal to be implemented prior to and during construction for review and

▶ 2:06:04 Denise Gaffey: approval so asking for some more details about some further specifics on the rock removal which I know is a big concern we have a condition here on the inflow and infiltration fund which is a standard condition whenever there's any increased flow sewer flows for a new development so this is standard language the next condition pertains specifically to the blasting route that's required and it stipulates that the owner shall submit for review and approval a blasting plan that includes specific procedures around drilling and blasting, safety and protection, and documentation of pre-blasting conditions on adjacent properties. We added a provision in here based on the applicant's representation during the public

▶ 2:07:08 Denise Gaffey: hearings that he would be willing to provide pre-blast surveys to abutters beyond the typical 200 foot radius which is a requirement. He will offer to do blasting to anyone who is within 500 feet. So we did add that into this condition so that the fire department is aware that this is part of the plan. So it reads that the plan will provide the option for our mothers who are between 250 feet and 500 feet of the blasting location to request a pre-blast survey at the applicant's expense there's a construction which next next condition is boilerplate language about constructions of ways and installations which shall be subject to the Department of Public Works and approved by the city engineer then this

▶ 2:08:05 Denise Gaffey: though this condition also speaks to the clerk of the works it reads that given the extensive the extent of infrastructure work required to install this development the applicant is required to provide a full-time construction inspector during utility and roadway installation to provide oversight daily reporting and record-keeping to be provided to the city the engineering division must approve the resume of the proposed clerk of the works next is a standard condition about street opening and utility permits and just some guidance to the applicant on how we can go about obtaining those permits. And the fact that it has to be also coordinated with the, between the engineering division and the police department in terms of any police details

▶ 2:09:00 Denise Gaffey: that may be required. Next, the utility permits for the individual lots shall not be granted without detailed design information for each home showing how appropriate water and sewer service connections shall be accommodated. Several of the next conditions actually came out of the city engineer's review. And so these have been reviewed already by the applicant and approved as conditions by the applicant, but we wanna put them into this document to make sure they happen. So that was one of them. The applicant shall be required to perform confirmatory soil test pits to establish the vertical separation for the estimated seasonal high groundwater table to the bottom of the system for the roof recharge systems.

▶ 2:09:47 Denise Gaffey: These will all be done before, prior to building permit. The applicant shall conduct flow and pressure calculations to determine if individual water booster pumps will be needed for the units in the proposed development. If booster pumps are warranted, they shall be provided by the applicant. Next, number 14, the applicant shall submit a detailed construction plan for the culvert replacement at Mabel Terrace for review by the engineering department prior to commencement of this construction activity and the plan shall include additional sedimentation and erosion control provisions for this work. 15, the applicant shall submit a final landscape plan to the engineering division that shows specific

▶ 2:10:35 Specifics on the vegetative buffers along the above properties. In addition, all street trees shall be located at least 10 feet from utilities and driveways. If this cannot be achieved, the maximum separation possible for utilities shall be maintained. All planting should be guaranteed for a minimum of 2 years. Number 16, the applicant shall submit two paper copies of the definitive plan to the City Engineer upon final approval of the project and prior to commencement of construction. 17, these next several conditions are all to be maintained during construction. Safe pedestrian and vehicle access to Maple Terrace and Hillside Park shall be required to be maintained throughout construction.

▶ 2:11:20 Denise Gaffey: The applicant shall provide the City Engineer and affected abutters with regular updates on access conditions and roadway relocations. Construction vehicles shall access the site using main roads whenever feasible and avoid highly residential areas. No parking of construction vehicles shall be allowed within the City's right of way. There shall be no idling of construction vehicles. Next number 19, the applicant shall be required to maintain communication with city officials and others for construction. Number 20, construction activity shall occur in accordance with the City of Melrose noise ordinance. The applicant shall employ accepted dust management standards and shall limit noise impacts to the extent practical. Construction hours

▶ 2:12:09 Denise Gaffey: shall generally be limited to between 7 a.m and 3 p.m daily and no construction activities shall begin before 8 a.m on Saturdays there shall be no construction activity on Sundays or holidays all construction plans and procedures shall adhere to the building codes of the commonwealth and city including but not limited to safety measures required in regard to fencing on or near deep ledge cuts the applicant shall coordinate the schedule of trucking to the site associated with the ledger removal operation with the police department to determine if police details will be needed to mitigate impacts on the trucking the applicant shall provide a mock-up of a typical retaining wall on site for review approval by the planning

