Planning Board - Regular Meeting

me good evening my name is Chuck ioven and I'll be presiding over this evening's meeting of the planning board February 12th 2025 um first it uh first thing I'm going to do is inform people for those in attendance under the provisions of the open meeting law attendees are being informed that this meeting is being recorded by Urban media arts and will be live streamed on Malden access matv YouTube site I have not been notified that any other video or audio recording of this meeting will occur um next thing we'll do is we will take our roll call starting with Ronnie Ronnie Raj Verma planning board Diane Chua planning board Kenan tanucci planning board Chuck ioven planning board Eric mcos planning board Pat Hayes planning board Eric Henry planning board thank you guys uh the first item on the agenda and I will make a notice at first because of some um late absentees due to to health uh people got sick we have seven members present and uh for the public hearings what we would what you would need would be six out of the seven um six out of the seven to Grant the special permit so I just informed the petitioners of that so that they're aware um first item on the agenda is 26 7273 Main Street if the petitioner is present yeah but I don't see anyone look

like they're getting up Diane if you could start by reading the notice but I think the Malden planning board will hold a public Hearing in the herbit L Jackson Council chamber Malden City Hall 215 Pleasant Street Malden Mass at 700 p.m. on Wednesday February 12th 2025 on the petition of Lewis Colton architect and contractor on behalf of 269-271 Main Street LLC permanent application number cm-6 9763 d224 seeking a special permit under title 12.2.3 of the code of the city of Malden to allow medical center use of the property in the highway business zoning District namely to renovate and use the existing building for dental offices at the property known as a number number 267-273 Main Street Malden Mass and also known by City's Assessor's partial ID number 07627 Z3 thank you very much Diane if the petitioner is present uh can you come up and I'd like to ask everyone uh when you start to speak give your name and address for the record and then also sign the clipboard that has um on next to right on the podium there so we can get the proper spelling and address and name for for our files sure Chad Patel 6G Drive Saga Mass 01906 thank you Samir Patel 6G Drive SAS Mass 0196 okay um if you want to describe what you're

uh proposing what your permit request is yeah we're proposing to put a general dental office in that building okay do you own the building right now we do not okay subject to uh getting this permit so you have a pns on it already yes we do okay can you describe what you're going to do there how many employees how many um I I reviewed the plans I saw that you're proposing five Dental stations um also I I think do you have revised plans because you submitted plans that the staff reviewed and that members have reviewed but I understand you might have revised plans tonight I think they were submitted right let me yes um your architect was going to bring copies for the board because they were submitted late we didn't receive them till yesterday so the plans the board have are the original plans that you well actually not the original the uh well the site plan is the original in the one of the floor plans but I believe the architect was going to be bringing copies is this the architect good evening uh name and address for record sir my name is leis Colton I'm the architect for the project and um I believe you do have uh material that was delivered to you but there has been some revisions and uh with your permission I'd like to give you the yes if you want to pass out the revised ones yes pleas if you want to move the mic up to the top so we can hear you better

to go do that okay thank you I apologize I was having a hard time getting around this the city here or town um so as you are aware uh we have a building that was a that was a u restaurant unfortunately there was a fire the fire uh was a cause for the owner to uh abandon that that use left and uh what we're looking to do is we're providing uh a uh what what we're call family dental facility in the building thank you we are not adding any any square footage to the building we're pretty much renovating the building as it is as it sits uh and with the drawings that you're getting uh there was some requests for additional information which are on the smaller sheet identified as supplemental information and we reissued uh the site plan and your in your package that you would have uh the site plan identified the original one identified uh there was a discrepancy on square footage and so this was adjusted of this revised drawing and you'll note that uh what we have is is an identification of the footprint of the of the building and then the uh square footage uh and the layout of the site plan there's a slight discrepancy there and uh that discrepancy I believe has something to do with h the adjacent the ab butter there was a church and there's a kind of a little twerk uh of

