September 23, 2026 – Planning Board – Video & Transcript

September 23, 2026 - Planning Board

Autoscroll:

Good evening. This is a meeting. It's September the 23rd, 2026. This is the meeting of the Wayland Planning Board. I'm going to call the meeting to order at 7.05 p.m. and I'm going to take attendance via roll call. Robin Borgestedt. Here. Ira Montague. Here. Jesse Newberry. Here. Bill Sterling, are you here? He's here. There he is. He has to talk. Yes. Or he's not here. Annette Lewis here. I'm here. Bill Sterling here. Thank you. The agenda for this evening is public comment, then review and approve draft minutes of 8.26. I don't believe that the ones of 9.9 are available. Then at 7.15, we have PB 26-04. It's a continued public hearing for 400, 440 Boston Post Road, 189 Andrew Avenue, 50 Andrew Avenue, and 100 Alyssa Way in the Wayland Town Center Shopping Center. And they're asking for amendments to the existing master special permit. Then, hopefully, at 8.15, we're going to review draft permits, special permit rules and regulations for accessory dwelling units. And then updates from the town planner and there are multiple things that we'll be updated on. So, is there any public comment? Can't even see who's here.
I'm muted. Sorry, I'm muted. I see two people in the audience. One is the applicant for the next public hearing. And one is someone else, which I can't recognize their name. Just say something. Yeah, just him. Okay, is there any public comment this evening?
Doesn't matter. Moving on.
Can you put up the minutes, Robert, of 8.26? 26? They were just up a second ago. Sorry, I thought they were on one.
Has everyone had an opportunity to review them? Yes. Robert, can you fix the spelling of my name right up at the top?
Just take out the first D.
There you go. Do you want to go through them? Or are there any specific comments that anyone has?
Down in the section where it's at 7.15 with the continued public hearing for Hobbs Road, it says the only recommendation from Conservation Commission is removal of vegetation. I don't remember saying it that way, but... What did you say? I don't recall, but it just doesn't read right. That sounds a little obvious. Is the rec... So... I don't even remember. What did the Conservation Commission recommend? I don't... I think they recommended that, but I don't think I said that that was what they were recommending. Okay. I don't think that we have anything from the Conservation Commission. Right. It's just... That's why it's sort of odd that... Okay.
Anything else?
Nope.
Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes of 8-26-26 as amended? I move that we approve the minutes for 8-26-26 as amended. Second. Second. All in favor, Robin Borgestedt? Yes. Ira Montague? Yes. Jesse Newberry? I'll abstain for this one because I wasn't at that meeting. Okay. Bill Sterling? I'll approve it even though I wasn't at the meeting. Annette Lewis. Yes.
Is it 7.15 yet? No, we have five minutes. Robert, why don't you tell us about the public tree hearing? Yes. So we're having a public tree hearing at 6.30 on November 4th. And what day are we? Wednesday with the Board of Public Works. Our Board of Public Works, yes. 6.40? 6.30. 6.30. Yeah. I asked them to put it before the plan for me so that it's not a different day, weird time. We can just kind of fit it over our own schedule. Are they going to send us the list? They will send us the list. It was just finalized to actually today. Okay. They will send us the list in the next few days. Or I will send it over when I receive it.
And everybody makes that. And it's not a shade tree hearing. It's, for us, it's a scenic road hearing. Okay.
Can everyone make that date? Can you repeat? Is that 6.30 Wednesday the 14th? Correct. November the 4th. November. I thought it was that far out. I thought they gave them the dates of where we meet. So I would guess they could pull the board. Oh, that's fine. We have a meeting that day anyway? Yeah, we do. Yeah. So then, yeah, fine.
Everyone's okay with that? Yep. I think so. And I'm sorry. That's going to be, is that going to be a Zoom or in person? I was just going to, yes. I'm not sure yet. I would assume that, I'm not sure, but I would assume it's probably a Zoom, but it might be hybrid, potentially. So I'll find more information.
How does the board feel as between in-person or in Zoom meetings? It's fine either way. I think it, well. I think there are certain things we do better in person and certain things we do better over Zoom. The trees, I think, were fine over Zoom, but. What were you going to say, Ira? I was going to say, I like the default as being Zoom and then the obvious situations, like I think Robin's implying to be in person. Like when we're gathering with new clients, when we're gathering with someone that really needs that kind of extra meeting attention or whatever you want to call it. Yeah. You know, the Zoom can be pretty disconnected. Okay. And I agree with Ira about that, but I also think that when we have drawings to look at or we have lots of paper, certainly large sets of drawings, it's very hard to track that down on Zoom and much easier in person. Oh, you think so? Because I think it's easier on Zoom. I think it's easier on Zoom because I have the plans on my other screen blown up big. Yeah. I have two screens, so it's really easy for me. Okay. But maybe we should consider it. No, the reason I think it's easier is not for all those good reasons that you just gave, but because there are times when people have to stand over a drawing, point at what they're talking about, and have other people understand what it is exactly you're talking about. But if people, if someone has a pointer, I mean, like, if we can explain to Robert where it is, he can do the pointing. It helps somewhat, but it really is as his name says. It's just a point. No, it's a single point. It doesn't give the whole gestalt. Yeah. I think there are times where we're in the weeds with plans, and then maybe it's good to be in person, and other times where, you know, we can all have them, you know, up on a separate computer screen and be flipping through on our own. Because sometimes the plans are so small, even a big set. But sometimes the detail is so small, but on my computer, I can blow it way up and really see what we're talking about. So, did we blow through five minutes yet? We did. Yes, we did. Okay. Let's move on to the next matter. PB 2604, the continued public hearing for the town center shopping area. Amendments to the existing master special permit. Hi, Jesse.