▶ 2:12:56 Denise Gaffey: board in the field the applicant shall be responsible for solid waste removal from the property during construction trash and recycling curbside pickup as well as snow removal will be be provided by the city's contractors once roadway paving is complete to the satisfaction of the engineering division the city reserves the right to change this policy at any time next these next conditions will all apply to work that needs to get completed before occupants certificate of occupancy for the home constructions. Any required backflow prevention devices must be registered by routine inspection for routine inspection with the city subcontractor. That's a standard condition. The applicant shall be responsible for purchase and installation of standard city street signs

▶ 2:13:55 Denise Gaffey: in consultation with the city engineer. Existing natural features including trees and shrubs located outside the area of construction shall be protected and main remain in a natural state during construction the applicant owner the applicant shall be required to complete the subdivision roadway within two years of approval of the modified definitive subdivision plan and the next condition is speaks to the fact that there's only there'll be sidewalk on only one side of the road on Patrick's Place. The applicant shall be required to provide a contribution to the sidewalk fund in lieu of the sidewalk on the other side. The sidewalk fund contribution shall be equivalent to the square footage of the sidewalks that are not being provided times

▶ 2:14:45 Denise Gaffey: the cost at the time of the approval of installing sidewalks under the city's applicable service contract that's more like standard language um it's also a standard condition about for new subdivisions which requires that telephone electric street lighting catv and fire alarm feeds throughout the development shall be located underground um 31 is a street light plan shall be submitted to the engineering division that depicts the final location and design once determined by the utility provider the next condition is that the owner shall add short service connection liners at each service connection along the portion of the sewer main on maple terrace downstream of the proposed connection for the project in order to allow this

▶ 2:15:37 main to remain in service and serve the proposed development alternatively the applicant may replace the main and sections of the service services on maple terrace at their expense The applicant shall replace the water main on Mabel Terrace from Swainsboro Ave to Patrick's Place Road, beginning at the sideline of Swainsboro Avenue with a new 8-inch deep valve. Should the applicant wish to extend gas service to the new development, it should be the applicant's responsibility to coordinate this work with National Grid. And it would also require a granted location from the City. Next, the applicant shall at his or her, shall at his expense restore sidewalks, driveway, aprons, curbing, roadway, streetlights,

▶ 2:16:30 pavement markings, and all other pertinences on Swains Pond Avenue, Maple Terrace, and Hillside Park to their pre-construction condition or better, roadway restoration will require curb-to-curb paving of any disturbed areas and milling and inlaying to repair those areas. Next, before final acceptance of the new subdivision road, the engineering division shall evaluate the effectiveness of the roadway changes at Swains Pond Avenue and Maple Terrace in terms of safety and vehicular speed. The city engineer shall have the right to require the applicant to install a graced crosswalk at the intersection or take other measures to improve safety if needed. That's the concern we were talking about earlier,

▶ 2:17:15 Denise Gaffey: about evaluating the roadway. The applicant shall submit a checklist for monitoring and reporting requirements for items such as the stormwater management system, wetlands protection, landscaping, both the construction phase and the long-term. The long-term checklist shall be provided to the homeowners association to assist in their ability to follow through with the many tasks required of them once the applicant's work is complete. The applicant is required to meet all components of the city's stormwater management plan including construction site monitoring that will take place to ensure erosion and sedimentation controls are accurate. Applicants shall submit a Homeowners Association document that outlines the responsibilities of the Homeowners Association as it relates to the long term maintenance of the stormwater management system, wetlands protection, landscaping, etc.

▶ 2:18:09 Denise Gaffey: to the Engineering Division and to the Office of Planning and Community Development. Next, the applicant shall convey the land of lot 10 to the City of Melrose Conservation Commission for preservation and perpetuity, and we understand too that we'll probably modify this to also state that the developer will be reserving an easement over that lot to install and maintain an underground detention area. Next, the applicant shall submit a copy of the recorded easement to the Office of Planning and Development that designates the area entitled open space just west of the intersection of Patrick's Place and Hillside as undeclared open space in perpetuity. That may also be done as a deed restriction, so we might be modifying that language.

▶ 2:19:07 Denise Gaffey: Next, the applicant shall submit final as-built plans to the building commissioner, the engineering division, and the office of planning and development when construction of the project is completed. And they'll have to be approved by the engineering division and have all the elements on the plans that are required by the engineer. Homeowners Association, these next two conditions are perpetual conditions. And one is the homeowners association shall be responsible for all maintenance requirements for each of the elements of the storm water management system with the exception of the individual roof drain systems, which are the responsibility of the individual homeowners. The requirement for maintenance must be incorporated into any homeowners agreement.

▶ 2:19:54 Denise Gaffey: And finally, I think this is the last 1. The homeowners association shall be required to submit documentation to the city engineer showing that the required long term maintenance is required. Is being, excuse me, performed pursuant to the required schedule. Furthermore, the city shall have the right to enter and maintain all stormwater systems of adequate maintenance of the systems is not being performed with cost assumed by the homeowners association. And those are all the draft conditions that we put together for discussion. So, I have a couple of questions and some comments. I didn't know whether to do it along the way or just do it. I know. I agree. I think now is a good time though. Sorry, I was unstoppable.