of space so the actual space in this square footage for the building is400 and 48 square feet um we are uh while in your drawings in the package we submitted uh drawings that were um adequate for the submission for building permits so those are construction documents that have been submitted uh and uh if there's any questions regarding that we' be happy to to answer that so there is a change of use here we're going from a restaurant to a dental office um the building literally is on uh the property line and that's pre-existing use it's been that way can you speak up sir I I can't hear you yes I'm sorry uh the building is the mic up to the top you can move the mic up that might helpful never thought I was and if I could Mr chair I just want to note that the petitioner did email me a copy of the revised plan but it had dates and information that's not on what you just handed out so I would Linda can our clerk can go copy this so that everybody will have this this is the updated plan that you submitted that has new square footage and a date correct but the one that was just handed out has nothing that's right that's right did you intend to hand it out with nothing yes I that's what the two two sheets that I'm handing out is the Revis supplemental drawing which addresses and corrects the square footage on that supplemental drawing as well okay the one you handed out has Blanks on it though I don't think you intended that I'm sorry it has no information and has no dates but the one you emailed did so

would you like the board to have the one with the date the correct date in the in the square footage well that's when it show correctly this dra going to1 that was corrected so that's the the date that the correction was made right but the one you handed out is blank it has no date the small plan oh the small plan yeah if you will look on um look where the stamp is right above the stamp is the date right February comma 2025 and there's no square footage either so would you like us to make the copy of the one you emailed yes please okay we'll do that thanks thank you Linda make like 10 if you yours has it right that's incorrect the the one in the package is incorrect the one he handed out is is a is missing information as well I just wanted to note that so Linda is going to bring the correct one down thank you thank you thank you for uh pointing that out so so that so those those correct have been made one of the things that I wanted to point out and I think you all have probably recognized that is that the ex we had the the square footage was adjusted because we've had our survey engineer go out and measure actually the building uh on site as well as the as as identifying the property lines so there is a difference between the build as I mentioned between the building size and site um when this uh was originally uh submitted and and surveyed you'll notice it's it's marked as seven parking spaces uh however uh there is space over there as if needed an additional parking

space which would bring this up to eight uh what we actually need if you're going by the square footage uh and at 5.5 per uh uh per thousand we are requiring eight which we can provide we will not actually use eight but nonetheless it's there for us uh the parking incidentally if you're aware of that is that this property is not ours this property it belongs to NBTA it's the uh uh uh mbta's property uh we do have and you should have in your in your packet uh material that identifies the owner of the of of this particular space as well as other Loca other locations up and down the block uh do use this part that that property for parking and there is a an agreement which you should have in your packet uh of the of the prior owner or the present owner actually uh that gives permission to use that space for parking um I think you you'll see in package we do show the elevations of the building uh we are just pretty much keeping it as is just adding some signage the signage is not being submitted for approval but it's just there to show you what we will and what we're looking to do for the signage we will of course when the when that that comes up for approval we will adhere to the local uh signed bylaws and make sure that we're meeting those requirements uh I think we also note in The Bu in in the drawings which are the construction documents uh we note the number of

occupants uh there is a difference in in the way we look at uh we look at the occupants because we're we're we've developed these drawings for building permit so we're looking at the building code and those numbers that are shown are for the purpose of uh have a proper toilet count but with regards to parking we will meet that square footage based on your 5.5 per th000 so that that's the other that's the other uh point we wanted to make well can I ask you a question you said you might have be able to get eight there are seven there now or seven cars parked down there great the last few days you might be able to get eight well if you'll notice on the site on the site drawing I have dotted uh at the very end uh as needed there's a there's space there for another parking spot right but is that big enough to because it seemed to be pretty full uh but but let's say you can get eight yes right I'm not sure you can but let's see you can how is that going to accommodate the 17 people that you list is so let me explain that 17 people is uh again I'm addressing I'm addressing the building code and the building code uh identifies uh one person per 100 square feet that's it that's for this use but what we did there's there's two ways of looking at that one is actual and one is prescriptive I Ed prescriptive for the reason to make sure that we were under 20 20 is a number that has to do with the number of toilet fixtures so again these drawings were developed for a

