Planning Board - Regular Meeting

I'll call the Monday, May 4th, 2026 meeting of the Grafton Planning Board to order. Everybody's in in here, so we don't have to do a roll call. We are on Zoom. If anybody is out there, they can raise their hand when it comes time to be recognized for something. First item is public input. This is where if you want to talk [snorts] to the board about something in its purview that's not otherwise on the agenda tonight, this is your chance. And anybody anybody? We have no hands on Zoom, partly because we have no attendees on Zoom. That will narrow down the number of possible hands.

[laughter]

I I can tell. I'm an engineer. Scientist. Um action items. Lot release request from on definitive plan DP 2020-01 Abby Wood. Are we all set with this now? Yes, we have the revised [clears throat] um bond uh document. It covers both phase one section one and section two, and he's asking for release of the remaining lots, which are all of section two. Lots. What's the wish of the board? Well, I will make a motion that we uh approve the lot release request. And this one something we all have to sign. Yes. It's right there. Can we do it now? So, move move to approve the lot release request.

Okay. Second. And there's a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor. Aye. Opposed. So voted unanimously. Should we do this now? Uh we're going to have enough time.

I do believe we may have time for this. Yep. Yes. All right. Really want to do this? I'm ready to be videotaped. Um I, Robert Assarian, acknowledge the ex-execution of the foregoing instrument to be my free act and deed. All right. I, David Robbins, acknowledge the execution of the foregoing instrument to be my free act and deed. You have to have a pen to sign. I, Greg Delmolino, acknowledge the execution of the foregoing instrument to be my free act and deed. Send it in the other direction. I, Justin Wood, acknowledge the execution of the foregoing instrument to be be my free act and deed. I, Michael Palermo, acknowledge the execution of the foregoing instrument to be my free act and deed. Thank you. Bills. Move to authorize payment of the bills. Second. Moved and seconded, discussion. Hearing none, all in favor. Aye. Opposed. So voted unanimously.

Um Minutes of previous meetings, 3 2 26. Move that the board approve the minutes of March 2nd, 2026 as drafted with any modifications proposed during discussion of the motion. Second. Moved and seconded, discussion. Always have something. I I didn't find anything nits to pick on this one. I don't know. You know, that's the way you find out whether somebody read them. [laughter] I did not find anything either. Hm? I didn't find anything either.

Yeah. All right, in that case um all in favor. Aye. Opposed. So voted. Correspondence. Anything in correspondence? Nothing caught my eye. Um no staff report? No staff report.

I didn't prepare one. We had one last week, and although there's been a lot of stuff going on, um I figured we didn't have anything to mention. Do you know anything about a new planner? So, yes, um they did hire a new planner. Um the the um it's on the agenda for the Selectmen's meeting tomorrow night. Um and he's going to be starting um 11th, May 11th. [clears throat]

Hope he enjoys himself. Hope he enjoys them. Have you met him? No. Okay. Uh any reports from Planning Board representatives on town committees and CMRPC? I have nothing. Same. Anybody else? I I I'm on um I think at least five different committees up at CMRPC, all of which are been meeting in the last seven days. One way or another. Nothing really exciting. Bylaws. Can you fill 24 minutes time? Hm? Can you fill 24 minutes of time with it? I I can't get to my documents for some reason here. We could spend 20 minutes talking about my computer problems. Um anything anybody wants to do for the next 23 minutes? Should we call a recess of the meeting until 7:30? Yeah. So done. 7:30, which is when we can start our hearings. I'll reconvene the meeting. At 5:00 a.m.

[clears throat] Request for site plan approval SPA 2026-01 18 Shrewsbury Street [clears throat and cough]

Headwaters Development LLC Kenton Chase. All right, pursuant to section 1.3.3 and 5.13 of the town of Grafton zoning bylaws, the Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Monday, May 4th, 2026 commencing at 7:30 p.m. in conference room A of the Grafton Memorial Municipal Center, 30 Providence Road, to consider an application for a site plan approval for a protected use accessory dwelling unit on property located at 18 Shrewsbury Street and shown as Grafton Assessors Map 19 Lot 26. Said property is located in a residential R20 zoning district. The applicant is a Kenton Chase and the owner is Headwaters Development LLC. A copy of the application

[snorts] materials uh are available for public inspection at the Planning Department during regular business hours or on the townofgrafton.ma.gov on the Planning Department Development Projects webpage. Um so, the applicant wants to convert an existing garage into a two-bedroom, two-bathroom ADU, and Ken Chase is actually here to present. Thank you. Uh Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um you've you've got me outclassed here with your technology, so You're you're You have to give us your name and Ken Ken Chase. I'm a manager of Headwaters Development. Um

Good. and uh the owner of the property

Okay. at 18 Shrewsbury Street. The We need the microphones because well, first of all, it helps me, but also it helps recordings. Very good. Um [clears throat] so, uh we're here today about the conversion of uh the what was where or what exists as a three-car garage today on the property and um will be converted to an accessory dwelling unit um as noted um uh pursuant to the the state law and your your local regulations, um I'm here to address the some of the key areas, and then I thought I would open it up to any questions you have at that point, so um I don't tread on areas that you're not interested in. To just orient everybody quickly, the um the area up it's not showing there. The area up at the front here is the existing house. Um this is the gross floor area here is a little over 2,000 square feet. Living area is right around 1,300. It's a three bed, bath and a half home. Um this is where the garage is located. There's also a like a shed attached to it and we're going to be converting that garage into the ADU. So it'll be a two-story or um really story and a half because the second story is built into the dormers. Um overall height there is about 22 feet. And uh total area in the ADU is 900 square feet. Um in terms of parking, you can see the red outlined area here um that we've designated. Um we have plenty of parking [snorts] on the driveway anyway. That driveway is about 30 feet wide. At that point as you get close to the ADU right over in this area. Um but we've designated this area as um as separate parking for the ADU. We only want space. We actually have two there. So um in terms of access, [snorts] um the access for both the ADU and the

main dwelling will both be from Shrewsbury Street. Same uh they'll be sharing the driveway, main part of the driveway there. Um in terms of utilities, we're going to be making the connections between the ADU and the existing house here, basically just coming across. And then all the existing connections for utilities are going to run through the the municipal uh systems and that those approvals are already in place. Um and then finally on setbacks, we're um we're not making any changes to the building footprints. But um we're uh far away from any setback requirements. The side the closest side setback to the what is going to be the ADU is 33 feet away. And the rear setback is 45 feet. So with that I'll pause and see if there's anything specific you want to ask me about. Questions? Advice?

[clears throat]

ADUs are new for us as many places are. How many have you done? I I'm doing a total of six of of So we've got quite a few underway. Okay. Anybody have any questions? The uh the uh designated parking area uh there's nothing on the plans to indicate the surface treatment of that. Is that going to be paved, left as grass or some gravel or what do you what the what's going to be in that area? Yeah, we're not sure yet. I I think we're going to just stone that um because I so we don't create new impervious, but we're we're also um contemplating just using this area over here. We really want to kind of lay out a little better a turnaround here um between the main house and the ADU just so that cuz we want to make sure people can not be in a position to back out on to Shrewsbury Street there. Yeah, I was having a little trouble following exactly where you're pointing cuz your lines are very nice, but they're a little dim for uh 15 feet away.

