Planning Board meeting Sept. 5, 2019
Town of Princeton, Mass. -- Town Hall Annex
PLANNING BOARD Meeting Minutes--– Sept. 5, 2019 7:30 PM
Present were: Chair John Mirick, Tom Sullivan, Ann Neuburg and Rud Mason. Ian Catlow was absent.
7:30 PM Opened meeting in Town Hall Annex
Doug Andrysick submitted an ANR plan for town-owned land on Hubbardston Road near the former landfill. The 6.77-acre parcel was divided into three buildable lots which the Selectboard intends to sell—each lot has successfully perced and each has required frontage and acreage.
The board voted all in favor with Rud abstaining to endorse the plan. No fee is involved on public-owned land.
Jennifer Caswell was in with a plan to create one new lot on Grow Lane of 2.5 acres and 250’ of frontage on Grow Lane. Her remaining parcel becomes 72 acres.
The board voted all in favor to endorse the ANR plan and Ms. Caswell paid the $100. fee in cash to Admin. Asst. Marie Auger. A receipt was notated on Ms. Caswell’s (paper) copy of the ANR plan.
7:50 PM Ed Carlson was in with Atty. Joshua Lee Smith from Bowditch & Dewey. They submitted a raft of documentation, intending to prove that Old Mill Road was a town road from the end of Lovers Lane to the Rutland town line, as their surveyor, Doug Andrysick, also presented an ANR plan for six lots cut from 26 acres—all fronting on Old Mill Road. The Selectboard had research done over the past year which showed no evidence of the town owning the road. The town’s research concentrated on town meetings going back many decades, and Mr. Carlson’s research gleaned from other sources such as railroad records, rewrites of town documents by former Town Clerk Anita Woodward, etc. There was much discussion about the history as well as case law and “adequacy of the way” as defined in the ANR Handbook.
Ed explained that the ANR lots need to be created for an appraisal of the property by Worcester Water Dept., a potential buyer of the 26 acres. The water department owns a number of abutting parcels to protect the nearby Quinipoxet Reservoir. He stressed that it was his hope and intent to sell this property to a conservation buyer.
A final consensus was that two different paths of research was used on the status of Old Mill Road, both correct but with different conclusions. John M. stated that the Selectboard should weigh in on the status of the road and the documents from Ed will be forwarded to the S.B. The applicants agreed to return at the next P.B. meeting on Sept. 19 and re-submit the ANR plan. The ANR had not been time-stamped by the town clerk so the “clock” on the P.B. endorsement decision had not started. The board has 21 days to make an ANR decision from the date of any time-stamp. If no decision is made within 21 days the plan becomes constructively endorsed.
Tom S. noted a possible conflict of interest issue so he will file a disclosure with the town clerk, so that he can stay involved in the meetings.
9:15 PM The board voted all in favor to approve minutes for the meeting of July 18.
9:30 PM Meeting adjourned
Respectfully Submitted: Marie Auger, admin. assistant
Referenced Documents: Research materials regarding status of Old Mill Road from Ed Carlson.