building permit and looking and making sure that we met the requirements for the toilet for toilet uh okay so how many dentists will be there at any one time yeah if I may I kind of intervene so initially there's only going to be one dentist working there this is a brand new facility we're going to be looking to uh attract the neighborhood you know patient base obviously it's from ground up it's a denovo so there's no existing patient base so so one one dentist how many hygienist no hygienist um no hygienist how many clerical so two admin staff so two admin staff receptionist how and you can accommodate five two dental assistants so total um four five people are going to be working uh but not all you know at the same time so there's going to be staggered shift ET okay at at any one time one dentist no hygienists two clerical that's three and two um assistant dental assistants okay okay I guess I was calling that I okay so two dental assistants and you can accommodate five based on the plan five patients for any given hour about three to four patients so three to four so not everybody is going to be uh coming in at the same time so that would be those in the chair and those waiting to get in the chair exactly all inclusive okay six eight so nine so that would be nine and you might be able to get eight definitely seven but correct maybe eight correct okay one other question um in looking at it um

17 um yeah just I'm just looking at this and just trying trying to understand where the the plans are all changing and the data that was presented is now seems to be a lot avoid uh confusion I think the initial plan or the the building footprint has not is not going to change I believe it's 1,200 and change is the uh square foot you know first floor and that's not changing um I think what he submitted was there was a little bit of a mixup um but that's been rectified so original and I'm sure the city has that as well the footprint of the building is not changing okay now in the agreement with the MBTA which you're are not family TI restaurant right so a part of our pns and our understanding is it is is assignable and we've already uh spoken with MBTA they're absolutely okay with it everything that the previous owner has been uh the way they've been running it will be identical the parking use exclusive use that's going to be passed down to the new owner if everything gets approved um and the exclusive right to use a parking will be available okay now but what parking because on the last page of the agreement there's an awful lot of um red indicating that there's more can you use both sides of the RightWay or just the right side that abuts your building just the side that abuts the building okay so so the eight I think seven to eight parking that abuts the building is the exclusive um is all that you can do that because that's where my questions can you pack over by the locksmith I don't think so I think they might have a similar um agreement agement with the

MBTA I have a I have a feeling and a lot of of other part Property Owners on that you know um MBTA line as well I think they're all in the same same situation so the answer is I I don't think that we have to as our understanding we don't have um access to those parking okay um I mean that makes sense I just wasn't sure and when I'm looking at the graphic that I got looks like it encompasses both sides of the RightWay um okay um what are your hours of operation do you expect so it'll be 10 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. those are the patient hours six days a week uh five days Saturday will be every other Saturday to accommodate you know patients who have are working or or kids or students that can't come during normal but 10 to 6 every other Saturday no 9 to 3 on Saturdays every other Saturday Okay um what are you going to do with your trash and will there be any medical waste to generate so that is actually kept inside in the utility area and and there's a special company that comes in and picks it up and disposes of it um you know properly the actual regular trash adjacent to the property that's part of it is there is actually an enclosure currently for the dumpster um that's what we're going to be using as well and in the dumpsters outside yes is that in