so I can swing over to here for a minute. The um Well, I can see it now. Okay. Yeah, okay. Swing the microphone out to you too if you're talking. Yeah, any Um so uh this parking area here if when we create that, that will probably just be stone. Um we may actually asphalt that, but um the area here is is relatively flat and this is all grass really in all directions around it. So we're not in a um water resource protection area. Yeah, so this area here that I'm kind of circling with the pointer that is going to be the parking for both the primary residence and the ADU. Pretty much everybody's going to be Was there a drive Is there Yeah. Yes. And then this is all or part of that will be additional parking as needed. Right. And we could meet the requirement with just parking here. We're thinking of adding this area just because as I said we want to make sure there's room for a turnaround. Yeah. Not a bad idea. This corner, this top corner, the corner of the designated parking area closest to the property boundary, how far is that away from the property boundary? Cuz I don't see that particular dimension noted on the plan. I I I don't have that dimension. It's uh If I had to guess, I would say 3 feet. Yeah, there is there there is a potential issue there in that we have a requirement that within 10 feet of the property boundary basically on all sides the area must be vegetated. And basically it's sort of a 10-foot buffer around the property Okay. that needs to be basically left left in some

sort of a vegetated state. Specif- The the details are in section 3.3.3.4 of the zoning bylaw. Yeah, so that [clears throat] that potentially impacts the area you would have available for the designated parking. So you know, you might want to I guess for our purposes I think it would be useful to you know have the plan show that 10-foot area and show that this designated parking area does not uh encroach upon that 10-foot area. Okay. And is that just impervious or is that specifically vegetated? It's specifically vegetated.

Vegetated. Okay. Let me see if I happen to have that handy. Isn't the current driveway there already? I'm sorry. Isn't the current driveway there already? This red area is not here now, no. The red area is not. Right there. That's what he's talking about. This this what where it's labeled driveway, that that does exist there and we meet the requirement for the ADUs with just the space there. That's 30 feet wide and about 40 feet long there. So we could easily meet the requirement with just that.

Yeah, yeah. To to quote the zoning bylaw, not not less than 10 feet from the property line around the perimeter of the property or the minimum setback, whichever is less must be stabilized with vegetation, landscaping or plant materials excepting only cuts through the stabilized border for walkways and entrances and exits. So walkways, driveways can cut right through that area, but other than that the the total required parking for the two units is total of three. Two for the house. Yeah, thanks. I know there's The ADU is one. The required parking for an ADU is one. Right. But then the house The house would have probably Let's see. Yeah, two. For a one or two family dwelling, the required parking is two. So the total required parking here between the main the main house and the ADU is is three. Yeah, and I guess I guess we're saying that that driveway area is more than sufficient to park three cars.

Yeah, the existing driveway area is like likely to be sufficient to meet the parking requirements. Yeah, but you're looking at [clears throat]

looking at providing additional parking area which I don't think we have I don't think the zoning bylaw objects to that. I mean I think it's a good point right and where I I was ignorant of the of the of that particular um uh section of the zoning, but I I think we can either amend that parking area or um uh potentially eliminate at least half of it to get get out of that 10-foot buffer. Yep. And that is that is the only thing about this whole plan that that I saw that raised any questions. I mean everything else you know, the the ADU happens to be exactly 900 square feet which is the the maximum that puts it in this by right category. And it's less than one half of the primary dwelling gross square footage. And it seems to seems to meet everything else. 900. I have one very odd question. 900 or or half the gross whichever is less. On the GIS, it shows what looks to be likely a pool, but I don't looking back at the at the actual aerial photos, I don't see anything even back to 2014. So I don't know if where that parking is going to know if there's anything actually there. Just figured I'd ask it. There's nothing there. It's grass and there's some stones back

Yeah. in here now as you get closer to the property line, but I I noticed the same thing.

That's what aerial looks like, but I figured I'd ask it. Yeah, but there's nothing there. Okay. Anything more? Um I was curious about how there's some space there's this space that's marked as storage on the upper level, I think. And uh something about shed Shed is attached side. Yeah, that's this space here. There's um this is an existing shed that was here. That's off the um the main part of the uh garage. And there's no there's no um it's you know, not the not the greatest construction. And I happen to be a builder, too, and this is not one that I would uh uh uh I want to want to mess with, but um but the it it's um this is going to go with the main house still. As a storage area, so. Because uh There's no entry point from here. You're up to the 900 which I think I think you have to be under 900 or half Yep. half the main. And

[clears throat] the applicant meets that. Yes. Just. Okay. Well, does anybody have anything? Apparently not. Do we um Two steps. close the hearing and we have to write a decision, don't we?

you want to have a new plan with showing that 10-ft setback? Or or at least showing that the designated parking area is at least 10 ft away from the property. And they do Yeah, so do we want a a revised plan to show that? Whoever's in the booth. Okay. Or do we want to condition the decision? On the I say condition in this case. Usually I say plan, but it Yeah, it's Yeah, you we we can do that either way. It can come out the same. We can keep the hearing open, give you What is it? Two, three weeks to submit a revised plan while the decision gets written uh cuz we're not going to vote on the decision until it's written I at the next meeting. I'll say my my leaning for this with that being such a relatively minor thing is just condition it. And the only thing to note is at our next meeting, just going to say it out loud for your knowledge, the board will be short two members in attendance, myself and my seat neighbor here.

[laughter] The that you need a majority to vote in the affirmative on a decision to approve this, which three members of the board would be, but if you if you would prefer to wait an extra meeting, you could, is what I'm I My sense is that you'd really like to have us say yes tonight. Only we need a written decision to do it.

Yes. I don't know how how fast you're pushing to do this. Uh well, we're we're already ready to go. The the building [clears throat] permit, I believe, is is um uh is I don't want to speak for uh Tracy, but my understanding is we're ready other than the board's uh decision. Um and I think it's because this came into effect after we had submitted the permit, so the permit was already under review um when the requirement for this came up. I'm I'm not sure, but um the um what I would ask is that if you could vote on it tonight. Um that's possible. So, we can move forward with the issuance of the permit? Yeah, we can I mean, we have to have a written decision for us to vote on officially. Uh the next meeting is two weeks from today. It's the 18th. The 18th. And Mike, you're here for the 18th?

I am not. Okay, so Mike and Justin are both missing on the 18th, but that does leave three of us a sufficient majority vote. It seems it it doesn't seem like the outcome here is in any question at all. This at this point it's a matter of doing the paperwork. But he wants a building permit. He can't get it until until What is what is causing this to need the this board's approval if it's 900 sq ft by right? Is it the parking situation?

no, it's it's the fact that our bylaw says that a by right thing like this is subject to site plan approval. Okay. It's not a special permit. It's a site plan approval, which basically a a site plan approval is something you're pretty much guaranteed to get the approval. It's just that it gets gets some review by the board to make sure that that everything is in order. Yeah. I don't I don't think it's the uncertainty about whether it's going to get approved. It's the want to get building. Um Yeah. Do you need a decision to to do so? Unless there's a way to do a decision without a written decision. Yeah. Um No, I think we need a the decision definitely needs to be in writing. Yeah, we we don't do decisions that aren't in writing. All right. So, We we could consider a motion to close the hearing and direct staff to write a decision approving the project with whatever we're going to put in there. I If we keep it open, we can include the revised drawing. Yeah. Yes, then I I have no problem with that. I'd rather just accept the condition on that.

Cuz I think um from what I heard tonight, um and I agree with you, there's enough parking here as it is without adding that area. So, um I think you could can just condition that we either eliminate that space or uh make sure that it's 10 ft off the property line and meets section 3.3.4. Yeah, I would [clears throat] I would I would say that you have the we would simply want that additional parking. I I would want to leave you the flexibility of using this develop creating as much parking as you want just [clears throat] within within the limit of that 10-ft boundary. So, kind of leave kind of leave that open-ended. How about How about if there's a condition that says that they have to respect the rule. That the designated parking area the We're We're We're avoiding him having to tweak the drawing and hand it in, but it doesn't get it done doesn't get your building any sooner. Yeah. Yeah, [clears throat] I think in any case, but we should be able to issue a decision approve a decision in two weeks.