▶ 2:20:42 I'll try to be quick here. So, who pays for the police details to the extent that might get extensive here? The applicant. In fairness, I wanted to bring that up. In terms of the landscape plan, I do think that we're always concerned that the proper plantings are specified here, given the beating those along the street take with salting of roadways, of which there's going to be significant with the profile of the roadways that we have here. Also, to the extent that this is an extensive legislate, uh i think that adds another challenge combined with the wetlands so i just want to make sure that there's a professional if not registered landscape architect that's involved rather than you know a less professional individual that i think will

▶ 2:21:35 you know provide us a higher degree of certainty that the specified plantings are going to survive here even though there's a two-year warranty requirement so that's a suggestion um the uh just some of the things that were in res well let me ask this because maybe this will cover a lot is everything that i saw on the website that the applicant added additionally through uh the may 18th meeting part of the record and approval process sorry are you asking if everything's been put on the website no if that is by reference included in the in what we're going to vote on tonight yes it will be i mean we haven't itemized everything yet in this draft but that's the intent oh that's right because there is a cover letter that will go

▶ 2:22:27 to this that will be the approval letter and these are the conditions that will be attached to them as usual right there'll be a decision with a narrative that as long as it refers to everything on the website that satisfies a lot of the comments i'd have because things said tonight and there was also documentation response specific questions that we had that if that becomes part of the record and what we vote on and therefore the approval if it is so approved then that satisfies a lot of my comments um in addition to the makeup for the retaining wall i i would suggest it could be one that is actually intended to be permanent but where i heard that no riprap and instead a placed slope uh stone slope where the grade is in excess of three to one i think it would

▶ 2:23:17 be prudent to add that as well if the applicant's agreeable to that in other words in a location that they plan to build it anyway just so we can see what that looks like because to the extent that's fairly extensive or prominent i think that would be important to see a sample of as well could you um could you recommend specific language right and where would you put that i think where you have the condition let's see if i wrote down the number uh well it's the one with the with the mock-up requirement right all right so i would say in addition to a sample retaining wall a sample um stone slope rather than riprap and i think that would cover it consistent with what was represented tonight you're saying it doesn't have to be a

▶ 2:24:07 mock-up it could be the actual yeah it could be in just to minimize the effort here i think that if the first place where that occurs they could start the layman of the stone we could come out and take a look at it along with the retaining wall mock-up and uh and you know basically Maybe instead of using the word mock-up, we could just say provide an example. Yes. Yeah, I think that's better said, yes. And then, again, because a lot of this is covered by the added granite, how will that be covered in terms of what was agreed to tonight in lieu of the BITCON curve? Yeah, we probably want to add that. Okay. Right, because it's not on the plan. right well we have a chance to review the homeowners association document or is that

▶ 2:24:59 something just we rely on the city engineer to do i think the way it's written in here it's it's provided to the city to the engineering and then in here i'm comfortable that uh this knowing the city engineer um she she knows that if that's not well covered that comes back to the city so So I'm comfortable with that. And then lastly, don't usually decide, or is it understood in terms of these conditions, if that's ultimately what we agreed to have attached to the letter, what the design review committee comes back to take a look at as opposed to the full board? I don't think there's anything that the planning board comes back to it for, except the retaining wall. Yeah, not generally for subdivisions, but.

▶ 2:25:49 How about the landscape plan? Or site plan review usually. about the landscape plan i mean right now certainly do that we right now it's the way it's structured i think it's the city engineer who would okay well i guess i'll throw that out to the rest of the board what they feel is though we should still have a chance to look at which is not unusual but i realize this is a site plan same division rather than a you know a structure right we usually uh defer to the city engineer on these things we have not had i don't believe we usually use utilize our design review subcommittee except for cycling review not subdivisions and who would review the mock-up for the um retaining wall in the example of the

▶ 2:26:46 of the slope the stone slope so that's that's the planning board okay all right so uh then that that would just i'll leave it at this then i would just suggest that the emphasis that i suggested on the landscape architect be added because that way then we can leave it to the city but it raises the bar in terms of the professional it's involved and again for the reasons i won't repeat but identified here this is an unusually difficult site in terms of plantings potentially okay i'll leave it at that sure we can do that okay other members of the board that had uh the specific conditions they'd like to talk about or modify. Yeah. I just have a question. This relates to Maple Terrace, the portion that's being widened.