that there was a fenced in little square that looked like it had half a dozen shopping carts a mattress is that part of your no as far as recently when I saw it's just an enclosed uh fenced area with a dumpster in there and uh it hasn't been obviously been used since the current property owner has uh has a closed for about a year year and a half and and where's that located right at Jason to the number I want to say the eight it's in the RightWay yes in the back yes in the corner yeah yes it's in the it's in it's in the MBTA right away there are some pictures of it you can see it at the end of their building if you look at the site photos that are in the package it's back here okay that that's the same thing I'm talking about yes that's the same thing you can see the gates were open I didn't see a dumpster in there so start a lot of shopping CS there was a dumpster and all kinds of trash so it's being used right now it's right here yeah at the end the back of the building but that's on the what I saw that's on the MBTA right away there's a photo of the side of the building you can see it it's right here okay so that's going to be where your regular trash is going to go and then your medical waste will be taken out by a contract correct with a company correct okay uh I I when I looked in I it still seems to be set up for a uh for a diner if if this were to go forward when would you start construction and when do you think you might finish so I think the the plan is we have all the drawings and Architects and the developer actual

contractor is ready to go once the building permits are approved um and uh once he has that the estimated time is about 3 months from to completion and I would say four months would be our start date okay so okay um and you're not planning on using the basement is there a basement basement's uh is just going to be for mechanical mechanical storage maybe exactly okay there a trash did you say the trash is going to be downstairs with the utilities is is that where the trash is or it's upstairs no the regular trash no the medical waste you said was medical waste is going to be in the basement yes so that'll be in the basement the trash the medical waste correct okay um and just just as a you know information this will be our ninth location so this is something that we're very familiar with your ninth location yeah we're very experience with doing U existing and building it out so we're in the acquisition phase right now we have a couple of other projects similarly in the Greater Boston area as well so do you hire dentist or will one of you guys be so we do hire yes they are associate dentists that work for us but one of the owner my partner he's a dentist himself as well but you won't be working at this location I could be as as you know if the need was there but generally we tend to hire staff hire staff and then bring them

in how in your past experience how quickly have you come up to speed um and by that I mean how quickly are you going to exceed the nine heads that you referred to um earlier in the hearing the nine heads as in as in what how soon do you think you might be adding another dentist more dental assistance or hygienist more clerical um in our experience it's not that quick um because building a patient base from scratch does take many years um I would say between three to five years adding a second associate full-time associate um and so if you had to do that you would at that time pursue offsite parking or other parking Alternatives or right across the street I believe there is a uh public parking so patients if that was there was a bit of an overflow I think that would be an option that they they were able to park um limited you know there for limited Hour 1 to two hours appointments no more than couple hours so that will suffice kind of a for the patient base should we get to that point I mean okay um is it does anyone have any other questions for the petitioner Michelle do you have anything to ask the petitioner not at okay and no one else has any questions is there anything else you'd like to add no I mean we're just looking forward to kind of serving the Malden Community you know for the oral hygiene for oral needs that's kind of our goal and

Mission okay well thank you very much thank you okay at this time we'll entertain anyone that would like to speak in favor of this petition anyone to speak in favor you guys can have a seat if you'd like no one to speak in favor Diane do you have anything to read in favor I do not very good seeing and hearing no one that would like to speak in favor I declare that part of the hearing closed is there anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this petition anyone to speak in opposition Diane anything to read an opposition yes I very good if you could read it let me okay it's um excuse me dated Wednesday February 12th 2025 to the Malden planning board with great respect I know there was a public hearing on the petition of Lewis Colton on behalf of 269-271 Main Street to allow medical center use of the property in the highway business zoning District to use the existing building for dental offices I do not know the decision of the planning board but I strongly Oppo I am strongly opposed to any sort of medical dental offices going in this area please do not put this through it truly does not belong in this area I was hoping to go to the meeting tonight but was unable to get there thank you for your consideration Mr and Mrs Robert J Madden Jr 11 Rockland plays Malden and that would be it thank

