Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Live reporting - Sign Bylaw Proposal

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
Cable- Creation of a Non-profit access Corporation
Proposed Changes to the Sign Bylaw, the Commercial 1 Zoning District, & Creation of a New Downtown Commercial Zoning District- Zoning Bylaw –

Bryan Taberner, Department of Planning & Community Dev.
Nick Alferi, Asst Planner

(a copy of the presentation will be posted later, Bryan will be emailing it to me)
the document can be seen as part of the meeting document

TC 11-17-10 Downtown Bylaw Changes Presentation


Existing sign bylaw does not meet the Town's needs
treat the downtown as a separate commercial zone
re-zone 74 parcels into the new Commercial I zone

all the changes are coming through together as they are all related to one another

Change the district, zoning map, use tables, change the parking requirements

Eliminates the special permit for height by reducing permit for 4th and 5th story buildings to be only 3 story buildings

Could still get 4th and 5th floor outside the downtown district via special permit

Changes mixes uses for downtown to allow retail on the first floor and residential above

Residential parking .75 for one bedroom, plus one space for every ten bedrooms
option to buy out and feed a parking fund

sign districts similar to design review guidelines
permitted and no-permitted signs
exempt, temporary and political sign

signs allowed by district - in table (part of packet)
establishing a procedure for timing of the temporary signs and the political signs

bylaw changes are not going to make all current signs illegal (if illegal today, still illegal)
does not disallow all temporary and political signs

listing of the multiple bylaws required to accomplish all the changes required

Pfeffer - I was at that meeting in Jan 2008, why did it take you so long to get here
Taberner - The sign bylaw took multiple revisions

Pfeffer - When Mariani came downtown, the bylaws were changed to allow his building coloring
Taberner - That was before my time, I understand what was done, we are making it easier now

Nutting - the bylaws were changed back in 2003, we have learned from what we did then to incorporate them now. These proposals have a building setback, they add downtown parking, they allow a 3 story by right as opposed to the special permit.

Pfeffer - I don't understand why we changed it then and are changing it now

Nutting - changing the density from 40 to 20 is much more practical

Vallee - I like the mixed use, but there are a number of things that I don't like. What model did you use to get this?
Taberner - this is developed specific to what we need to do here, learning from what others have done

Vallee - what do you have against the mixed use.
Taberner, right now, these are not allowed by right, that is what this is about. I understand what you are saying about the upper stories. To get a special permit, right now will take a long time and there is no guarantee of getting it. With the 3-story, it is an appropriate use for that space and should be available by right. Leaving the option for 4-5 in the outside the core is possible

Taberner - if you change the use, then these regulations would kick in, unless you change the use, these changes wouldn't kick in

Alteri - the parking requirements are based upon the square footage of the building

Nutting - that is a non-conforming pre-existing use, if they don't change the use, this would not have an effect

Powderly - What is the feedback from the Downtown Partnership
Taberner - I was there several months ago, I will be there tomorrow morning
I expect that there will be additional input from them based upon the current proposals



Franklin, MA

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