Close the hearing. So, I'll start by moving to close the hearing. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing on. All in favor, I. So voted. And we'll direct Direct

Direct staff to draft a decision uh approving the project as submitted with a condition that the designated parking area not encroach upon that 10-ft buffer zone around the edge. Or comply with. Comply with comply with the section 3.3.3.4 of the zoning bylaw. Let's make it that way. I will second that. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor, I. Opposed, so voted. Yeah. Let's see. In two weeks. That's quick as we could possibly get this done [clears throat]

given our meeting schedule. All right. You'll get to see our new planner, I think. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Starts on the 11th. Now, one one other thing to note about this decision is there is no no appeal period involved. As with a special permit, it's not really approved until the 20-day appeal period has expired. That does That doesn't apply to a site plan approval. So, once you get our decision, you don't have to wait another three weeks to see if anybody appeals it. Good. Good. I can go right to the building department then, I assume. Yes. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. That brings us to uh 5B, request for

[clears throat] special permit SP 2026- 03 and uh site plan approval for 138 Westborough Road. [clears throat]

All right. Pursuant to sections 1.5.7 and 1.3.3 of the town of Grafton zoning bylaws, the planning board will hold a public hearing on Monday, May 4th, commencing at 7:30 p.m. in the conference room A of the Grafton Memorial Municipal Center, 30 Providence Road, to consider an application for a special permit and site plan approval for food preparation and storage on property located at 135 Westborough Road, shown as Grafton Assessors Map Map 13, Lot 2. Said property property is located on an office light industrial OLI zoning district. The applicant is Tacorea Acapulco's Mexican Food Inc., and the owner is CBJD Holdings LLC. A copy of the application plan and plan is available uh for public inspection at the planning department during regular business hours or on the town of Grafton website at www.grafton-ma.gov on the planning department development projects webpage. Um so, the applicant wants to use part of the basement area at 135 Westborough Road for food prep and storage only for his um taco truck business. And he's present. Okay, tell us Tell us who you are and tell us Good evening, members of the board, uh Chairman. Uh my name is Daniel Syrian. I'm at 135 Westborough Road, uh Grafton. And uh The reason why I'm here Well, tell us tell us what you want to do.

Sure, I have my notes here if you don't mind me Uh, the application seeks a special permit and a site plan approval to allow the use of the basement that is located within the building. And this uh basement in question used to be uh a bakery uh production type of operation. I think it was a wholesale operation. And uh the application seeks to reestablish the uh food preparation uh in the space. Yeah. So, the the exterior portion of everything that's what's on the screen now, the the building and all the parking is not There's no changes to that. So, the uh the food truck is already shown on the plan. That's that's that's currently there. That's already in existence. And all the parking here is just parking. It's already here. Um [clears throat] let me see. There's a separate plan that shows the actual area that he wants to be located in and a separate plan that shows his proposed parking. Yeah, this site plan is identical to the one from what was it? 2025 that that Mr. Um oh Corona Woods Yeah. had in front of us for the property there's the same exact plan to be and I do see the one space for the food truck. I thought was taking two. Two. Yeah, cuz the plan in front of us shows one space that the food truck is in. The one that you submitted here does show just one parking space for the food truck. Yeah, that's not where it was when I drove by. Hm. It was

on the uh you know, on the outside. Now, that the drawing shows it against the building. It's parked [snorts] sideways, maybe it's facing the when people come in. Um but this is getting food ready for the food truck. But no cooking inside. Hm? The only alteration it'll be uh health inspector uh requested if this can be approved, uh installation of a mop sink. Cuz all the other sinks are there. And that would be the only change.

What I noticed was that the exhibit A shows convection oven in there which suggests you might be cooking something. But we But in me, we don't have the use for a convection oven anyway. But it used to be a bakery and if it's there, I'm sure it could be disconnected if Questions? Yeah, so just for to make sure I'm clear, this particular diagram shows food truck customer parking and employee parking.

Employee parking by the dumpster, employee parking. And then on the same side of the food truck um we have two other spots. Yeah, the the diagram of what you're saying the plan that we're looking at and what you're saying don't don't align exactly. The So, the customer parking is three spots. The food truck is shown as one. I would love if this could be at least updated to be reflective of what it of where the food truck is parking accurately for if it's two spots, you know, how it's laid out and how many customer parking if it is two. You know, that's except you know, that's fine, I believe. But they you know, just kind of showing the the accurate situation. Sure. You know, the because I do note the narrative you gave with the description says five adjacent parking spaces and they're in the in the picture they're not adjacent. They're parked separate. Yeah. And we're just understandable. I just wanted to call it out. And the customer parking is for the food truck, not for anyone going into the building. Correct?

Correct. For the food truck. Uh designated for the food truck. Looks like a lot of area in the in the basement for one food truck. It is, yes. Um So, questions? Health Department has been there, uh building department has been there. Uh Health Department also uh came and visited us at the um commissary kitchen in West Boylston and that's how they got a approved pending what happens

[snorts] here. Well, questions. Questions. I have nothing. What do you want to do? One other question. Um the site plan shows an an external feeder and as I freezer that is on the property an external freezer. I just was wondering is that going to be used by your business or is that just on the property in general? It's on the property in general. It's not Yeah. Yeah. We've We've gone around with this Mhm. Multiple times.

before these we've seen these plans or very nearly these plans before. Um Last June. Last June. Yeah, and before that. Mhm. Before that. Yep. From when there was nothing in the building. Um So, well, does anybody have any questions? Do you want to um close the hearing? The only thing I'm wondering is related to Justice's question where this parking plan shows customer parking at the back corner of the lot, employee parking at the other back corner of the lot. Is the customer parking really intended to be closer to the food truck? Correct. Yeah, so would the board want to see a plan with a revised notation for the customer parking? I There's customer parking on the left as well. Right.

Straight across from the the food truck. Yeah, I When they come in, they go right to the left. They get out of the car and go right to the food truck. I have one right there. What difference does it make? Yeah. Cuz the food truck is a moving target. That's Does it ever go anywhere except there? Um it it has to It cannot stay overnight. So, 8:30 p.m. when it closes in every day and home at night. Plus In this entire parking lot, there the parking spaces Are there any parking spaces actually dedicated solely to food truck customers? Those those listed on the on the floor plan. Yeah. On the plan. On the plan. But out on the ground On the ground?

says Oh, like some sign or Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I have to I don't We could Yeah, it's Put something. I don't see a need for Right. Generally speaking, food truck customers are going to come in and park Yeah. Near the food Typically, stick a lot right next to the food truck. Yeah. So, but those those parking spaces are also for use by the other tenants in the building. Yeah, Peppercino and the dispensary. Yeah. And that's probably the best way to think of it. Right. I think I saw the truck over here on the left. There's a five five places on the plan all the way on the left. Correct.

And that looks like just what you're talking about. Right. A place for the truck and place for customers. Correct.

at least starting place. Yeah, I think we could we could approve the use in the building and if there is something to clarify as where as far as the parking goes, just condition that it be cleaned up. Yeah, I don't know. I mean we Previously, we approved this this the plan here that included the food truck and the some of the other tenants of the building. We determined that there was adequate parking for all of that. And that isn't changing now. Nope. Yeah. So, there is Nothing here is changing the parking requirements. No. Yeah, my my only preference, which I guess can be done in certain levels, is that the number of parking spaces used by this business is accurate in in this in whatever is in the record.