▶ 2:27:42 I would just like to know, so it's my understanding that the developer has agreed to make some concessions to the direct abutters to that portion of Maple Terrace whose properties will be disturbed from the widening. um and it's my understanding that he's that he's represented that he would make some improvements to it specifically it's one maple terrace two maple terrace um 57 swains pond and 65 swains pond um and i guess he had set forth uh the concessions he intends to make and improvements uh based on his conversations with the abutters but i would just like to know how we capture that into the approval process so that there's some sort of you know that's almost a requirement that he does make those you

▶ 2:28:34 know repairs and improvements after he disturbs their property and do we make it a condition do we just I think the fact that it's part of the record this is not something we usually made a condition of a subdivision right but is part of the record that's what I'm saying it has been worth in an email it has been submitted to me as a formal email from the applicant okay so then that's part of the record it doesn't have to come forward in the public forum no I think okay I think we can also describe it in the narrative of the decision to reference you did raise questions about that and I think it's been made clear but we should make clear in the narrative that uh the uh all the abutters that uh

▶ 2:29:28 about the the uh private way is in in fact including the applicant have agreed to the widening of the paved way all within the easement for the roadway anyway uh within the layout of the road and i think that's important to note that it's been agreed to by all the abutters and we We can also note that in addition, the applicant is doing and mitigation work with each of the property owners. I think maybe looking at condition one, maybe it was just what the chair and John just brought up is if you want to make it clear that it's any deviation from the final approved plans, any deviation of the project from the final approved plans or from the materials submitted in support of the application requires approval again i think the

▶ 2:30:25 concern here is that there's you know the plans are one element um but there's a lot of information that's been supported that to get you know towards approval and we just don't want some of those um concessions and agreements to fall beside the you know to be not recognized because they're not part of the plan site i don't think that's the develop developer's intention and all but just would make it clear if that if we're incorporating all the application materials that if there's a material change from any of that it requires further review i think that's probably wise i mean i think it's usually the way we operate but it never hurts to be nice and clear in our conditions uh i i i'd support that good idea we can we can do that i i think i got that

▶ 2:31:18 well trusting that this developer uh i think along the way has really gone through a lot here and we'll follow through uh development rights can be sold right you just took the words out of my mouth because isn't that exactly what happened with regan regan's way so while we have some you You know, we certainly do seem to trust this applicant. We have no reason to believe that he, you know, he wouldn't do the things that he says, and we know is his whole team. I do agree with you, John. That's a, it's a good point. Rules run with the land, right? That's right. And it's Carla, I have a question about actually, it might go to condition 1, but. The way I read condition 1, it is that the films that have been submitted through, I think it's May 21st.

▶ 2:32:12 Are it doesn't say that they're the final plans, but. If it refers to only drawings that are. As recent as May 21st, for example, that 2 stop signs are not located on the plans yet. So, how do we vote on something that is not the final plan? We obviously don't have where do we. I think the project incorporates the plans and what's shown in the plans as well as. What's described in the narrative that's what we're proving it. The plan as proposed in the conditions and the conditions. I mean, if you're more comfortable. Do you want to cut a condition about the stop signs? We could, we can add that. That's why I had asked about all the other documents that are on the website that were most recently. Those are all going to be references. I understand it.

▶ 2:33:17 In the cover letter, yes, I was supposed to be part of it. I mean, yeah, the applicant is supposed to live up to everything that's been said and proposed as well as what's shown on the plans. Because it's true. There's often things at the last minute that come up in a meeting and they aren't on the plans. It would be easier and cleaner to have it all on a plan, but I realized that at this point, there's a lot of pieces there. As long as you're carefully referred to them, reasonably comfortable. Yeah, and our intent with number one is to reference the most final approved plans that we have. So, I didn't fully flesh that out lack of lack of time. Okay. The plan is to the plans don't indicate the stop signs. Right?

▶ 2:34:08 That's so sort of like, curb extension. We could also make reference to the stop signs. Right? It's also part of the record and I think it has to happen now, but it's not written down here. Is there anything else specific, Carla, that you were worried about not showing on the plans? Because there's obviously a lot that's been said. No, I mean, I feel like, John, I'd rather have updated plans, noting all these things. But eventually, somebody's going to have to approve the final plan, and that's somebody in the city. so it's just a lot harder for them to do it when little bits and pieces are in different areas do you know I'm saying but I think it's okay I can't think of any other examples I've just been carrying this notion of the stop signs

▶ 2:35:17 with me tonight you know ultimately we have to sign the plans yeah you'll have to endorse them yeah so we'll we'll have there'll be one more set of revisions to incorporate these last few items that we'll have to sign before they go on on record so i do think there is you know practically there's one more step to get um our pens to paper okay i have a i have a concern about we talked about conditions and uh and we talked about traffic and and can do we put conditions on that traffic and you know i i sort of echo bobby's concerns in that with 40 foot long trailers that are not going to be able to maneuver on this site so just wondering who's going to enforce a whole traffic flow of that situation so that neighbors endangered and and unduly disturbed by

