Friday, March 22, 2013
With Town Meeting rapidly drawing closer, Board unable to resolve last few changes to proposed bylaw
The Westford Planning Board voted unanimously at Monday evening’s meeting to recommend temporary dismissal of Article 20, which amends the town’s Zoning Bylaws concerning sign regulations, from the Town Meeting agenda. With the annual Town Meeting looming a mere five days from its meeting, the Board reached the difficult decision after two months of public hearings. Director of Land Use Management Chris Kluchman again provided Board members a revised draft of the proposed amendment that differentiated between the existing and proposed sign bylaws. Some of the more challenging issues that have left the Board at a standstill involve portable signs and the reduction in size of wall signs. Incorporating those changes without drawing the ire …
Monday, March 11, 2013
Board will continue debate about restaurant drive-thrus
On Monday evening the Westford Planning Board voted to recommend two of the three Zoning Bylaw amendment warrant articles it previously continued from the February 19 meeting. The first warrant article, Article 21-Sidewalk Funding, grants the Planning Board the authority to waive the required sidewalk construction associated with land development projects in lieu of the developer making a financial contribution to the town. Westford has historically done this for over 20 years on projects where constructing sidewalks wouldn’t make practical sense. The contributions are deposited into a fund for the purpose of building sidewalks in higher priority areas or fixing sidewalks in dire need of repair. When the Board does waive construction in …
Friday, March 8, 2013
Board running out of time to approve proposed sign regulations before Town Meeting
Fresh off its informal working session, the Westford Planning Board undertook once again the arduous task of amending the section of town’s Zoning Bylaws that deals with sign regulations. Director of Land Use Management Chris Kluchman provided the Board with a revised amendment that incorporated comments from the working session meeting. A common theme of the revision process has been how best to manage the advertising needs of the business community with the town’s desire to maintain a certain character common to Westford along with safety and visibility aspects. Under the proposed amendment, the size of wall signs will decrease from one and a half times the square footage of linear building frontage to being equal to the square footage …
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Current Planner Chris Kluchman to fill vacant Director of Land Use Management Position while Chairman Kevin Borselli declines to run for re-election
When the Westford Planning Board convened on Monday evening for the first of its two monthly meetings in March, the focus was on an agenda packed with items. The Board was scheduled to hear cases ranging from multiple amendments to the town’s Zoning Bylaws to a multi-family apartment building to a four-lot residential subdivision. But the spotlight quickly turned to a couple of surprising announcements. Current Town Planner Chris Kluchman has been appointed to be the new Director of Land Use Management. The position became vacant when the former director, Angus Jennings, announced his resignation back in January. After receiving congratulations from the Board, Kluchman informed the Board and those in the audience that the town is now …
Friday, February 22, 2013
Medical marijuana facilities and restaurant drive-thrus among topics discussed
On Tuesday evening the Westford Planning Board initiated discussion over four proposed amendments to the town’s Zoning Bylaws. The four amendments regard a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana treatment centers, allowing an applicant to make a financial contribution to the town in lieu of constructing sidewalks during development projects, updating references in the flood plain overlay district, and to allow drive-thrus for restaurants with associated requirements for drive-thrus. Angus Jennings, the former Director of Land Use Management who substituted this week for Town Planner Chris Kluchman, provided the Board with an explanation of each proposed amendment. With the use of medicinal marijuana now legal in Massachusetts, the next …
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Special meeting scheduled for additional analysis
One of the first orders of business the Westford Planning Board took up at their meeting on Tuesday night was the continued discussion of the proposed sign regulations amendment. As they did at their February 4th meeting, the Board wrestled with how to fairly amend the bylaws so as not to hurt businesses, especially along the Route 110 corridor, with maintaining the desired character that has come to define Westford. The struggle is how to “balance marketing requirements with visibility and safety”, said Board member Mike Green. When the Board opened the discussion to the public, resident Paul Fassbender of 14 Texas Road echoed the opinion that the bylaws should be written in such a manner as to uphold the “character of the community” …
Paul F
1:10 pm on Monday, March 25, 2013
Discussion on the proposed sign bylaw will continue on Monday, April 1 (no jokes, please) at 8:50 pm on the second floor of Town Hall. As noted above, striking a balance between Community Character and business interests is challenging. When the process was started in 2010, a major goal was to change the sign bylaw to support the town's Comprehansive Master Plan and Route 110 Master Plan -- … more ›