How do you Because How do you get

No, I mean, what is Are they using three Are they expecting to be using three for customers? That's Yeah, people can still pull in and use more parking than in general, but I'm saying in terms of what they're expecting just so that if there is another use that comes in for one of the other building you know, one of the other parts of this building that takes up a lot more parking than that the company is set to matter. That would be useful to you I mean, and we That would be dealt with at the time the the additional use would be because it was with that new use hypothetical new use that's when we re-evaluate re-evaluate the parking requirements. Yeah. Yeah, we might I agree with that and I mean if you if you've driven by it, you know, there's not really a scenario that I've witnessed where every parking spot in that lot is taken up. So I I think I think there's plenty there's plenty of parking if we need to clarify what's designated what we can I think we can condition that but I think we should give give this gentleman a way to move forward. There is one thing that's uh wrong on this plan. Um the right hand part of the first floor is not manufacturing. It says manufacturing. You have it. It's Neko's. In the narrative or on the No, on the plan.

plan you see Yeah, that's labeled manufacturing there. Hm. I think that's the previous dispensary right? previous plan. the dispensary. Yeah. Yeah, that was the previous plan that was which wasn't correct either. Right. But I'm not sure that it makes much difference. Yeah. I I I think for the purpose of this special permit it it shouldn't make a difference because the special permit is all about using the basement area for food storage and prep. That is correct.

And I and I don't s- know that the site plan for this special permit controls the whole site in terms of parking. Correct. It's only with we're only looking at that basement area for this. Yeah, well but we're looking at you know, it shows parking. Yeah. And I don't know. I Yeah. It's I I don't see how to I don't need to worry. I don't think. No, the the the we're focused on exhibit A which is he he wants to to use the

Yeah. the basement to do food prep. Mhm. The parking has no bearing on anything. The food truck has already been authorized to be there. There's plenty of spaces like Greg said I've been by it multiple times. There's never been a parking issue with it I've seen. Does does the increased Have we beaten this up yet? Does increase in the customer and the employee parking affect the parking calculations that we use that

Well, there's so many there's so many if you count it it there's so many. There's not it's not there. It you don't get to it. Are there more employees when you uh start to be able to use the basement? Do you add employees? More employees parking on site. The the main purpose of the use of the basement is because we're paying rent in in West Boylston and we're paying rent here. Uh so the idea is to move that operation to here. So, how many people will come? It's the same owners the same two owners. I'm not worried about owners. I'm talking about how many people. Oh. You know, sometimes you hire someone. Yeah, three.

employees Three at full capacity. I'm I'm really not worried. Okay. Cuz there used to be you know, they used to make pretzels down there. Oh, okay. That's what it was, yeah. And I don't [snorts] know how many people that took. Maybe even more than one. Maybe. Um Yeah, the Can can we I I would like to move that we close the hearing. I'll second. Moved and seconded discussion. Hearing none all in favor. Aye. Opposed. So voted unanimously. And I would like to move that we direct staff to draft a decision uh taking into account all the information and testimony received here and with the expectation that hopefully the the decision would be ready for the board to deliberate on in 2 weeks. I should note since this is a special permit and site plan approval Uh we need four to vote on this which if Mr. Meade is attending the next meeting and Mullen's in he would be able to but otherwise we wouldn't have four to vote. Yes, that is that is the point. But uh you know, that could mean that it'll get pushed out that we we can get four

have the decision done. We can get we can get four at the next meeting. Yes. following meeting meeting provided that Mr. Wood Mullen's in we we can muster up Mr. Can I need to Mullen in after if it's just discussion of the decision? I don't think so. Yeah. one There's only one meeting. We've closed the Let's keep going with the motion. So I'll second Dave's motion. Yes. I There's no testimony taken. You second the his motion. I'm seconding his motion. Oh. Is there discussion? Um Yes, I I would say he missed one meeting on this hearing on this application. By the way, I'll I'll watch it anyway.

in for the one meeting um and um you know, that hasn't happened much but yes. Yeah, well, I'll be watching it anyway, so whatever. So because because we've just we've closed the hearing there's a motion on the floor to direct staff to draft a decision. The the the importance of the Mullen is so if that someone who's attended all sessions of the hearing. So my suggestion would be at the next meeting if Ray doesn't didn't have the opportunity to Mullen on this one then we could simply defer the decision till the following meeting when Justin would be able to participate. Right. Is there any more discussion on the motion? [laughter] No. Um It was tough day today. Um if not all in favor. Aye. Aye. Opposed. So voted. So 2 weeks we'll have a meeting. We'll hopefully have people enough people to vote. If not we'll have to put it off to the following meeting. Yeah, in the in the worst case this the decision can be finalized on June 8th. Yes, and I I think you're going to find the board is favorable. Yes, thank you. That seems pretty clear. Appreciate it. I'm only guessing. Okay. Yes, we Do I do I have to the next meeting now? Hm? Do I have to attend the next meeting?

You don't have to. If you want You could but you don't have to. Okay. We've completed the public hearing portion of this. You can be on online. Could be Oh, I see. online or you could just wait to see what the board votes. Either way Some No, I'll be attending just to see if I can. Okay. Perfect. Thank you very much. One more. Are you ready? Project uh request for a project plan review PPR 20626-011 Ridge Road Trustees of Tufts College aka Tufts University. All right, the Grafton Planning Board will hold a public meeting on Monday, May 4th, 2026 commencing at 7:30 p.m. in conference room A at the Grafton Memorial Municipal Center at 30 Providence Road, Grafton, Mass to consider an application for a project project plan review for the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University pursuant to section 9.6.1.2 of the Grafton Zoning Bylaw for the construction of a 153 space bituminous concrete parking lot including 21 EV charging spaces, associated site work and drainage infrastructure for the benefit of the Cummings School Learning Center on property located at 1 Ridge Road as shown on Grafton Assessors Map 21 lots 1.A, 100.A, 101.A, and 102.A. Said property is located in an Office Light Industrial OLI and Campus Development Overlay CDO Zoning District. The applicant owner is Trustees of Tufts College aka Tufts University. Copies of the application and plan are available for inspection at the Planning Department during regular business hours or on the Town of Grafton website at www.grafton-ma.gov

on the Planning Department Development Projects webpage. Um so the applicant is proposing the expansion of park parking lot S at 1 Ridge Road um which is at the former location of building number 18 and this is at Tufts University. And Wayne Bellick is present remotely to speak. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um I stopped in to see Natalia today. Um Name, rank, and serial number. Oh, Jesus, Mr. Chairman. God, I'm not a rookie at this. What am I doing? So, yeah.

[laughter]

Wayne Bellick, the Land Design Collaborative here on behalf of the applicant. Sorry, Mr. Chairman. I um stopped in to see Natalia today to to drop off the final peer review letter from from Graves Engineering and the updated plan. Um and I regret uh not being in uh in person tonight. I told her I was hoping to but I am fighting a nasty case of vertigo right now which I don't know if you folks have ever had it but it's not pleasant. Um so I would have loved to have been there but I I fear that I would have taken out people either to the meeting or on the way home as I was driving. So um uh so again, uh Wayne Bellick, Land Design Collaborative. Um you folks uh recall last year we designed and permitted new folks issued an approval for the parking lot. As if I could um Natalia, would I be able to share my screen with you folks? I think, you know, to navigate through the process it's probably quicker to do it that way. Yeah, you should be able to share. All right, thank you. If I if I have set the controls correctly. Looks like you've set the controls correctly. Nicely done. Um so, if you recall we had uh you guys issued a permit last year for the lower Valley Road parking lot down in this area here. That particular project was subject to site plan approval and a notice of intent filing with conservation as well as a storm water permit and a wetland bylaw permit. Like I said, that was over in this area. The the group that's going to benefit from this is the Coming School Learning Center, which is here, which you folks issued a permit in late December. I believe that permit number was 2025-03. And as you folks know, that is currently under construction. So, like I said, the