▶ 2:36:21 the noise uh you know the backup alarms of the trucks the the flow you know it's easy to say no idling i've never been to a construction site where there weren't trucks sitting and idling it's like who they are um so especially because we're right in the middle of these people's backyards right in the middle of the neighborhood i would just uh like to feel a little better that we're going to do the maximum we can do to um save these people from being any more inconvenienced than they have to be so you've got it in the conditions i'm not sure it's going to enforce it well when it comes to the the vehicle the truck and the ledge removal and all that the trucking that occurs we were suggesting that that would be coordinated very closely with the police department

▶ 2:37:19 Denise Gaffey: and that please the police would determine if details would need would be needed and um we can make it clear that those will be at the applicant's expense obviously but but who makes that call police department so are they going to monitor what goes on they're also going to be the ones getting all the calls with complaints if it doesn't go well trust me like it does almost i don't say it's self monitored it doesn't doesn't exactly monitor itself but what happens is if it it doesn't go well there's a lot of complaining that happens and then things will get things get fixed pretty quickly the other thing is there is a um i'm worried about this too jack this was the part that bothered me the most um because i i did have three little kids um but the uh the other

▶ 2:38:18 thing is the we do we are requiring them to come up with a detailed plan about the trucking and And the removal, so I'm assuming, and that's to understand if there's review and approval, that's going to happen the review and approval. Can't remember if it's by the city engineer or by the planning department, but I think that's that can be part of the monitoring process there. There I think the clerk of the works is going to be told in no uncertain terms. Okay. Here's the plan. Here's how it happens. And this has to keep an eye on this because that's one of his concerns. So I think we're putting a lot of trust in the review and approval of the, the rock removal plan and the blasting plan happen plans, as well as the police department monitoring the trucking schedule.

▶ 2:39:19 Do you have any other suggestions that would make it better? Those are the places I see it getting controlled. Well, Denise is probably right about the cause. I just, I'm just picturing, you know, having driven a semi when I was in the Army and trying to maneuver it on those streets and what it would be like. And like Bobby said, there's only one way in. You're back in, you're back out. You're 14% grade. Don't worry about it. yeah usually usually when they my poor permit they will submit a tracking route this you know the police department is going to review it and they might have they make their call so usually the police about the traffic department they may say you can't go through this neighborhood you know the truck so you gotta go they have to submit them like a tracking route

▶ 2:40:14 uh okay just you know i'm just but you're right i i don't think some the dump trailer can make the site or he's going to be mostly throwing the axle bumper i don't think they can either i i don't see how it's going to work but even the even the dumper is going to be higher than 14 percent uh you know okay you know backing it out but you're a good point there is the and the the sound of the trap and the you know the backup alarm you know the equipment and everything that should be addressed though another issue is the trucks queuing up you know there's going to be a a certain speed of the operation say so they're crushing their blast and rock they're filling trucks they're estimating how quick that truck's going to leave and another one's going to come

▶ 2:41:08 back the other guy comes back he's now waiting so he's parked he's parked there queuing up somewhere he ain't going to have any room to queue up on that site so he's probably going to be down in the streets somewhere i think you have a couple of trucks queued up there that's going to be by traffic department once they spill into the street once they spell on the street you know the cops will be there you know but they're not going to monitor the site you know i mean they'll be where the trucks spill from the site into the road so again i just think the site itself is i think i think they're just they're just going for it as far as construction the way i see this construction plan they're just going for it i don't i don't see a solid sequencing plan at all i'd love to

▶ 2:41:54 try it again i saw a list that was very generic and i don't see this thing planned out carefully at all i'd love to chime in if i could you certainly can but um just i do want to remind you paul that that's why we said that there have to be detailed plans that are reviewed and approved not by us that would be the city engineer go ahead so they are going to have large equipment and they'll be able to build um places that vehicles can turn around uh i'm not going to to pretend to be the person that is determining that but uh i've seen sites like this go together and and it is possible to do um and um when you say that the uh the applicant's just going for it um there is going to be detailed uh planning that goes on before they they put shovels in

▶ 2:42:53 the ground so uh i assure you that we won't be just going for it thank you okay there there's obviously a lot of concern about uh the construction plan which right now it's all left up to the city engineer and the planning department to review and approve exactly how they do it we have a general plan here obviously but that the blasting and the construction planning is all going to be part of the city process here the pre-construction meeting with the city did anyone want to suggest other proposals did you want to try and condition this differently try and meet some of these concerns well one thing i would like to see considered is the use of proximity type backup alarms rather than the constant on backup alarms

