TA Blog: 2009-07-23 BOS PB

Below is the TA's summary of what transpired at the joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board on July 23, 2009. Questions or comments? Contact the Town Administrator. Official meeting minutes will be posted when approved by the Boards.

July 23, 2009 Board of Selectmen / Planning Board Joint Meeting - Summary 

Littleton Common Overlay District. The Planning Board and Board of Selectmen met jointly on Thursday, July 23, 2009 to continue discussion on the Littleton Common Overlay District study with Mark Racicot of the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission. See Tables and Charts summarizing June 17, 2009 Forum Results.  Notes prepared by MAPC's Mark Racicot following the July 23rd meeting are shown below:

Direction from Littleton Planning Board 7/23/09

Prepared by MAPC 7/24/09

The Planning Board determined that, based on input from other town boards and the public, they would like to work on all three sub-areas of the study.  The stated goals included:

• For Area A, work on zoning change that allows for mixed use and has strong design guidelines.
• For Area B, expand uses to include theater, retail and possibly a residential component.
• For Area C, work on farmland protection element, perhaps with zoning incentives for landowners to protect working farmland as part of any future development.  Indoor and outdoor recreation, historic preservation, and other uses may be included.

The Planning Board will meet again on August 20, 2009 to discuss this project.  MAPC will prepare materials for consideration by the Planning Board and Selectmen.  First steps for MAPC to address the above:

For Area A

• MAPC will examine other mixed use overlay districts written for Millis, Bedford, Stoughton, etc. to determine which format might best meet goals of Littleton, and will begin drafting bylaw.
• MAPC will examine underlying zoning district to determine if changes are needed in order to limit uses that are not desired within this district.

For Area B

• MAPC will prepare a draft of bylaw changes that would include the new uses.  MAPC will determine if this should be done by an overlay district or by change to underlying zoning. 
• Interaction with other elements of the zoning (e.g., Major Residential Development section, Town Meeting Concept approval for large retail, and 43D regulations) will be examined.

For Area C (an area comprised of 384 acres)

• Outline options for preservation of farmland (acquisition, zoning etc.)
• Research alternative farmland protection bylaws from across MA
• Draft alternative elements of possible farmland protection bylaw for Area C

Note that for all three areas, additional discussion will occur to determine boundaries of the areas to be covered by the zoning changes.

MAPC will be in contact with the Littleton Town Administrator to determine if an amendment to the scope for the project is necessary. The remaining funds in the project were for both writing of bylaws and also undertaking photo-visualizations of what the bylaws might result in for structures within the district(s).  However, due to the goal of writing bylaws for each of the three sub-areas, funding may need to be shifted away from visualization and to the writing elements of the project.