area the subject area is this area in here, which measures about 2.8 acres of the um uh three 530 acres of uh property on the on site. Jumbo's Path comes up through the middle here, Wildlife Drive, Westborough Road. Uh so, that that basically locates us on the property. The existing conditions plan uh we had so, the existing conditions plan the main portion of the site as Natalia had indicated the existing building 18 site was up in here. Um the building as you folks know is has been raised. Parking spaces here were for the benefit of that building. In terms of access to the site, Jumbo's Path is down below here. We have Ridge Road that comes up through here and continues out to Wildlife Drive down in here. There is also an egress drive that comes down through here and exits the site. Ridge Road is one way as it comes up through here and it continues as one way coming out through here. I would like you folks to note that as you come up the road here with it being one way, these are the parking spaces. And for anybody that uses these parking spaces when they uh disembark or embark into their vehicles, they do that in the in the path of traffic. That is an existing condition. We identify that to tops when we're looking at it and you'll see how that plays out in in the design. As you come down through here, traffic in this case continues to come through here and they disembark on the grass side, not out into the pavement. So, it's a safer condition. Again, one way in each direction, this way coming out another one way. So, the site has been backfilled. So,

the foundation was removed. They used backfill material that they have on site as you know, the campus does have a a bit of material on site from various projects that they've done. And so, they've got material that they used to backfill this site in here. You'll see the test pits out throughout here. These were for the the benefit of LDC in performing our storm water analysis in this area here, this area here, and this area here. The other test pits, what we wanted to do was find out of the backfill material, what did they use? They really didn't have any good record of what they used. All they told us is they used the material on site. So, I told myself let's get a geotech involved. The geotech came in and what he found was that the materials used for backfill was suitable to support the the parking lot. They they went down about 12 to 15 feet with excavations and didn't find any deleterious material or any large amounts of organics, no stumps, nothing like that. So, it was basically pretty decent borrow material that was placed within the in the foundation hole. In terms of topography up here, this is the high point up in here on Ridge Road. This is all paved. This comes down at a pretty decent slope. I want to say that this is about 6 or 7% as it comes down here. Likewise, coming up the hill it's about the same thing. The grade that comes through here is less steep and then increases in slope down here. You'll notice at this corner, this is the faculty offices building. They have a catwalk that comes up through here with stairs that eventually goes out to the pit conc area. You can see water services. You can see there's electrical. There's this the place what I found about working with TUS, they didn't mess around when it comes to

to utilities. They've got spaghetti underground. So, we do have record plans of all the work that's been done up there that we've incorporated into our existing conditions base plan. Um with respect to any wetland resource areas on site, there are none. There is nothing within several hundred feet of this location in here. There was a a parking lot permitted by you folks a couple years ago off in this area here and basically it's right uh right in here. Um there's a parking lot permitted. And so, the limit of our work, like I said, comes down through here. Back to this plan here, there's a wetland system like I said about two 200 to 300 feet, 250 feet to 300 feet from this area. I bring that up just for reference. In terms of our filings with the town, the only other filing that we have is with the conservation commission. We'll be meeting with them tomorrow night. That filing again, because there are no wetland resource areas in the area, is only for a storm water management permit. So, we get to the layout materials on the site. We are proposing 153 parking spaces. Uh before I get there, I'll go into what's what's kind of a critical component is the the site preparation. So, before they do anything out here, the plan would be to restrict heavy traffic, heavy equipment traffic down at Jumbo's Path into the site and limit everything, all the construction traffic to this end of Ridge Road. So, what they would be doing is they're proposing to put up a construction fence with a swing gate here and they are proposing to put on temporary sign signage mounted to the fence that states that it's construction entrance and authorized vehicles only. Um the as part of the site preparation,

they're going to go ahead with proposing a storm water management basin that you'll see here when we get to the grading and drainage plan. So, at at the site prep stage, they're going to be creating this basin, grading this basin as a a sediment basin uh during construction. Likewise, this basin in here is going to be a sediment basin as well as this other area in here, which all these three areas are eventually going to be storm water management basins. As part of that, we're looking at a temporary sediment basin in here. It's a lower portion of topography with diversionary channels to pick up any runoff or any sediment laden waters that may want to flow off site. We intercept it, put it in the temporary sediment basins and those basins are cleaned out once you get about a foot of sediment in them. As part of that, we're going to have an anti-tracking pad up front here so that any vehicles working up on site before they exit the site, their their treads on their vehicles will be cleaned. This will be All of this work is going to be part of a an operation and or storm water pollution prevention plan. Like I said, the area that we're working is about 2.8 acres. In terms of alteration, it's not quite that. Uh when you look at it in a whole, it's about it's about a half percent of the total area of of the property. Um so, the trees on site, like I said, we're going to be clearing this area in here to prep it for the storm water management. In these areas here, we're maintaining and protecting the trees. So, we do have some nice specimen trees up in this area. Couple of them we're going to remove and dispose. And likewise with this retaining wall here and including this this tree here and this tree here. Two pines which are fairly close to the flight cage, so it's probably not a bad idea to take those out. Uh but wherever we can,

we are going to maintain and protect. We're going to maintain and protect this one by creating a tree well around it, which you will see on the grading plan. As I said, you can see the utilities through here. They're popping up like crazy. Um when we do this, so when we do our site prep plans, we look at the cut and fills on the site and when we identify an area for a temporary stockpile area, we look at how the site is typically constructed so that when they strip the top soil and the subsoil, we come up with a quantity. And so, what we'll do is we come up with a quantity in in this area here. And keep in mind, the campus does have an area that they do dispose their store their materials. They repurpose everything on this campus. So, what they'll do is they'll take excess of loam that's not going to be used for screening and re-loaming and seeding. They'll take and move it elsewhere on on campus to their other yard. Um, process gravel and stockpile area. Um, it was interesting the way the other parking lot worked. Um, the construction time frames for Tufts, as you as you folks can imagine, have to occur, especially for a project of this scale, have to occur while the students are out of class. So, their commencement at the site is around the 18th of of this month. And so, last year, um, when we got the other uh, parking lot uh, permitted, it was about this time that it it it got permitted. Um, they did construction from, uh, I think May 18th, uh, and we had the final walk through, um, with the, uh, town staff, uh, on August 14th. Um, ready for opening it on the 18th. So, this they're targeting that same approach. And it was interesting to watch how fluid the construction process was for something like this. The contractor that they had worked with, um, we're taking that into account

because we've seen it in operation. We saw how the first one went. We're thinking that it's going to to follow suit with how this one's going to be constructed. So, basically, once they uh, strip the area here and they they cut it down and they stop the work and bring in the compacted gravel base, that stockpile material is going to be here and then they're going to start to distribute it over the site. Other times they'll have a, uh, a dump come in, back in, dump, and then they'll just bulldoze and and stop the work and or use the loader and and move the soil around. From a layout materials perspective, um, this is the baby. Um, I brought up the parking spaces along Ridge Road for this reason. Um, as I said, when we spoke with Tufts, uh, we identified this issue and we said, "You know what? We know that you're you're focused in this area here, but while you're out here, just address this. It should be addressed. It's not a good situation." So, we they agreed to having us eliminate the striping on this side, moving it to the other side, and providing a bituminous concrete walk along the side of the site. Um, this parking lot is going to, uh, involve enhancing and providing for bituminous concrete walkways to connect to their system. So, for instance, here, uh, this bituminous concrete walk is going to come to a set of steps, which comes up to, uh, higher elevation and then breaks grade to eventually get down to Jumbos Path app and, uh, points eastward, including the Cummings Learning Center. Um, the spaces over here, like I said, relocated to the other side of the street, so the traffic comes up through here, continues, and and continues to flow, uh, on the same side of the road in and out of the site. This area in here, this is the only area that we're looking to do a poured concrete walkway. The reason for that is