▶ 2:43:52 i think we i think we conditioned that on the melrose wakefield parking lot project um because that way the backup alarms only come on when they sent something behind them like the modern sensors on your cars probably do if that meets the osha safety requirements i think that's a good suggestion and i recall i think we've required i've required that on on projects like this because it could be it's not inconceivable if the blasting is done right that the biggest offenders are the backup sound of constantly you know all day and then the queuing with the idling so i think that those kinds of measures uh combined with the process that's going to work here with complaints high enough it's going to come back to the the contractor

▶ 2:44:42 and the developer uh probably as a practical matter all we can do here what is that called again jack a proximity backup alarm backup alarm yeah we did use that for the hospital parking lot so we can grab the language from that i do remember that that's it i think that's a good suggestion because that is crazy annoying to have that going constantly and that's i think that's one of our biggest concerns is very clear is the neighborhood um disruption here and the other ideas from members of the board the way it's suggested here is obviously there's three conditions that all involve city engineer oversight and the police sorry well did you have ideas uh yeah you know I would probably have language in it at

▶ 2:45:48 that the trucks aren't allowed to queue um or i don't it's like jack said um yeah there's not much space around there any i think they won't be able to park or queue up on like maple terrace or anything they'll block the whole road yeah haven't we had a haven't we had an idling like time requirement in the past or is there one generally for like there's a state regulation about idling right yeah i think that's already built in yeah yeah we did add that language to one of the conditions but i could we could also add the queuing yeah i mean and and and make sure it's enforced it's one thing to have the language it's another thing to have it enforced right i also think emphasizing it in the cover letter denise the you know the letter ultimately based

▶ 2:46:45 done it's actually a decision down yeah yeah yeah that make that part of the decision um that you know there was a lot of focus and concern raised about dot dot dot i think that also uh would serve as the record as well with uh the vote because this is something that's very difficult to nail down other than what jack just suggested right true um are you guys suggesting there's absolutely no queuing anywhere in the city of melrose you know the practicality is you have to bring the trucks in somewhere right i don't think anyone's suggesting that i think that the point it gets to be you know a line of five trucks that are blocking driveways uh that are idling for an excessive period of time is what would you know be the straw that would break the

▶ 2:47:33 camel's back right so there's some uh reasonableness standard here with queuing and idling and there is a state standard with idling combined with some horse sense here yeah suggestions um okay this is really minor but i know that the peer reviewer had said um i think it's let's say condition 14 which is the covert replacement work they've said if possible it should be done during low flow conditions i don't know if we wanted to just add that in it was a suggestion from the peer reviewer that the culvert replacement it's probably part of their details plan anyway probably easier to do during low flow conditions you could add that i think that's the only thing i most of everything else that i had notes about oh and also that

▶ 2:49:00 number 41 denise you had mentioned either a deed restriction or a recorded easement which is that sight line um right easement over that i don't know is it lot one the one uh on the left yeah right the intersection of uh patrick's place in hillside um that so maybe we should just put the language in that says recorded easement or deed restriction that whatever they do we get a copy of it oh yeah yeah no i'm just i'm just saying i think i'm going to be amending it to say deed restriction i think that is how they represented that was going to work okay so that will be changed to deed restriction i just wanted to make sure it was clear because that's important for site for visibility it has to be maintained yes we're

▶ 2:49:54 keeping the perpetuity language right yeah i was just going to say that denise maybe ask on the city solicitor because i i know that restrictions do they're not in perpetuity and they do expire and there's a need that they get reviewed so I know if I mean it is the purpose of it to just keep it undeveloped what is the purpose of the yeah it's actually providing sight lines so it has to be undeveloped and maintained so maybe I mean maybe the killer silence yes yep so maybe both because so an easement is a right to use somebody else's land and you can have an easement for a view so I think as far as the sight lines go that would be sort of more of an easement and then as far as keeping it undeveloped because that's

▶ 2:50:49 how you actually keep the site view that would probably be more of a restriction maybe we could just do both out of you know just out of really being you know cautious that we want to make sure that there's no question and you know 30 years about this particular a lot so why don't I review the language language with the city's listener on this one yeah okay understanding the concerns here that's a good idea did anyone else have other conditions or other changes that they'd like to propose or clarifications to make sure we're getting everything that we would like in this excuse me I just had one question and it's been a while since I've done a subdivision approval but the condition for talks about the tripartite agreement who's the parties who's the third party