Good evening, Madam Chair. Members of the board. Can you all hear me? Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. Okay, great. I cut out a little bit when I went from attendee to panelist, but nice to see you all. Same. So, Madam Chair, I'm happy to update you all and just talk briefly about the work we've done since our last time together a couple weeks ago. Okay. And then, of course, we'll hand the floor back to you all for questions and additional discussion, if that makes sense. Makes sense. Okay, great. So, in working with the town planner, we took, I would say, with an exception, every comment we heard back from our hearing a couple weeks ago in person at town hall and updated the narrative, which was the first part of our application, which I know you all had a chance to read in its original format. for the easy review we submitted that as a red line to a word document i'm happy to talk through any questions you may have about that there's a very productive exercise for us that actually helped us quite a bit uh in some of the conversations that we've been having with raytheon's lsp you know as i alluded to in our last hearing we are working really hard to ensure on a parallel track that the approvals we hope you all will grant to us in your forthcoming decision are things that we can actually execute on um so we've proud to say we're have a path forward there it's largely around the use of the unbilled parcels and how we can activate it um so that that is heading the right direction you know the other thing we did in addition to updating the narrative is that we have just compressed that fire egress diagram so many times it was a little bit pixelated um in the last submission so we went back with our team and we updated that document uh we think it's far more legible it makes quite a bit of sense in context with the larger um submission materials and um i should also just say in addition to the narrative we we tried to make very clear you know some of the matters raised by the board in our last session but also actually call out and be even more specific on some of the um dimensions for the signage and those are all um duplicative and reinforced and aligned with the actual plans we shared so i would just break it into kind of three buckets of what we've been doing one was just updating the narrative as i discussed updating some of the plans as we all discussed last time and the last one is a separate track unrelated to this planning board but certainly something i know you're um be keen to hear about is kind of working on the approvals we need to to really activate this site in the way we've been discussing so with that i'll hand it back to you madam chair uh here um at your um at your pleasure for any questions and discussion um i'm going to ask just one question first and then i'm going to go around the board um the first plan the site plan that you submitted i believe was dated 7626 then you we have another one but it's also dated 7626 i didn't note a change in the date but the plan has some slight changes to it yeah so the only change in the submit in the updated plan was we just showed um the additional areas at i can actually show it do you want me to share screen would that be easier for me to see okay okay one second so so that may have been an oversight candidly but the the only the singular only change we made since our original submission um was actually showing the extension of the deck feature to both sides here um that is something i would just note independent from the plan that we don't necessarily plan to execute on immediately this is where currently giacomo's is interestingly we had a conversation with his tenant about adding some outdoor seating here because we thought it made a tremendous amount of sense given the connection the rail trailer making um this particular operator didn't see eye to eye with us and so you know part of what we're coming to you all on now is to have the right to do that but i want to be really upfront you know without willing able um and agreeable tenants some of this we just simply may not do until a later date but we like the idea of it from an urban design perspective so that was the change we made if the board so desires we can get an updated plan um well yes will you be doing on the other side um where it's not giacomo's would you do that anyway or would you wait to have them be parallel i think we would do it anyway um we are at least almost done um working to relocate a local ice cream shop from the whole foods plaza in sudbury called new city micro creamery it's the same operators that run rail trail flatbed company up in hudson um they named their flagship restaurant after the rail trail they they really love this connection and and very much get it that would actually be work that we would be doing as landowners um and delivering a space for them so we don't want to delay this activation just because their neighbor across elissa doesn't want to do it so we will move forward with that okay i think that you should um at least on the plan at the where it says revisions yes what the revised date can certainly do that and perhaps normally that you note what you did yeah a little description like what yeah brief description or a note somewhere or someone if you can give us some kind of note on the plan jesse just i think there's this place for vision to description just put something on there number yeah in the bottom right hand corner you mean just right here just note it so you guys can track this based on the prior submission is that what you're saying it just makes it easier when you're looking into two planes like what's the difference i'm so confused yeah people go back well it's standard practice to circle the area that's changed with a dashed line and put the revision number there in a triangle then when you do that revision you can see exactly what changed yeah we'll have that done and we'll resubmit okay at the other end of the street nothing changed nothing changed okay i didn't remember those big circles at the very end dark big circles here no not no at the at andrew avenue the curb cut no yeah that has not changed okay thank you yeah you're welcome okay um who did we start with the last time ira is that who we started with i think let's start with robin um i'm fine with basically all of this um i was reading through the language in the written document and just making sure that everything had language that made sure that uh you know the the traffic wasn't impeded and that the use and the foot traffic was all contained within each designated area i think mostly we have that in there um each one has something like that saying you're gonna make sure people aren't you know getting in the way of traffic and things like that so i thought this was fine i um you know this i think in first look the signs now that we have the measurements on them look very big but honestly they need to be bigger than they are so um i don't really have a problem with it it's just i could see somebody like wow that's huge but it has to be big i i get that i don't have a problem with that i think so jesse yeah um no i'm i'm good with everything i see here the only the only comment and i know we talked about this before is trying to find ways to make sure that we're careful about the traffic in the parking lot at the point from where people step off the rail trail and try to walk over to this new area and i and you know having since run run through this um town center spot a bunch of times over the last couple weeks and paying attention to how the raised crosswalks are and hearing what we heard last time from jesse and company about cars getting airborne there i do understand why we wouldn't want to do raised sidewalks and i do understand that we're going to try to paint it and make it sort of look different but i do think it's probably good to have some sort of way to have people almost like traffic calming measures in that area of the parking lot that's my only my only feedback yeah i almost wonder if you'd want to put you know like you push a button and the light flashes just to alert people that people are yeah even something like that might help yeah if i if i could respond i mean we've we've spent a lot of time also on site as you can imagine because um where the crossing will be through the parking field from the rail trail to alissa there are stop signs there um we have not seen many cars race through there uh the we are most concerned and i and i can just tell you from the community meeting we had with our adjacent condominium owners it's really the people that are cutting through as i mentioned before on andrew that are using this as a cut through between 27 and 20 and vice versa that that's where the core that's what we're hearing from residents and that's what we've observed i've seen some trucks kind of because they that's the truck route to get in to deliver to stop and shop and i have seen some trucks kind of roll through there without stopping so i that would be one of my concerns but they are largely at night i think too so bill um oh so it sounds like we're talking about both the signs and the site plan or are we only talking about we're talking about everything whatever you want to hit uh well regarding the site plan i was hoping to see um some kind of more celebratory uh terminus at the end of uh alissa where where the bike trail ties in uh we had talked about you know building some kind of um something that's a little taller than the the eye level so that people see it from a distance uh are you not drawing that because you don't want to do that i know you sounded like you're interested at our last meeting but you haven't drawn it i think i'm gonna be honest we just haven't put the work in bill something we really would like to do and maybe back to see you all i think we really want to get started um and we've got some of our consultants working on other matters right now um but noted we want to make this as visible as beautiful as possible we think some of it we can solve through landscaping um and actually through some art objects we've been talking to arts wayland about some of it but we don't have a scheme