that we're putting uh, 21 EV stations up here. So, with the EV stations, we have the stations located here. We are proposing, uh, signage, uh, to post it. And looking at, um, when these are installed, it's a much easier, uh, thing to, rather than install it, uh, concrete poured concrete and a bituminous concrete, uh, situation, we would rather go with all concrete. It's more expensive, but in the long run, it's better for them because you're not going to have a heaving situation, uh, and and differential settling down the road, um, from, uh, you know, between the the poured concrete and the bituminous concrete. So, again, 21 parking spaces here. There is a total of 253 spaces, which includes these spaces along here, the relocated spaces along here, the re-striped spaces, uh, along here. We're proposing three more parallel spaces, uh, in this area. Uh, it's part of the design. Um, I don't know if you folks recall, but when we had done the other site and we met with town staff, both conservation, planning, and, uh, the building department on the other site, one of the things that had come up was the honeybee population. Excuse me, in the area. And what we had proposed on the other side, uh, was in the landscape islands, um, some what a wildflower mix. Um, it's going to be interesting to see how that takes off this year. It's going to be beautiful down there. So, we decided to do the same thing, uh, here. There are no planting requirements within this, uh, overlay district, but obviously, we want to do something. We figured that if we went with, uh, the wildlife mix here, it allows for, uh, the casting of the the proper illumination of the parking spaces without that being inhibited inhibited, uh, inhibited by trees within the

island. We've looked to frame out the parking area here with a couple of, uh, trees, uh, red maples, the Acer rubrums, uh, in this location and another one, uh, in this location. We considered putting one on the other side, but we didn't want it to get into a situation where we've got this 30-in white pine, uh, 30-in pine, and we've got a a 10-in maple over here. So, we felt that there was a little bit of symmetry in here, so we didn't want to create a a competitive situation between the plant material. Um, along the edge of the, uh, the parking lot, um, you'll see these funny shaped things in here. These are, uh, machine placed boulders. Uh, we have them spaced so that they're no more than a 3-ft space between them along this edge here. They're about a cubic yard a piece. Um, they have plenty of material on site. Um, they're also, uh, able to pull up some boulders that are coming out from the learning center, uh, construction project now, uh, that they're going to use here as well. Like I said, they do they do repurpose their materials on site, so they have plenty of boulders. So, in this case here, we're proposing them, uh, no greater than 3-ft apart. Uh, and in this case here, rather than 1-yd plus boulders, uh, we're going to go go with, uh, 2-yd boulders noted here. These are going to butt up right against each other, and the reason for that is we do have a low point in here. I think all of us, and it's it's not a steep driveway, you'll see in the grading plan. I think about all of us have had, um, situations driving vehicles, you hit a nice spot, and your vehicle skids. Uh, you just want to make sure that they they don't go over, uh, the slope. We based on the vintage here, uh, with me and I'm looking at the members of the planning board, and I say that respectfully. I think when we get into a situation like that, we can handle it, but we need to keep in mind a lot of these folks are young students, um, so,

again, creating this this barrier here so that, uh, vehicles, uh, errant vehicles don't go off the end of the slope. Like I said, for uh, lighting here, a couple of light fixtures here, uh, here, here, and here, the double, uh, uh, fixture, uh, uh, poles are here in the in the parking lot, and two at the the head end here. Photometrics plan was done on the site, uh, and we're using the same, uh, um, fixtures that we used on, uh, the previous site. Um, and you'll see in the footcandle distribution when I show that to you that, uh, there are no issues there. So, again, painted crosswalks, uh, we do have a stop sign, uh, coming out of, uh, this area here. Anybody coming down through here, because we're having two-way traffic here, we didn't want to create, uh, an adverse, uh, condition here. Now, the good stuff. Now, we're going to get in the grading and drainage, and this is, honestly, folks, I, um, I don't get to do much design anymore because of just advancing throughout the years in this this role that I'm in. But when I do, this is why I went to school is is to do this stuff. I had the, uh, the pleasure, years ago, uh, working with, uh, conservation, and that chair, Sandy Brock, um, who's a who's a PE, um, she worked works at Judy Nitsch's company. She's one of the principals in the firm. Um, had asked me about a design that we had done, and she asked me to consider some greener technology. So, on that project, I I went with a rain garden, and I introduced it here as well. So, this project in the stormwater management, uh, for stormwater management, um, again, there are no wetland resource areas here. So, the question is is why do it? You're not discharging to a wetland resource area. Why

do all this green lid stormwater treatment design, other than what the minor stuff that's required? The way we look at it is every little bit helps. Divide and conquer. Divide and conquer. So, to the south of or to the east of this area is Tufts Field, a recreational fields, uh, for the campus. And what we're proposing in here is we have our drainage system. High point still up in here. Going to be a minor cut about a foot, foot and a half foot, to evenly grade this out. Um, we have the low point here. We have a low point here and a low point here, as well as one in this area here. The way this is going to work is with the high point, this is going to shed to an area here. This is going to flow into, uh, sediment forebay, which eventually is going to flow into a rain garden. Um, the rain garden is going to fill, uh, and then gently, uh, discharge into a, um, I think you folks have seen it. We we had to do it on the other site, uh, but the outlet control structures, the concrete precast concrete structure, this nasty looking creature. I hate their appearance, but they're very effective in stormwater. What I wanted to do here is seeing that there's going to be a lot of pedestrian activity here kind of the this area of the campus, the the faculty offices. I wanted to provide a drainage system that wasn't such an eyesore. So that in part other than the ecological benefits and the environmental benefits of the the rain garden, I figured that rather than go with one of those ugly structures, it's not going to be nothing more than a 12-in black PVC pipe that comes up with a grade on it. That's how it's going to function. The other system which is also a rain garden. I don't know if you folks have been over to Wildlife Drive, driven it, but as you as you drive from Jungle's

Path and you're driving south on Wildlife and you look over to the east, there's this beautiful grass slope. And one of the things that I my one of my objectives, obviously we need to meet the storm water requirements, but I did not want to see one of those concrete structures. So I took the same approach here. I took these PVC riser pipes, proposed them in the basins so that each of these functions on its own hydrologically, it it it it functions to allow a certain amount of water out to each of these at any given time discharging into a level spreader down below. Now again, as you can see in this basin here, there are no concrete structures. We have these black flat PVC pipes that are going to discharge into the basins. You're not going to see them from the street below. The other thing that I've done is I did not want to have discharge pipes discharging out onto the lawn eventually, you know, potentially creating an erosion situation. So what I proposed in here rather than go with stone riprap, I have a turf reinforcement mat mat which is a a woven a geotextile woven material that they plant into it and it holds all the soil together. Velocity come through that, they hit the TRM and they're easily dissipated. Because the velocities out of these pipes, the way I have it designed aren't going to be that significant, we're able to use the TRMs and as it hits this this level spreader here, basically what's going to happen is the level spreader is going to rise and then it's going to cascade over the top evenly distributed over this edge of the level spreader. What that does is it takes this channel flow through the culvert, brings