▶ 2:51:49 right does it does that presume bond or what does that presume a form of surety yeah I think it is the it's the lender yes it's the lender would be the third party along and the owner of the property and the lender would be assuring the money is in place to finish the proper project I think it's a lieu of a bond isn't it Greg it's been forever since I've looked at subdivision yeah there's you know three or four different means to secure the infrastructure so I wasn't sure if we had a set one but that's fine that covers the if it's a lender that's that's fine I just wasn't 100% sure we have used a tripartite agreement before okay in fact for their for the applicant's other project that was the mechanism okay okay anything further

▶ 2:53:00 from members of the board at this time are we prepared to vote on the subdivision plan with waivers as approved and all the proposed conditions I am yes okay if any member of the board wants to have further discussion speak now but otherwise I'd like a motion make a motion I'd like to make a motion that we approve the language as described and the conditions okay that's by Mike do I have a second second second by Greg and just to clarify you're approving a modified subdivision plan so you're proving the modifications yes yeah modified you're right which also means if there's any further conditions in the original subdivision plan those also apply but yes thanks for reminding me we do have a motion in a second there's any further discussion I'm gonna ask for a

▶ 2:54:25 vote uh we'll call the roll and please uh vote aye aye or no um mike cassavoy hi john sadowski paul king hi hi bob mccarno bob mccarno he's muted oh i just i thought i just done unmuted. Bob McCormick. Sorry? Abstain. You're abstaining? Yes. Greg Sampson. Aye. Aye. Carla Morelli. Aye. Amanda Sousa-Ward. And you're on mute. Sorry, Ann. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm obviously slow on the button now. It's It's getting late. I voted aye. Aye as well. Thank you. Okay. That was eight affirmatives and one abstention. Okay. The motion carries. The modified subdivision plan as proposed and it's found on the plans. As described in the record, with all the conditions as we have discussed tonight, is approved.

▶ 2:56:02 Denise Gaffey: Right. Thank you to the developer. You worked long and hard with this and I know it's been difficult and thank you to the board members because this has been a very complicated case and I know it is difficult. It still is difficult to contemplate how this is going to go, but thanks to everybody. We have one more item. can I just uh thank you thank you for your time and thank you for the work you put in I appreciate the help thank you and we have one other really quick item I didn't make it onto the agenda but we were notified today that the developer for 87 Essex the new building going up on 187 Essex Street. They're ready to have the board members or the design review subcommittee members, however you want to do it, swing by and take a look at the color palette. They have five

▶ 2:57:10 Denise Gaffey: options for colors and I think it must have been written into the design. It must have been left up during design review that the design review committee members go out and And look at colors. So there's a color board against the, they put the framing up for the building. So if you take a drive-by, you'll see that. And then there's colors if you want to swing by and talk to me about it. To do it, I mean, I don't know if you want to try to formally schedule that or just go and look and get your feedback to the RMI. You're the chair of the design. Would you preference me to try and do it as a group or to do it as individuals and not speak at our next meeting? Are we committed to are we permitted to email each other to discuss the colors?

▶ 2:58:08 I feel like it would be ideal if we all met at the same time out there. Sure. Yes. You know. Yes. And it could be any time this week. Is everybody confined to home? Okay. Carla, I walk by there every day, so I need the exercise. Awesome. Home for me could be two locations. So, let's see what works for everybody. I'm in Melrose right now. Yeah, I'm fairly open. I have loads and loads of Zoom calls every day, but I don't have anything before 9 a.m. So, is meeting at 8.30 any morning? Is that okay? I have tomorrow, I have an 8 o'clock, but and I actually am going into Boston for my first meeting after a long time. But I'll be coming on my way back would end of the day or late tomorrow work for anybody. That's fine too.

▶ 2:59:30 I'm tied up until 430, but I'm free after that. I don't care how late it is. That works for others. Yeah, the clock work for me. Mike Jack. Yep. 5 o'clock fine. Okay, I want to say that tomorrow at 5. yep. Okay. Tomorrow at 5, any other planning board members who want to look at the colors can join you. Right? Oh, absolutely. And I'll stop by as well. Who's going to mark the X's on the ground at 6 feet apart? Yeah, that's right. Wear your mask. That's right. Just so I'm clear, the address again, Denise? I just want to make sure I'm at the right place. 7 Essex Street, so it's right up from Shaw's. Yep. Okay. Next to the church there. It used to be the church, right? Yeah, next to the former church. That's right. Got it. Okay. So, other than that, just a reminder that our next meeting is on the 29th of June.

▶ 3:00:32 Denise Gaffey: It's not the 4th Monday. It's the 5 Mondays this month. So we're going to push it out to the 29th and we're going to hear a case. We have an application for site plan approval for a case on Tremont Street that will look familiar to you because they came in front of the board for a ZBA recommendation not long ago, but then decided to put things on hold and come back to the planning board first. So it'll look familiar once you get the materials from us. 730 as well? That will be 730 as well, yeah. Is that a good time? I think that's what we posted, so it's going to have to be that, so. Okay, I posted that one at 8 because I wasn't sure. Oh, we cannot hear you tonight. That's so funny. I posted it for 8 because I didn't know if we were going to have CBA cases.