that we're prepared to come back to you with and and seek approval on other than what is presented at the moment okay but noted and and agreed frankly okay the uh the question about signage um um came up that the um first of all i looked at the materials and i think it's really important for us to see a sample of the color and texture of the signage material you're talking about a uh um a wood finish on the signs and i think it's important to see all the materials whatever else you're proposing to use um and i also just want to raise a a question you know terrain if you've been by and seen the terrain sign they have they asked for an additional little area on the bottom of their sign for making announcements of activities if you're going to celebrate you know like we're having a parade uh coming soon to your property wouldn't you want to have a place on your sign that indicates to people driving by that you have an event coming yeah i think that is something that we've thought about um to be located and for it to be dynamic we'll call it not not not from a lighting perspective dynamic dynamic in terms of what we're putting up there we are not sure exactly where to cite that i mean i think one of the biggest challenges right now is given um the location of the median off 20 where it is and how constrained it is as well as some of the easements on each side this is another one of those matters we just haven't put the thought into you know arts wayland has a temporary trying like a sign out there and sandwich board thank you at the mouth which i know you know will will is not something it has been there before our ownership and they've continued to put it out there i think we can do something quite a bit better um you know in an odd way one of my concerns and robin made the point like these are pretty big signs but given the expanse of land and the context they're actually not that big and and one of the things we're trying to figure out is how do we have our separate place for community programming um that is visible and you know we we also just last point is for better or worse we just inherited certain obligations to provide certain tenant signage um on the gateway signage so we have been thinking about ways which we could disconnect so the community programming signage is actually not integrated into the gateway signage but maybe by the time you come back for more direction on wayfinding you'll be ready you'll have a better idea about what to do for community events yeah because it would be awfully busy to do on one of those signs i i agree and that's you know annette i i i really hesitate to even mention adding anything else to the signs but the the alternative the only alternative i can think of though is to go to the select board every time there is an event and get a permit you know a six-day or a seven-day permit to have a separate sign by itself and that you'd have to do every time you need a new you need to replace it yeah i would also a couple other points would be um we know and robert maybe can speak to this and we spoke to others at the town that there's some other ongoing um thinking around this at a town scale that you know we want to be involved in and see how that plays out we've talked to russell's quite a bit actually about thinking about how we can coordinate some of the community signage and programming uh information so i think robin as you said we're gonna have to come back to you all on wayfinding right i kind of had wished we had done this all once if i'm being honest but you're gonna see us on wayfinding and i think the idea of dealing with that that mouth there the community signage and then also the rail trail object all is one you know as part of the wayfinding system is is where we are headed okay that's all i have thanks bill thank you yes hi hi jesse um i i think it generally looks terrific i also like the signage uh and understand how it needs i think people react initially like these signs are huge because what's there now uh is pretty much invisible to anyone driving by um as far as um pedestrian access the dog park i assume is going to have some kind of a a chain link fence or do you have any design thoughts about what are you going to surround that with it will be fully fenced um this is one of the areas we've been looking at with raytheon's lsp we're trying to uh disturb minimal ground and extract zero earth so we will probably go in this will be a very sturdy fence it will be for off-leash dogs we'll probably go 30 inches into the ground without removing any soil there will be several areas um one area where we can get equipment in to just mow and maintain the area um so like a a mower through and there'll be another area that actually has um a gate in and a holding area and then another gate to allow folks to come in with their dogs unleash them and let them out so we're actually pretty close to having a design done for this we were working with a community group on it but you're not but yes it'll be a chain link fence are you i i don't i can get you specs for that i think the idea would be to do something consistent with what they have at the condos if it was chain link it would almost certainly be black and matte and it would be much nicer looking than a more traditional industrial looking chain link fence it has to be something relatively sturdy yeah i don't think that chain link is um has been used in the town center at all i could be wrong um and i think in general we'd prefer not to have chain link well yeah i understand i i go to a lot of dog parks and that's what they normally use black chain link it's got some bounce to it uh i i would i don't think it's good to have like a solid wall of any kind wood or whatever because because dogs bounce off of that stuff but that's just my opinion um i was gonna ask more oh you know the um community signage thing at the corner of 20 and 27 right downtown is a board that i would assume you'd be able to uh utilize on the town hall side yeah yeah as long as it wasn't town meeting time or election time because there was bump everything can we go back quickly to the fence for the dog park sorry um we are not experts in this we've really been drafting off a very involved group of citizens who've been trying to cite this somewhere in the town um we're very agreeable to putting a town center we think it improves the place we think it improves and helps some of our tenants um that we've been working our we have a third part our property managers been working with them to spec this fence um i can pull it up i have actually never seen a dog park that doesn't have and some of them are are not becoming visually and we will strive to make this a quite beautiful dog park and they'll be landscaping around it but i i haven't seen one that isn't a chain link fence anywhere interesting well yeah i just the reason that i said that is um i've been seeing pushback from several quarters in town that they don't like chain link fences so that's why i'm mentioning it no that's the appropriate thing that has to be used then you know tell us what you're going to do yeah i think our goal is to have the right to do it and then to do it and comply with the way we've drafted it in this narrative and and we're really looking at it first and foremost from a liability and safety perspective and then also secondarily and equally important from an operational perspective um but i can get some more information on that okay that would be helpful i'll just jump on one there's a dog park in natick that i often go to called eddie park it's a very large area i think it's named after a younger child who i can't remember how he died but who loved dogs and the town raised money and all that and it's it's black chain link as i say it's flexible um where the where the beauty of the area comes not only the side the size of it but it has you know wood chips on the base all that kind of stuff it has really nice um um landscaping in the middle of it they're like islands of trees there's some rocks there uh and also surrounding the whole thing there are bushes and trees you can almost miss it now i'm not sure that this location exactly permits that but it doesn't have to be just an open space like a kennel for sure yeah i'm actually looking at the specifications in my email right now i won't share them because they're not final but it's there there is a lot of galvanized steel being used everything is finished with a black vinyl coat um we have specs for the the gates um the bottom has a tension wire you know there are just so many people who have done this and done it well i i know that that park in natick i think it's eddie park you'd mentioned yeah exactly yes is is uh use case that this um local dog committee has been looking at as well as one um in belmont there are several in newton okay good robert do you have any questions i do not i had a list of questions and corrections to the narrative but those all have been hopefully corrected so no i i don't know how many questions at this time okay um i just want to ask um you talk about the removal of 24 state parking spaces 16 on alissa and then eight in the parking field so those eight are the ones that we just talked about from the change okay um the name on the route 27 site sign plan talks about wayfinding could you change it so that it talks about a gateway sign i think we did change that you know you changed one of them you didn't it didn't look like you it looked like you changed the one on route 20 but the one that we have from 27 is still uh talking about wayfinding yeah you're talking about here yes and then i think i think it had i think it was gateway interesting but we can but i just looked at interesting okay but no that we can we will resend i'll resend all this back to robert as one package including um the site plan with a revision number and call out okay robert in the packet didn't it say i mean i looked at the one in the packet and i thought it said wayfinding um let me look gateway signage gateway signage now that doesn't it's an old copy you're looking at i don't know i thought i was looking at what was in the plan okay um and then on the um gateway sign on sudbury road why is the