Planning Board meeting 11/7/19

Meeting date: 
Thursday, November 7, 2019

Town of Princeton, Mass.     --     Town Hall Annex

PLANNING BOARD   Meeting Minutes--– Nov. 7, 2019      7:30 PM

Present were:  Chair John Mirick, Ian Catlow, Ann Neuburg and Rud Mason. Tom Sullivan was absent.  Corey Burnham-Howard from the Environmental Action Cmte. was in as well as Helga Lyons from the Advisory Cmte.--attending as their liaison.

7:30 PM  Opened meeting in Town Hall Annex

Corey outlined some of the requirements Princeton must meet to reach Green Community status, which would make the town eligible for grants from the Mass. Dept. of Energy Resources. Grants are offered every two years, and the next round has a deadline of October 2020. Corey stated that her committee wants Princeton to be a Green Community in time for submission of grant applications in this next round. The Planning Board can help with certain zoning requirements and subsequent amendments which have been identified by the DOER.

            One is to adopt a zoning bylaw designating locations for as-of-right siting of renewable or alternative energy generating facilities, research and development facilities, or manufacturing facilities--a solar farm was cited as a typical example. The EAC has suggested an overlay district, which can be applied to any zoning district, for this purpose. The group discussed a most likely area for an overlay, the abandoned landfill off Hubbardston Road, which could support a solar farm. It was acknowledged that the transmission and sale of solar energy is an outstanding issue, which may be beyond the scope of the first step in the process—simply creating an overlay zoning district.

            A second goal would be to adopt an expedited application and permitting process under which as-of-right energy facilities may be sited within Town. Since the threshold for this requirement is a one-year deadline, it may be already built into current permitting and a zoning amendment may not be needed.

Corey also outlined other criteria for Green Community designation, including adoption of the latest Stretch (Energy) Code in the Building Dept., reduction of energy use by the town and adoption of conservation practices such as rain barrels.

            Zoning proposals need to be vetted at a public hearing which may be held anytime before the Annual Town Meeting but the Planning Board prefers to schedule zoning hearings in March. State law does not address a timeframe between the hearing and the ATM but does note that a zoning hearing which is held less than 21 days before the ATM requires an oral report from the Planning Board when the article is presented at the ATM.

8:15 PM   The board voted all in favor to approve minutes for the meeting of Oct. 3.

8:20 PM  The board discussed the need for clarification of non-conforming uses which may require a special permit as well as dimensional non-conformity under Sect. VII, 2. A & B. John M. provided a listing of issues around non-conforming uses. He also distributed a list of issues concerning short-term rentals in response to the recent state law changes. He offered to come up with better definitions regarding non-conforming uses, especially in regard to “substantial expansion.” Using the Board’s feedback, John M. will have a draft for review at the next meeting. 

The group considered potential problems related to short-term rentals and Rud suggested it may be chasing a problem that’s not there. The group decided to table the rental issue for a future meeting.

9:30 PM   Meeting adjourned

Respectfully Submitted:   Marie Auger, admin. assistant

Referenced Documents:     Outlines from John M. on non-conforming issues and short-term rentals