it into here. As it comes through here, again, another culvert. It takes the flows through the culverts, takes them from a channelized flow into this basin here and the process begins. As you folks know, it starts with sheet flow, shallow concentrated flow and then it evolves into a channelized flow. Here, you take it from the channelized flow, the sheet flow process begins again. By the time the sheet flow process ramps up, it's already down to the pavement. It flows down to the pavement. So the the scouring velocities are non-existent here. It's a gentle sheet flow as as it exits. This this baby here, my pride and joy, is the gravel wetland. The gravel wetland, if you folks aren't familiar with it, think of a septic system where you have your pipe and stone. It's almost like a septic system pipe and stone type network system under peat, loam, wetland plant material and it's constantly saturated. We designed the outlet control device so that there's a minimum amount of water that is retained within cell one and cell two to maintain that that wetland vegetation. Now your your question is is okay, so we have this wetland out in the middle of no man's land. What purpose does it serve? So I looked at this and I said so we have the the the wetland, it discharges down below onto Wildlife Drive. Now you take the the sediments on Wildlife Drive, what have you accomplished? You haven't accomplished anything. So what I did is rather than do that, take clean treated storm water runoff, discharge it onto sediment laden and I'm just being honest, you know, at the time we know it's sediment laden until it's swept and and all that. But sediment laden surfaces, what what have you done? It's basically a waste of money and and a waste of

effort here. So what I had done is I decided to take it under the road. Take it under the road, discharge it off in this area. Like I said, it was a parking lot that was designed and permitted a few years ago to this side here. This is discharging along between the two parking lots to a low point here, another level spreader. And like I said, the distance to the wetlands is is 200 ft away. So it didn't trigger any filing from with conservation with respect to the wetlands. And I made mention earlier and I know I'm I'm long-winded here, but as you folks you folks have seen me enough, you know that just unfortunately goes with the territory. The the site is going to be designed with erosion sediment control measures down gradient of the proposed activity and that will be maintained throughout the process as necessary as was the other site. When we were talking earlier about the utilities, the spaghetti underground. Here's a perfect example. I come out of here. I've got Now I could have come through here with an 18-in pipe, but I didn't have enough vertical separation to run gravity through these areas here. I have a gas service here. I have a water main through here. When we do our work, whenever we have a utility crossing, we get the elevations of the utilities based on what they have on their records. So they'll have something like a an electric crossing. Usually those are 2 to 3 ft down. Usually your gas is 2 to 3 ft down. They they have on their their information how deep these things are. So it really helps the designer when they're going to needle a drain pipe through here, they're able to do it. I was able to sleeve a pair of 12-in pipes through here and basically it leaves me enough room to sleeve between the water down

below and the gas up above. You underground electric, same thing. So the site, like I said, this is the the drainage system, pretty basic. The light poles systems, we have the electric. The electric for the the lighting system is going to be connected to the existing lighting system down at the intersection of Ridge Road and Wildlife. That's on a tied system. So when these puppies kick on down below, these will kick on up above. In terms of the supply for the to draw that supply from down below. There's an existing um electric manhole and a transformer pad in this area here. We're going to come up through here, up into the site. We have a project NEP, an electrical engineer who's working on the design of the uh the wiring required for this to feed the EV stations. It is pretty straightforward. We feel yeah, it's it's a fun design. I was happy that to get back into it and and so that's basically it. We've got um Yeah, so here are some of the details. Again, my pride and joy right here, the gravel wetland, a few other things. The photometrics plan, as you can see in red at the location of these these fixtures, very little. I mean right right at the back of this and again, we're ways away from the roadway. Keep in mind there's lighting down on Wildlife Drive, a private drive internal to the campus. There are trees along this edge. So the way the way we're looking at it is that the light that needs to be cast within the parking lot is pretty much going to stay within the parking lot. A lot of

the trees down here are the evergreens as you know, though we're losing a couple here. It's all contained within the parking lot. Fire apparatus, we ran that on site as well. This is the wayfinding sign, I'm sorry about that. So as part of the the program because we're going from one facility to the the other, this is the new coming school learning center. We proposed wayfinding signage beginning from here that will take you to and from coming school and and elsewhere. So basically the way this is going to work is you're going to have you know, a sign that's going to look like this and that will be for instance sign number one which is going to be positioned here and so so on and so forth. The any signage that exists today that uh is any any signage that exists today may be augmented with you know, the direction up to to the parking lot S. So that is that's basically it in terms of the site plan. We have the fire apparatus movements on on site. As you can see, the wheel path, the red is the actual wheel path of of the vehicle. So that is clear of the vehicles parked in here. Makes its way up through the site and then down the hill off site and is able to make a maneuver into the site looping around and then back out to the site. Um So that's it. Um we have as you folks know, um I I I believe Natalia had posted the the latest um site plans, the our peer review response our response to the peer review letter and I believe today she received this afternoon received a close out letter from Graves

Engineering. So from the Graves Engineering perspective, if the board agrees it's it's our opinion that you know, all the concerns have been addressed. Their comments, interestingly, um no game changes here. Um again, looking at the plans having done this again for the first time in a while actually had some design. Uh the you know, that they had no more than a half a dozen comments. Some of the comments were Wayne, you knucklehead, you mislabeled this or your riprap spillway, you didn't show the riprap in it. Uh nothing big. Nothing big. So they were very minor comments. So with that, I Mr. Chairman, I open it up to the board. Thank you for letting me present. So Thank you, Wayne. It it's obvious you enjoyed this one.

[laughter]

I I did. I did. You know, it was uh um I could have had others in the office do it, but once I you know, it's one of those things. I mean, we all we go to school for a reason. We go to school, we we take on a career for a reason and if you love your job, you can't get enough. I mean, I'm I'm probably 2 years away from retirement. I'm not going to retire. I'm I'm going to do this. I'm going to continue to develop this. I just love it too much. It's fun. It's creative. It's creative and I think folks when you when you when you do this and you can do something like as I as I was speaking with Leah with conservation and I talked to her about the stormwater management and my thoughts about introducing low impact BMPs, your rain gardens, your your your gravel wetlands. She told me it's it's it's it's she enjoys working with us. They enjoy working with us because we bring that to the table and not everybody does. And again, I look at this as a divide and conquer thing. Eventually, it gets to a wetland system. So whatever you can do before it gets down there, I think is a benefit to the system. That's the way I've I've always looked at it. So [clears throat] Yeah. Thank you. And there is one question I just have on the fire apparatus. Yeah. You said the lines were from the wheels. I just wanted to to double check that the actual swinging out from that back portion is actually accounted for, which it looks like it is, but you said the wheels, so I'm just checking. Yeah. Yeah, so the the green is the the the body, the turning movement on the body. And I don't know if you folks know this, um but Grafton has a a vehicle. Yes. That is referred to as and I'm this

is not just in Grafton. This is in other communities where Grafton provides aid to other communities. Yes. They refer to this thing as the beast. [laughter]

I know this. I know this, folks. I did some work in Sutton and when I was meeting with their uh fire chief, Matt Belsito, we were talking. He says, "Yeah, so anytime we have a an issue, you know, we you know, we have the towns help each other out. We get Grafton will come in with with their vehicle." And I said, "I'm I'm very familiar with the vehicle." He said, "The beast?" I said, "That's the vehicle." I And everybody refers to it as the beast. The beast is here, folks. The beast is what we run in this thing. So we have all the specs on it and that's what we run on this. Perfect. Thank you. You're welcome. Um I'm just I don't know whether this got answered someplace earlier, but um

[clears throat] the EV splits. How do they work? Uh would would there be any possibility of public coming and wanting to charge their cars? Uh Mr. Chairman, that's a good question. I don't know. Well, it's a private campus. I know that they they have police up here. Uh I don't know. Okay.