width six feet there for each panel when it's only five feet on the larger sign on route 20 it's a great question i think this had to do with design and proportions we rely on our on whitney vegas our signage consultant um i think they viewed the because it was horizontal versus vertical i think my best answer is they believe that would work better i also think one of the challenges we had is that because of the design of in the angle up top they were also trying to create a way where some of the letters up top wouldn't get totally squeezed so i i think madam chair it's about design and aesthetics versus any sort of prescriptive um standards they were trying to hit okay i think i just think it looks better in the um skating uh rink area uh when you've written your write-up um and see talks about um and other customary accessory uses what is a customary accessory use in the other places you use different language and i can handle it but i don't know what this means um so as an example they had talked about um i'm not a hockey player or a skater but let me try to articulate um an example would be pads between where you put your skates on to walk to the ice that would be on the ground um that would be one example i wouldn't call that an accessory use it's part of um i can't remember your language maybe just customary accessories yeah yeah an accessory use jesse has a specific meaning in sort of the planning world so maybe just accessories yeah oh right you're talking about i'm just pulling it up right now you're you're saying in the second sentence here madam chair the rink may include temporary boards or barriers seating warmingers and other customary accessory uses yeah right yeah i think the idea is um if you look at elements it's not uses right like it's um right and all the other accessories not accessory uses above for each of the other items that you've laid out i forget the word words but it's accessories we said customary yeah amenities here we can citizen thing yeah yeah yeah we'd be very happy with that there's no issue there going from accessory use to amenities yep um and we talked about the site plan and that they were a little bit different that's really all that i had as well so bill in the the way you would like to see um the changes are to take the new the new one and put it in a the new stuff in a triangle is that what you know you look what you do is you take a dashed line and you circle the area that's going to be changed and then you note that circle it's just a dashed line with a revision number so it becomes the triangle represents the revision number you put the number one inside the triangle and then over in the legend you have your list of revisions revision number one will have a date next to it that's all it's like a it's like a squiggly line it's a very common practice yeah most people do and then you put it would be in red and then you put some kind of note on the side yeah it could be a red line yeah whatever whatever whatever works for jesse um to make it work that to call it our team will be able to i think just based on this this commentary will be able to get something acceptable yeah just so it's the plans are easier to read so you don't like going back and forth and trying to debate which one's the correct plan yeah it's changed so and just to be clear um you don't then need the prior plan it's just getting the updated plan noting the revision yeah great right yeah i would i was up to the plan that you're going to submit i would substitute that for the plan that that we have today and then just regard the plan we have today and just update that plan and that'll be the new revised plan that we get great and i appreciate the comments on um generally we'll call it site navigation and wayfinding this is a huge issue the existing condition is inadequate um we're very well aware of that um but in our desire to move on some of these things so we can actually implement and have some of this stuff um in the actual real world by spring of next year that that's why we came to you on these these preliminary bits that's fine um on some of the things that you'll want to do um they may be minor amendments and that wouldn't require a full a hearing hearing it would require coming to us and we would review this stuff but it wouldn't require the two weeks notice and that could be more administrative i guess yeah great and we'll work with uh robert on on some of that um i think coming out of this has been very instructive and a good learning experience for us and i know there's a lot of work ahead on on town center you know if it would be helpful for the board or or even just for you robert we will we'd like to outline similar to when we came and spoke to him the first time you know the other um changes that we would like to make or improvements we'd like to make as we come up come up to you know 2027 um and be as collaborative as we can yeah you'll come back in spring if once these spring or next summer you come back and and you want to give an update come back we're happy to put you on agenda if you want to come back for you know 10 minutes or 15 minutes and these are the ideas we're thinking about can be brainstorm how we can get to work together and what we need to get to accomplish xyz and phase two what do you want to do next year after you complete all of this or everything is in progress so i mean yeah i mean we'll be communicating you know right so robert let me ask end board um do we want them to come back with the final stuff we look at it and in the meantime robert starts drafting a decision so that we can start moving this forward or do you want to just well i think the board should see this stuff does that mean i mean we'll we can put on the next agenda potentially or yeah and yeah it should be quick right if if it's just reviewing this finalized and then we can review robert's draft at the same time yes like the next meeting october seven yeah i mean it's not gonna i don't think it's gonna speed up a view it's probably be easier just uh and and just also in just in case don't want to close it because then you catch something else like you know what i completely forgot on the 23rd we should probably put xyz or we need to discuss this so if you have it open we can also have that open dialogue just in case there's something we're missing okay so you want to put them on for i think i think i wish we i think we can push this forward to the october 7th okay and you'll you'll have a draft decision i have a skeleton right now i just gotta fill in the blanks and update plans that you know with new dates and stuff so and then put many conditions you know a good list of conditions that when you have something that you think is ready to be looked at if you send it to me first um yeah i'll work on the rest of the week uh hopefully something like friday or sunday so um on the 7th we have the mwra thing at 7 15 we have um parkridge road at 8 15 how long do you think that'll take robert um depends how detailed the board gets to it it could be a simple 10 minute discussion it could be an hour discussion but i also don't want to just in case you know 8 45 maybe for town center okay but it might wind up being a little bit later than that yeah but you know but from public hearing point of view we don't want to put it too late and then the first thing you know ends up too fast and then we're sitting there you know a half an hour and twirling our thumbs or do we start with it at 6 45 uh yeah i could do too if that's okay with the board and jesse you could do 6 45 too october the 7th um might be better actually that way so that'll give a full half an hour to review it ish yeah i'd hate to keep jesse hanging on until we finish the other stuff yeah yeah and i think it's really i'm changing a couple words uses to amenities and then it's really just i think we're talking about an updated site plan i think that's really the only thing you all want to hit is that correct yeah and we have to review our draft decision with robert yeah yeah right so i'm fine with 6 45 yeah i can be earlier is that okay are you jesse sure so which time what time do you want to do it it's 6 45 is that what you said yeah not too not super early because i think i think it should be take about half an hour for this 6 45 would give us half an hour for the public hearing for the uh well except that yeah um 6 30 that's enough time to look at the decision too 6 30 it's fine with me how about everybody else 6 30 and and then if we have if we have more time if we do have some like you know 10 more minutes we can also go skip around and go the updates yeah do our minutes and whatever yeah so is that okay with everyone or not what day are you talking about the 21st uh 7th october the 7th okay and uh nick isn't here right 6 30 so we're not he would is that okay ira yeah 6 30 and you said 6 30 on october the 7th right and you said that'll be in person or not necessarily no um well it won't be in person because the other the hearing is is going to be via zoom so let's try that i'm not promoting that i thought that's what you said nope it's me it's me by zoom that's where you probably zoom okay because i know the people from the um the neighborhood where the m i know mwra thing would prefer it in person we advertise the park park ridge as zoom so okay yeah well they could do zoom and whatever okay we'll probably try and see if we can do it by zoom and not in person okay so um can i have a motion to um uh continue the public hearing on uh pb 2604 until october the 7th at 6 30 p.m i move that we continue the public hearing on pbu what is it uh 2604 until october 7th 2026 at 6 30 p.m second all in favor robin borgstead yes bill sterling yes ira montague yes jesse newbury yes annette lewis yes thank you very much jesse you're very welcome and madam chair one one courtesy heads up for you all before we go since this has been so collaborative we are going to be sending out a community update probably at the end of this week we have a lot of folks wondering what we're doing what tenants are coming in ranging from wayland post to some of our neighbors we are going to say that we have been working really hard with this board