▶ 3:01:29 Okay, but our meeting will start before that. Yeah, our meeting will start. Just think about it. We'll let you know. We may want to start as early as 7.30 if we have a lot of ZBA cases. Right, and we'll probably have minutes, and we'll have some regular business to conduct. Yeah, but it may also be 7.45. We'll keep you posted on that one. Okay. So we'll have a definitive subdivision modified plan approval to review, right? No, no, no, I hope not in the signatures. It's not even funny. Great. And we will have to do signatures on this plan somehow, but it will be a. In my person, yeah, when they're ready to have it endorsed. Yeah. Yes. I'll have to figure that out. Do you want to do electronic signatures?

▶ 3:02:24 We do electronic signatures. Registry won't accept them. Okay, so we'll figure that out when the time comes. It does come around. You're still not in City Hall, right? No, no, we're not. Still unclosed? Yeah, we won't be having in-person meetings for a long time, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah, so we have to get used to this format, unfortunately. only for the meetings I just know if you will have a guys back in the planning office coming and going because I mean we go in when we need to but it's um you know it's pretty tight quarters in there so yeah we're trying to minimize our exposure yeah oh yeah you say if you need a plan sign you can always you know most of us a home now we can always just swing by there inside you know sign it

▶ 3:03:12 Denise Gaffey: over a course of a couple of days I suppose of course so we can drop it by your home or something sure yeah we'll figure that out not worried about an entirely different topic if we're with other business and I may be a little behind in terms of being read on on Melrose news but I heard there were suggestions about closing the Main Street for restaurants to expand out into the street through the summer and I heard that was shot down by Board of health is that did I hear correctly oh I didn't hear the last part that I haven't heard that at all I don't know that that's true I think there's no immediate plan to close off Main Street there's definitely lots of discussions going on about about parklets and about having outdoor seating in place of some

▶ 3:04:07 Denise Gaffey: of the parking spaces on Main Street. So, you know, which is a kind of a fun idea and in a way to help these restaurants who right now can only have outdoor seating. So, and this is the right weather for that. So I think that's what we're seriously, is being seriously considered, but I may have missed it if there was some action by the Board of Health that I, you know, so don't quote me. That's really hearsay that, you know, let's put it this way. When I was able to finally get my haircut, I'll put it that way. But I think it's an idea worth further considering because I think we're going to see retail hit really hard here. And the fact that the stock market's back up and so on, I, you know, none of us have a crystal ball. I think that's really important. And I think that reality is going to set in this fall.

▶ 3:05:00 Denise Gaffey: Yeah, you're going to see a huge impact to the economy and I think retail is going to get the brunt of it here. And if they can hang on by a thread where their margins, unfortunately, I think are more in selling alcohol than food. that outdoor area help with the right distancing and whatever the rules are that the city establishes as things hopefully improve over time might make the difference between them being able to stay in business and not and a lot of that really is the vibrancy of Melrose yeah yeah totally totally appreciate that absolutely there is there is a task force I'm on the the economic development task force so i'm working very closely with the small businesses downtown that are affected in the chamber of commerce and in the mayor's office and we're evaluating all

▶ 3:05:52 Denise Gaffey: of these ideas and pursuing grant opportunities to try to help the small businesses really doing everything we can um but because i know because i couldn't agree more it's the backbone of our community it's so important it's a really tough one because in the in the environment we're in where you know the the incident in uh you know with the police has taken over the news here i also heard and i don't know if it's incorrect or not that the the city is allowing uh some level of congregation for a protest but i think it's those kinds of things that then suggest well then what about you know the idea of opening some outdoor space for restaurants you'd want to start with calling the restaurants to see if they take advantage of it and if not then you know fine

▶ 3:06:42 anyway just a thought that's great it's a great idea great suggestion great suggestion great yeah all right good night all right guys until june 29th good work everyone it was a it's been long a long haul and hard for the public on this one but it looks like this is how we're doing business for a while so should i make the motion to adjourn sure see you tonight five o'clock don't forget i'll call that a second carla all in favor i think that's an eye without a call All right, everyone, good night.

Original documents

• Minutes (CivicClerk PDF)
• Agenda (IQM2 PDF)
• Bulletin (IQM2 PDF)
• Minutes packet (IQM2 PDF)
• Agenda packet (CivicClerk PDF)
• Agenda packet (IQM2 PDF)
• Other (CivicClerk PDF)
• This meeting on the city portal