I wish I had that answer. It's a it's a it's a question that I probably somebody within our group should have asked. My gut is that so even for survey work, when we go up there, we we call um the the lieutenant or let him know or the captain to let him know that we're going to be on site. They're very particular about who's up on site. So I think the long and short of that, I think it is a private campus. I think it remains private. They And part of the reason here it's interesting. Um I had an opportunity when I started working in this this industry, it was 1984. And I started doing survey work, which I recommend for all civils before they they they get in the office. Know what the ground feels like, know what it smells like, get an appreciation for what the surveyors do. Um I had an opportunity up here to do some work um on the other parking lot that we were working on um to do some survey work, which I hadn't done in years. And when I was out there, you get a full appreciation for this campus because of the animals on the campus. They're very protective with the animals. They There are no cameras that come out. You can't take photographs as much you would as you would like to. We were out here walking. So if you folks remember, as part of the project down below at the Lower Valley Road, there was a sidewalk to be put in on Jumbo's path. We were walking that to with the the bid contractors. And while we were out there, there were about 30 head of cattle literally prancing in the field. The first nice warm day, they were a lot of them were adolescent cattle. They're very protective. No cameras can come out.

Police are always driving around checking in to make sure what you're doing. So to answer you And not to mention uh that beast. So this flight cage here um that's shown on the screen, uh we came out the other day to to walk it and the representative Alicia Bergeron was out here with me and I says, "Well, it's it's boring." I said, "If we want to look at these plans, can we go in the flight cage?" She told me that I couldn't because I didn't have the proper shots. So they're very protective about what's going on and it's a research hospital. I found out not only for research or for animals, but for people as well, which totally blew me away. So to to to answer your question, I know as I said, Mr. Chairman, I get long-winded. You folks know it. To answer your question, I don't believe there are provisions up here for the public. I think that they would like to just keep it to the campus. For that reason. For that reason. Okay.

[clears throat]

Uh does anybody else have anything else? Is there anything we need? There's a hand in the audience this time. Oh. Hello, Michael Rock 8 Trinity Ave. Wayne, I am an uninterested party. I have no involvement with Tufts or particular attachment to this project. If you can go to slide C202 or EX102, actually, the view you have is perfect. Oh, okay. Mike, can I have your last name again, please? Yeah, last name is Rock. That's R as in Romeo, A as in Alpha, K as in Kilo. Okay. So What do you got, Mike? You love stormwater management and that's fantastic. I love crosswalks and traffic management. Um Yep. One thought, as you are coming in from the north on Ridge Road, Mhm. that last parking spot before the crosswalk, Mhm. that is the desirable side of the parking lot closest to all the buildings. Mhm. Um I'm thinking, you know, you're coming up a hill, somewhat limited line of sight. Um I don't want to make you re-engineer something, Mhm.

but perhaps it could be painted with some diagonal parking stripes for motorcycles that would allow clear line of sight [snorts] um for pedestrians coming across. It also technically means that you have two extra parking spaces. Um Any idea? So through the chair, uh Mike, could could you better explain So So this space in here, Yep, that space right there Yep. could potentially exclude the view of a driver coming in on Ridge Road of a pedestrian entering the crosswalk. And there's not a lot of space between that parking spot and the crosswalk Got you.

time. So if that Okay. converted into motorcycle parking um or compact car, something that would preserve the site such that drivers coming in aren't uh you know, accidentally hitting some

Interesting. Interesting. Yeah, I think that's something we could uh certainly do. Um I would like to um I'll make note on this. Um the plans ideally So, where I'd like to be tonight um and I and I and I say this respectfully, I think that's something that um I'll look at either doing something like that or potentially We have plenty of parking up here. So, if this is something that the planning board um Mr. Chairman, um you're in favor of of Mike's suggestion here, you know, perhaps we could either eliminate that space or leave it for for motorcycle um or a compact. If that works for you, Mr. Chairman, um that is something certainly uh we can make that uh that uh that modification. I think it's an interesting I think it's a good point. I think it's a good point. Thank you, Michael. I'm not a traffic engineer, so No, it's a good Well, it's a good uh observation. Good observation. Does anybody object to that change? No, I think that that makes sense. I did think so. So, are we ready to close the hearing? I move that we close the hearing. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor. Aye. Opposed. So voted. Decision. It seems like we could uh move to direct staff to draft a decision. Take into account as usual all the information received and testimony received. And uh my only thought would be a question be that if we Well, we just closed the hearing. So, the decision may may be the applicant could work with us a little bit to decide you know, what if anything we will put into the the decision regarding

the fate of this particular parking spot. That's a motion. Yes. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor. Aye. Opposed. So voted unanimously. I don't believe there's anything else that can legally come before us. Let me Before you go on, Mr. Chairman, I need to ask you folks something. Um I I'm the chair of my board, my own town. Um Mr. Chairman, you and I for a while um I know you're you're still on CMRPC, right? Oh, yes. So, yeah, I knew that was going to be the case. Um I I speak with Jeff Houwing quite a bit Mhm. Um and I told him how I do appreciate coming before this board. I told that to Natalia. I've said that many times to Fiona. I've said that to Graves Engineering. And that again is one reason why I wanted to join you folks tonight. Um you've been on CMRPC. Um I was on the CMRPC for a while uh representing the town of Auburn way back when. Um and I remember um sitting there with you. So, I know you've been a representative. I know you you served on on this board for a number of years, I think. And I say this to folks, for those folks at home, it is a commitment when we do this. It's a thankless job. Um but I think that when we do this and we know that we can bring something to the table, it's a it's a a job very much worth doing. When you know you can bring something to the table and that goes back to the CMRPC. Now, with that, the reason I bring this in bring this up is because you know I'm long-winded. I can get tongue-twisted easily. Mullins in. Where did you guys come up with that? I've never heard that term. I'm going to

start using it when I need to. Where did that come from? W- Which Mullins in. Oh, Mullins in. That Yeah. M- The Mullen law. You're right, but did you did you folks come up with that? Like did you at one point say, "Well, we're going to Mullins this in" or cuz I've never heard that used. And it's it's short and sweet. Yeah, I we've been using that term for years. I don't know I don't know I don't know who who was the first. Um probably um um One of our prior planners. Probably our most recent planner, but maybe maybe before we Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I like it. So, I appreciate Yeah, we are immediately going to review all of our tapes going way back [laughter] and see if we can't find the first time anybody used that. Yeah, well, you you could uh submit a Freedom of Information Act [laughter]

I might do that. I might do that. I might do that. So, folks, again, um as always, I do um I've always appreciated coming before this board. Um I know that I'm going to be a lot doing a lot more work with Tufts. Uh and I look forward to more projects with you folks. I I really appreciate the I love the banter. Mr. Chairman, you've always had uh little one-liners that will put a smile on my face. It was the one tonight about uh you know, uh hiring the the additional employee when the individual said we're going to have three employees. The the prior to that, you know, uh the the the the the one-liner I thought was was just perfectly timed. You know, we get that with you guys. So, again, much appreciated, folks. Much appreciated. Thank you very much and have a good night. You too. Thank you. Thank you. Take care. Bye-bye. Before we move to adjourn, I want to ask Mike, this is you're not going to be here next meeting, right? I don't think so. I I One of the questions is um I might be done in in to get here in time for 7:30 with my um other commitment, but I'm not sure. So. I'm not sure of what the rules are on that. I'm I'm the possibility that this is your last meeting with the board, I would like to move that the board thank you for your for your participation and dedication to the work of this board and wish you well in whatever you do after this. Thank you so much. Thanks, Mike. When you're here, you do your job. If you're not here, you know, whatever time during the meeting you're not here, you can't do it. Um unless you're Mullins in.

[laughter] [clears throat] And that that's for um public hearings, right? Basically. Okay. I still don't think there's anything else that may legally come before us. Um and so we don't have to extend past 10. So, do I have a uh um a motion on November 8? Somebody make a motion to adjourn. I move move we adjourn. Second. Moved and seconded. That's not debatable. All in favor. Aye. Opposed. So voted.