and that we hope to have approval soon and kind of keep it very vague but want to just put you kind of give you all a heads up that letter will be coming out this week um and we're really excited to actually share some working out with a larger community you all know a lot more than almost anybody else in wayland um so that will be going out just didn't want that to take any of you by surprise but um it's kind of our version of a press release okay that's great great good thanks everybody thank you thank you moving on to the draft um special permit rules and regulations for accessory dwelling units yeah so i received comments when i sent us off i did receive comments from robin i accepted most of the comments and then everything that's highlighted are kind of questions that i came up with i put on the screen one question i had from a member of the board was about um submissions through um or communication about submission through hard copies or a line um and so i did include the open gov uh uh uh url i believe they are through they have not i don't think they they might be oh you know what i this is for this is this is for the special permit we haven't this is not online yet so we have nothing that plan board has done any special permits for the plan board are not online yet so i did hard copies of online at blank if applicable because at this point it's not online yet but robert it doesn't that's how section is confusing um because below you say we have to have there has to have to be seven paper copies of the completed application that's a submission so i i think that um there's some things here that are sort of a little out of sequence because it doesn't it it's it it at odds because if it has to be in paper how do you submit it in online well i think this was a kind of a holder for the future when it does go online it's not now i mean i can take it out and just take wipe it off and if i well i think we should talk about how to fix the whole thing what other things are there that you want to talk about because um there was a question about uh notification so i um just started mastering a lot of 48 section 11 which is the the notification for public hearings and just cited that citation instead of trying to explain it um so it's it's in line with what we have in the for notifications under master on our 48 section 11 so which is the the section about notice public notification for special permits just so it's looking for what i sent back to you same thing for timeless too it's the same thing for that too so instead of putting the number and just cited because things would change because things have been changing and especially mastering a lot uh things been changing so um if we change if something happens in the future like it keeps changing it's probably easier to cite mastering a lot instead of putting in something and then you know it gets modified over time but those so those are the big things i had um after review someone's comments i have an overall comment um we have a bylaw and i i pulled out the bylaw so that we could i could look at it as i was talking um and the bylaw has definitions and it talks about specific things the regulations are supposed to be implementing the bylaw and in a lot of places it's just repeating the bylaw which is a lot to look at um normally you would start with the bylaw and then you would go to the regulations to see how the bylaw is elucidated what what what is more what what are you specifically requiring it's not in the bylaw so in looking at it i mean i think that it can be shorter and more pointed um so that for example um the first paragraph and seven and three oh seven one could probably be combined i don't know it's almost like we're repeating the same kinds of stuff which section are you referring to again the unnumbered one at the beginning with these rules are adopted by the planning board under the authority of and uh the rules and regulations is amended from time to time become effective upon their filing with the town clerk and it it that and the jurisdictional section in accordance with uh 81b the code of the town of wayland um the planning board is authorized to administer and enforce these regulations i mean can't we just combine that into one shortish section yeah i it's the way it came to me i assumed that that was sort of a pro forma thing that it had to be that way no it doesn't i didn't touch that really um um and then um in the jurisdictional thing after uh the code of the town of wayland i don't think it needs a comma there because the code section follows it um and then on the line below the planning board retains authority for the review and approval of adu's requiring a special permit when you say buy a special permit it makes it look like um you have to have a special permit and i don't know if it makes sense again in the beginning section to explain that this is only for and it's down lower you you say it um this is only for uh things that would not be um protected use adus that are um larger than half the size i mean i just if i were coming at this cold i would be very confused um yeah i mean like the 3072 the composition of the board does that really need to be here no i don't think it needs to be here okay and then in purpose i would probably move the last paragraph from there the planning board may grant a special permit i mean if that's where we explain when we get a special permit we can do that and that what i would begin the purpose with um with that and then do the um that this is a this is to guide the special permit application process i don't think we have to say again the affordable homes act yeah let me let me go back and trim this down a bit okay if you want i can send you my notes sure but let me let me go back because it's not worth going going for one one by one but just let me go back well except that i want to i just want to make sure that other people feel the same way i don't want to dictate what has to happen yeah and i use a template i must have used a template that is uh over the top yeah it just it has a a lot of extra stuff that would make it hard for somebody to deal with and i assume the extra stuff had to be there so i didn't touch some of that stuff but okay if you want to get rid of all the definitions i can give it a lot of definitions it's because we recite some of the def recite some of these uh these uh applicants awards and so i just i cited it throughout the violar and copy it but but we can also use some definitions see definitions and sewing violar right these for these users and just don't even if they don't even use it just have it like here's here the definition these words and you just don't don't put a description on just you just see the words or just say like here they hear the definition for these these for these terms and then that'd be might be shorter down and then you don't have to say the words you just yeah well if in the beginning you talk about we adopt these regulations to implement the bylaw section such and such then the definitions automatically come from the bylaw you don't need to have listed them again right no they will now i don't want down page it's now i know but it will think about whether you really even need to list them again yeah i don't think you do i think robert's point is there are places elsewhere in the regs that we're citing back to these internal definitions so we just have to go back and adjust the sites to the bylaws that's what he's saying i think is that right robert yeah just have to adjust the sites okay um when uh the references section 307 um again i think you can incorporate that kind of stuff up front if you need to even have it 307-5 references and in 307-7 i understand conflict between the rules and the state zoning laws but what local zoning laws would be in conflict what give me an example i don't think there is where are you i'm at 307-7 at the header okay
all the way local well for one the issue of the multi-family housing we we could potentially have a conflict there and how would we at least you and i were allowed us to figure out how we would resolve that um in this case it said the zoning bylaw prevails and the zoning bylaw you know for multi-family housing is specific about what makes something multi-family housing so we couldn't that comes from state law though right but but it's also in our zoning bylaw so we couldn't yeah we couldn't override that by something in these rules for example you know if there was some sort of weird conflict like that which we anticipate could come up the rules aren't going to fix it it's got to be the zoning bylaw not the rules and i don't know that there is anything in the rules that conflicts with it but that's an example of someplace where we could have um okay let's think about in the meantime how to deal with that because um where we will or could have conflicts is between our rules and the state regulations yep not even the state law law right but cmrs um yep so once we've paired it down i think once we've pared it down we can look at that anew okay because in general the bylaw always trumps the regulations right okay um and then we have the definitions we did that in um 307822 this is an accessory dwelling in a baby has expected restricted oh this is still part of the definitions um but there's this thing that says to the town planner the applicant shall submit documents
so it's the latin structure yeah it's a little it's a little strange to have it here first of all and normally it would be um that you would submit whatever it is if it's a requirement um to the town planner in what point in time and art does it just have to go to the housing authority i thought we said that um aad use didn't have to be through the housing authority but had to be um able to be uh through some kind of an organization used to be true when you had in the original wayland zoning right it was
the housing authority i don't know what the new one is i thought it still did to be included in the shi but um i didn't think it did i thought it had to get um the kind of approvals that it needs but i didn't think it had to be through the housing authority because there are other ways of doing it i thought i can't remember what we looked at but i remember yeah but this is i think right out of the bylaws so however not lifted but we can look and see what the bylaw says and just if that's staying in and i don't think it is it it should just say what the bylaw says okay and it's the same thing with 823 i'm also i hate to flip back but um when we go back to applicability 307-4 the regulations apply to not all properties all lots right isn't that how we we've been dealing with it just looking for it
and then um i'm on what i think is page four um application procedure 304-9 i think that for the application process you could put the form of application under the process that number one it's a completed application form and then if you wanted to put in parentheses available from the planning department then you wouldn't need to have all the stuff there and then when it's talking again i found it confusing that we talking up here at the n 9.1 about being able to submit stuff um online rather than hard copy but then when we're talking about the application which is what we're talking about it says it has to be paper copies so if you if the online thing isn't meant for um the application but rather supplemental stuff then it should be in the supplemental stuff
and then in in the application stuff you have the completed application then um building plans and floor plans um this includes floor plans and a site plan showing rather than a plot plan don't you want a site plan that shows things like um that shows things like um the setbacks from the front side rear the height the gfas for the aadu and or aadu and the principal dwelling that would be a plot plan you can call it a site plan plot plan is this it'd be the same thing well i think we have to spell out what we want in there so when we're doing um an approval of any other project we either get um a site plan that shows or a plot plan that shows existing conditions and then a site plan of the proposed use isn't that how we normally do it and on that plan you show where the parking is going to be so it doesn't necessarily need to be separate because you can say you know that whatever you call the plan site plan or plot plan or whatever that you want these things on it uh i think i think you're right in that at least in my experience the use of the word plot plan refers to a simple identity of the plot as you usually in a legal document when you're purchasing a property right we never use plot plan when we're talking about our design site plan or any other any other application a plot plan is what you go down to city hall and get a copy of right so i think we're looking for really a site plan yeah i think you're okay and i think you might want to move the supplemental materials 307-9.5 up ahead of 307-9.4
because that's still all part of an application and or supplemental materials after submission of an application in 307-9.4 inadequate submission at what point in time are you envisioning this to go into effect how would it work as compared to 9.6 i mean it says pretty much the same thing it may not be unnecessary but it's saying that they're not someone's they're failing to file the the right documents uh they well 9.9.4 is the board taking action and 9.6 is the applicant right in other things they're combined in other um bylaws sections that we have the thing is combined that and at what point in time to reject it the way this is worded it looks like prior to review at a hearing you can reject it
yeah but shouldn't that shouldn't that be the case if they don't complete their application if they're if they if they don't ever comply with the requirements but they've submitted a partial application shouldn't the board eventually be able to kick it out well normally in other by other regulations and or bylaws that we have you don't accept if a regulation if if the regulations are not complied with and the application is inadequate then it doesn't get filed until it is adequate they can they can submit it but it is it doesn't the clock doesn't start and nothing starts working until the town planner who has reviewed the thing says yup this is good enough i think i think i think better just delete it because it's it's confusing it doesn't really it's not making any sense because that's i already i do that already if i don't have if i don't have something i wait into it to complete it so i probably know it's an old language from some different regulations 9.7 public notification should that be part of 9.3 which is the application process because you've got something in there already and they submit the certified abutters list i would think so yeah you think it should be separate no i think it should be part of the same package part of the application yeah when you're telling them what to do that yeah well good well it's we we notify it's not really part of the it's not technically part of when we when we notify the abutters it's after the application is submitted we do it or the applicant does it okay but this says the applicant does it yeah we do on their behalf
pardon me the town doesn't attend to town or for these ones well then it shouldn't say the applicant if we're going to do it yeah well it's all language so it should say the planning board shall provide at the applicant's cost right yeah we we we figure out how many buttons gonna have and then we we charge them that much and they bring a check in to pay for the costs of pay for the cost how much it would cost for them to do it if they if they well it's cheaper rate because we have envelopes and stuff but yeah i'll take a look at that okay um in uh 307 9.8 upon the request of the applicant the property owner or owner's agent the planning board may waive any of the requirements of these regulations upon making a finding that uh consistency with the overall purpose and objectives of the rules and regulations require such a waiver that's a a hefty standard so is that what we really want that it a waiver is required or that a waiver would be okay to do well it doesn't say the waiver is required it says that we can grant a waiver if the rules and regulations require it it doesn't say we're required rules and regulations require the waiver it's in the last line yeah i know but it's not saying that the waiver is required. It's just the waiver may be granted if the rules and regulations require. How would the rules and regulations require it if we've already said these are the rules and regulations? That's what's required, but we're happy to give you a waiver. I don't think require is the right word, is all that I'm saying. Would allow or something else? Yes. Considered. Would permit such a waiver? Call for just a different word, not require. Require is mandatory. Okay, looking at 9-9, and I know you're making changes anyway, Robert, but 9-9 and 9-4 don't exactly, currently, don't exactly work together. This is where we talked about rejecting plans and at what point in time you can do that, because this is true. The planning department will review the application for completeness and compliance with zoning requirements, and that's the first thing that happens, and then the inadequate submission comes into play later on. So it should be, normally what we would do in the rules is have everything moving in sequence, the way you would move through the process. In 9.10, in the parentheses, I think it should say four of five members. And on the time limits, if it's easy to use what's in that statute and say it, that would be helpful so that board members going forward know what the time limits are. And I think it's, isn't it, 90 days, the way it reads is 90 days after the hearing. 65 days, 65 days, the open hearing, 90 days after the close of hearing to render a decision. 65 days to open the hearing, right? And then 90 days. Yeah, but they keep changing. The reason why I put that in there is they keep changing stuff. They have changed it? What is it? No, but they will change. They keep messing around with math. With these sections, the legislators have been changing all this stuff. So I thought it'd be easier to just put it in there. I can spell it out, and it's 65 days, and then 90 days. That's fine. But I don't want to keep changing stuff because they... Now I hear you.
I'll spell it out. It's fine. Well, for the board, I'm just wondering, do you people go and check the state law when Robert has these kinds of things? I mean, when you're getting ready for a hearing, if he doesn't happen to tell us something, do you go and look at the law so that you will be familiar and make sure that the timeframes work? Don't all jump in at once. Yeah, I trust Robert. You must rely on Robert.
Yep. I leave that to you, Robert. You decide. I'll change it, but I was trying to be consistent, so not to... Again, I don't want to monopolize the whole thing. But you can say what the current deadlines are, and then say, or as amended by 48 Section 9. In case they do make amendments, we're not left hanging. Yeah. I'll get you my markup, Robert, so that you can see. But I think once it's consolidated, I think it'll be pretty good. Yep. Is there anything else, Robin, that you saw that we wanted to have in here as guidance to us on when to grant a special permit? No, and I wouldn't necessarily want to be putting particulars in there, because I think we want this to be, right now, as open as it can be, because I think we're going to be getting new regulations from the state at some point, it sounds like, and we're supposed to be allowing this whenever we can. So I didn't want to put too many limits on it. Well, we're supposed to be allowing the, by right up to the 900 square feet or half of the residential dwelling. We're not necessarily supposed to be allowing huge structures. Yeah, but I think we, I think that's going to be on a case by case basis. We have such a range in lot sizes in Wayland. And I just think that what is going to work fine in, you know, on Moore Road is not going to be the same as what works down in, you know, Southern Wayland. Right. But we're not giving anybody in the future guidance of the kinds of things that we were thinking about. Like, on a larger lot, having more than one ADU by special permit might be okay.
On the smaller lots, not so much. The one I've had clients approach me about is the larger houses that could be subdivided into two units that are larger than 900 square feet. And I think that in Wayland, there are a lot of large houses and people want to make it possible for their kids to move in or whatever. I think that, that given the circumstances, that that's the sort of thing that may come up in Wayland. But I think we have to be careful because we're dancing around this multifamily thing. So I, I, I, I hesitate. If it's just an ADU though, that's, um, still the same problem. The definition of multifamily is still floating out there at the edge of all of this. They didn't amend that and they should have. Absolutely. So I worry that if we put something in writing that, that leaves us, you know, open to something, I don't know. I think we'd have to be so specific so that we don't get people saying, well, it's in there that I can do it. How, you know, who are you to say that my lot's not big enough? Um, so we'd have to get specific and I don't know that we want to do that. So in enforcing it, we would be doing sort of what the variance provisions used to be like.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think Jesse's article that he sent is really, uh, waving the red flag that we all should keep in mind when we start talking about this. I agree. It's probably at one point we talked about tying it to percentage of lot size and square footage and formulas and things like that, but it's, it's just, it's so tough to do that with the size of lots in Wayland and yeah, you just open yourself up. Okay. Well, go ahead. Um, I think, you know, there's an argument that you're opening yourself up either way. Yeah, exactly. And do we want to get nailed down or do we not want to get nailed down? I think is the question and I think that's all that I'm asking. Yeah. I think that it is. I think when it's too big, we're going to know it and we're just going to have to rely on, on that, that, you know, there'll be consensus that no, this is too much and it's going to depend so much on the house and how it's cited. Is it internal? Is it external? Is the building already there? And they're just modifying it. It's just, there's so many variables. I'm not, I'm not sure it should be the planning board that does this. Isn't it the zoning board that would be normally deal with this kind of residential? We don't deal with residential property though. Yeah, we do. That's what we deal with. We deal with residential property. We deal with residential and commercial property. I thought the zoning board handled most of the residential property issues, such as a property setback for houses. They handle zoning. If there's, if it's not in compliance with the zoning, they handle that. Yeah. Well, we're kind of walking on the edge of that, aren't we? Yeah. This is, I mean, this is why we have the special permit process so that stuff can come to us and we can talk about it. And like, to Robin's point, we'll know when it's too big. It's like pornography. You know it when you see it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Moving along. All right. I will update that and bring that back to the board or first bring it to Annette, make sure to clean up, then we'll finalize it and bring it back to the board. Okay. And when, okay. So, Robert, do you want to do the rest of your updates? Sure. Uh, officially as last night, I am now the local representative, uh, for the clean energy setting local, uh, regulations. So that means that when someone comes in with a solar project after October 1st, that I am the main contact to start the process with the application, getting everybody together to meet on this project, making sure that the plans are complete, making sure we have a analysis done, um, which is required by the state. So this is a, um, much harder to get to the requirements from the select board as it should be. But now it's requiring that I'm the kind of the front door for any kind of solar project that comes in. So I'm the point person. So congratulations, Robert. Yeah. Nice to have these promotions, isn't it? Hope you got a big pay bump. Uh, yeah, no. Will you have to have meetings with Trump? What do you say? I say, will you have to have meetings with Trump? Uh, I hope not. Sure. Um, speaking of that, I have also contacted MAPC, um, and they're going to hopefully are interested to work on a solar bylaw, which is, um, not connected to this product, to the, uh, local government representative, but they are, have some regulations about, um, ground mountain. So they are interested to talk to the town and, and we have a meeting with, um, internally with them in a few weeks and then the ECC, the energy climate committee has, um, volunteered to host a meeting with them and the planning board to just have some first kind of initial questions before they start working on, um, any kind of other research. But the goal is to have a, a ground mountain solar bylaw by next year. Uh, we've gotten this, we've, we've gotten this far and I think Jesse for getting this far, but, um, at some point it'd be helpful to get a third party just to. Uh, we're not fighting each other over what the regulations are and something that's, uh, simple, but also, um, would fit in for, for Wayland and, and also fits in the regulations. So I think it's good that they want to engage. And I also think I'm happy to be involved there too. I originally reached out to them about the local government representatives up and then they like, we can also help you out with the low bylaw. Um, and that probably do this for a lot of towns. So they have a good template of what they need to do. So, uh, that's encouraging, but that will be on October 20th, Tuesday at 4 PM. Um, I don't imagine it being a very long discussion. I think it'd be more of an NBPC. Here's who we are. Here's what we're looking to do. And here's, I know I didn't say on the timelines that this is what the town is looking for by next, uh, um, hopefully by next spring. So, do you think there's still interest in working off that draft that we did in the lead up to the last year's town? I gave it to them. I gave it to them. I gave the draft to them, um, and let them go from there and see what, if there's things that they need to modify it, whatever comment that. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe, maybe it might be easier if they have a first draft and then they can kind of modify it. It's like, nope, it needs to be by Watts or it needs to be this. I'm pretty sure it needs to be like, by like metal Watts and stuff. So, um, yeah, that's okay. Yeah. It's encouraging. Um, so I'm working with the, with Olivia, who's a sustainability coordinator. Um, and we're working together to try to work with NBPC on this as together as, as. And Robert, when is the meeting? October 20th, um, Tuesday at 4 PM. October 20th. Yeah, I am. Don't expect more than 30 minutes of that. I added it to my calendar. I'll, I'll, I'll go. Yep. I will probably, uh, post, I'll post that just in case. Um, good. Um, the site walk. The site walk is on October 3rd. Meet at town hall. I didn't write that down, but meet at town hall. Um, and that'd be about an hour. Uh, nine o'clock, 10 o'clock. Depending on the weather. When we meet at town hall, we're parking in the rear parking lot or the front parking lot. I will clarify that. Over the rear parking lot would be the fast. Well, I'm thinking if there's games that day, um, and all that stuff. I will, I will clarify that. I will write back to the temporary front. Let's see front. Robert, is it better for us to meet someplace that's like closer to where we're at? We actually want to be like terrain or. Well, town center. Well, I mean, if you're on the front, you would go around the curb and you'd be at, you'd be every 20, one 26. You can start there. So it's actually not a bad location. Okay. If you're at the front, you just kind of walk out of the, the, where the entrance is and you can kind of start that way. I don't think we want to take up parking spaces at terrain on that weekend. No, the parking lot is packed. It's no, it's not a good idea. It's completely packed all the time, which is good, but I don't know. I don't know where everybody's going. Like the cafe or the chair. No, it's completely packed all the time. So when we're meeting though, I don't think they're open yet. True. I don't think so, but. Yeah, they are. They have breakfast. We're meeting at nine and they, I forget what time. I thought they started at 10. No, I think it starts at eight 30, actually eight 30 or nine. That's great. We can all go get brunch after. Perfect. I didn't say else came up today, which I think I know the answer to, but I would like to bounce off. One hundred and five plane road. We had a subdivision approval for that. And I look today in the ZBA hosting a meeting, a public hearing for a, for someone to locate a, a shed that is, that appears to be out, outside of the building envelope. And as a condition in the decision that says that all structures must be located within the building envelope. So this, this decision would trump anything that ZBA would be granted. Correct.
What? Um. And this, when it says structure, I think it meant for like building like a house, but it doesn't say built. It doesn't say, uh, dwelling. It says structures, which a shed would be a structure. What year is this from? Do you know? The one, the one, the one reason we had, the one we had, uh, the one 105, the one that had like the, the historic house on the front and in the back was the, was the four built, the four dwellings. The conservation cluster subdivision. It's a conservation cluster 105. Okay. Which is actually a hidden Springs lane. Uh, not his brain lanes. Uh, the temple, the brothers. Uh, no. Um, I, I, I, I, I, I, I looked at the decision today quickly and it says no structures be located outside of the, the dotted lines, which is. Right. You know, but if it's, if the shed is outside of that, I believe that would not be allowed. And you wouldn't need. I think that's probably right. But I just caught it today and I would not have, I looked at it quickly once and didn't think anything of it. And then I'm like, maybe I should look at the decision. Maybe I should look at the homelesship agreement. Cause nobody asked me about this before they applied. And now I'm like, oh shoot. Something, this doesn't look right. But, um, I'm going to look at it a little closely, but I think my gut reaction was, was right in the target. I think this would be an amendment to the special permit, but still it's one property. It's not, they're not individual house lots. It's a condominium. Yeah. Yeah. But the, the, the decision says all the structures must be located within the antelope. So if you're putting it outside, that someone wouldn't, someone would have to come back to the plan board and amend that and say all dwellings, blah, blah, blah, but, you know, sheds can be, can be located outside. I don't think so though. I mean, I hear what you're saying. I don't think that was the intent ever. So, but it says, it says dwelling, it says all structures. And so I, I can't, I can't, I can't, I'm not sure what the reading of it is. No, I think the reason their neighbors beside it, and they didn't want to be seeing things. And I, I think, and if they, if this one group or one homeowner or condominium owner could do it, then they all could do it, you know, so you can wind up with how many houses are there for. Is this item on our agenda? I don't think we should be talking about something that's not on the agenda. It's, I don't know, I don't know how to update, but I can, I can also, I can also talk to that offline before I, before I open my mouth to, to the building commissioner. Okay. I just don't want to, I don't want to miss, I don't want to miss something because I, I like looked over. Why don't you give me a call tomorrow? That sounds good. The housing production plan. Do you want to talk about that? We have awarded the contract to a vendor for the housing production plan. We're in the process of having the contract signed by the vendor. And I agree to, and then from there, I already started to reach out to, to form a steering committee and that steering committee will be just presented to the select, to the town manager. So I already have some members in mind, but I also listed the committees that we're looking for. And I know that the housing trust is going to appoint someone next Tuesday and the planning board has not made an appointment, but it appears that they're going to be, we're going to appoint Robin to that committee, that steering committee or steering group. Me? Was that me that you said? Yes. Congratulations, Robin. So we can put, we can put that on the next agenda to make it official, but they, I mean, we won't start for a little bit anyways. So.
Is that it for updates? Yeah. Okay. Um, board comments and concerns. Just one, one quick thing. I was wondering if we were going to do a site walk at the castle road, MWRA site. That's a good idea. We purse. We didn't answer that because we have a public hearing and we know that there was that request. And I think we have to, I don't know. I, I, I think it has to be dealt with in the public hearing, Robert, or not. I would, I probably would wait. Cause I mean, it's not, we're not going to be the next public hearing. We're not going to apply. It won't probably be closed if you need to. It's going to be so probably a bit, a little bit open. It's conceivable that each of us individually, before we have a hearing goes and looks at these places. I mean, I've done it. Bill has done it. I know. And it might be just a good idea. It doesn't have to be a community site walk. So I would suggest that you do that before the next hearing. I did. Okay. Yeah. I would suggest that whoever else hasn't maybe would like to do that. Yep. Anything else?
I have something that I'm, I was a little concerned about. There was a letter that went out to businesses on route 20. Um, and I hadn't seen the letter. I just saw what was in the newspaper and I was a little concerned. So I asked Robert, if he could get me a copy of the letter, which I read. Um, and it's basically nice until you get to a certain point. And it says, essentially, you need to fix this. Because it doesn't say it's in non-compliance. It just says, it's not, I think it says not in accord with zoning and you need to fix this. And they, for each, I don't know if it was for each address or whatever, um, what was attached was, and I haven't seen what was attached, was, um, a description of what they needed to fix and, um, like signage, um, signage is the one that I was concerned mostly about because sometimes you can have a preexisting non-conforming sign, or you could have a sign that was, uh, you got a zoning exemption for, or a zoning, uh, special permit for, for a larger sign. Um, and also in zoning, if something has been in existence for a period of years, and I can never remember when it's, whether it's three or 10, um, but you can enforce zoning at that point if you haven't done anything before. Um, so I was a little concerned that the letter went out and was not from the building department, but it was from the town and, uh, the town manager and the chair of the EDC. The town manager, seriously? Yeah. Without touching base with us? Right. How many businesses did this include? I don't know. I don't know how many letters went out. No idea. I assume that it was all the businesses on route 20. So it went, it each went to the business that was in question or. I guess it was like a standard letter. Robert can send it. Robert, could you send it to the, every other members as well? Yeah. Um, it wasn't addressed. Um, but then it says in the letter, you know, attached is the information about your property. Oh my God. Was this published? It didn't feel good. It didn't sound right. There was a story about it in the Wayland Post. Okay. I'll have to check that out.
Sounds like spam. Sounds like what? Spam. Spam.
I don't know about spam, but, um, It sounds like overreach. It, it's felt on, to me felt uncomfortable. I thought if there was something that was going to go out and, I mean, it was nice to have the letter that, you know, this is what we're aiming for. This is what we'd like things to look like. That's, that's hunky dory. Uh, but when you get to the point of, you need to do this, that, that should probably come from staff who does that stuff like the building inspector. I have to say, uh, I, I disagree. Uh, I think that we've been pestering the staff ever since I was on the zoning board back in the 1980s and they won't do it. The building inspector is the one who should be doing that. He should be enforcing the bylaws and they don't do it. So I have to say more power to Michael McCall for taking charge of something that everyone else has been afraid to take on and we should be supporting it. Except that the right path for Michael McCall to take is to take the building inspector to, to task, not these property owners. And then the building inspector needs to be checking these signs. Do they have a, you know, there are probably a hundred ways to go about doing it. So, you know, I'm glad somebody stood up and said, clean up all the ratty signage on route 20. We look like Saugus for Christ's sake. And when someone has to do something about it, don't fight this, this is a good thing. I'm not fighting it. I don't think it's a good thing personally. It doesn't feel good to me. If I were one of the business owners, I would not be happy.
Well, what about all of us residents? The beginning part of the letter was fine. The rest of it was. We have to drive through a trashy neighborhood. Well, I mean, I don't think we have vigilantes who go around telling other people, we don't like what you've done. I mean. The town manager has the authority to do that, I think. I think it would be nice if we had been told because, you know, sometimes we're going to as a planning board, even appropriate or not, we're going to get calls about this and we won't like, what are you talking about? Whoever's calling, right?
Anyway, just from anything else, a comment. Nope. Is anything else from any videos? Well, good. Thank you, everyone. Our next meeting is, hold on, October the 7th and we have a full package of stuff. We have three biggies. We're starting at 630. The MWRA and 8 Park Ridge Road.
Okay. Okay. Motion to adjourn. Okay. Seconded. Is there, you moved? He moved, I seconded. Oh, terrific. Robin Borgestedt. Yes. College Faber. Yes. Ira Montague. Yes. Jesse Newberry. Yes. Bill Sterling. Yes. Annette Lewis. Yes. Thank you. Bye, everybody. Bye, everybody. Bye, everybody.