you and I don't see anyone else that would like to speak in ouros so I'll declare that part of the hearing closed uh Michelle can you take us through your staff report please yes so I'm reading from the planning report and recommendation dated February 12th 25 I won't read it verbatim but it is incorporated here and by reference to the record so you we've heard about the location of the subject property you can see that in the site visit photos um this report was finalized before we received the final versions of the plan so I'm going to update it as we go along we have confirmed the size of the building and lot um there were some discrepancies among the records City Records and the plans that were submitted by the petitioner so according to the most uh recent revision um which the is the information that you just received tonight in at least in terms of the site plan um so this is a site plan dated February 10th 25 and it is telling us a lot area is 1539 ft² in the building area is 1443 um you also received the plan that's called supplemental information that's showing you the basement floor plan it also however includes the first floor square footage and the basement square footage and that's indicated as 1443 Square ft um you heard about the proposal in terms of the how the property would be built out there's a description here so in terms of the plans and information submitted we up upda dating what's in this report so number one is the site plan it is the site plan with the same

title prepared by the same entity um it's however it's dated 21025 that's the current version the set of plans Excel Dental um that include the elevation plans for plan and blocking Plumbing electrical ceiling plan no change to that um the floor plan um call basement plan supplemental information the updated date is February 10th and then in terms of the First Amendment um use and occupancy agreement you all have a copy of that in your package it includes this exhibit a the amended use and occupancy agreement plan that the chair was referring to zoning and occupancy the property is classified as part of the highway business zoning District the proposed dental offices are classified as Medical Center use they may be allowed by special permit in this District District the most recent restaurant use predates the current ordinance it requires a special permit it's considered pre-exist and non-conforming the director butter to the north is the Boston Maine sagus branch abandoned railroad right away used in part for the public multimodal Trail the Northern Strand Community Trail by to the Sea and inart for parking on the other side of this Trail are businesses institutional uses to the east there's a building with various businesses restaurants offices Retail Services retail sales to the South vehicle retail sales to the West on the other side of Main Street a pave lot a vacant land owned by National Grid used as a parking lot and a multif family residential dwelling surrounding land uses are a municipal parking lot and various business uses including restaurants Retail Services sales medical center dental offices and gasoline filling station in terms of dimensional controls for the most recent use restaurant the property grossly violates all dimensional controls except height it predates the current ordinance it's considered pre-exist non-conforming the proposed new use requires a larger lot area than

the previous use so it exacerbates existing non-conformity maintains all other existing violations of dienal controls in terms of parking and loading requirements again I gave you um some different information based on the different square footages square footages that were presented um we now know that there are 1443 square feet on the first floor based on that eight spaces are required that's 5.5 spaces is per th000 ft of gross floor area no loading is required for the proposed Medical Center use the rest prior restaurant use required 15 to 21 parking spaces and one loading space um there's no parking or loading on site no spaces available given the building sits on property lines and um we've heard about the eight spaces on the MBTA property um the plan actually depicts seven parking spaces um there were seven observed during the site visit and again there is an agreement um between the NBTA and the current owner for use of the abing land in terms of what that abing land is it's it's called exhibit a it's shown on exhibit a and it's approximately 3,783 Square ft so that is the land even though the the entire MBTA owned property is shaded a light red this area in blue is the premises that are subject to this use an occupancy agreement so that's where the parking spaces would be located um in terms of traffic The Proposal didn't require traffic impact study per you rules procedures findings required to Grant the special permit this board would need to find that any creation or increase in violation of dimensional controls or parking requirements will not be more detrimental to the neighborhood that the traffic and traffic patterns generated by the proposed use will not adversely impact any of the surrounding streets or create a traffic or safety hazard that the proposed use will not be more

detrimental to the neighborhood that the proposed use is not in conflict with surrounding land uses and that the proposed use is in the interest of the common good um I did note previously I'll just go back for a second I did note that the proposal does increase violations of demential controls I did not note um but I will state now that the parking The Proposal does reduce existing parking deficiencies in terms of the recommendation this is made prior to the public hearing provided the board makes the required findings you want me to go forward or questions I don't see any no one's asking question okay so the recommendations that a special prit be granted subject to the following conditions one all development shall be as per plans except as Modified by these conditions minor modifications of the floor plan are allowed two this special permit allows only dental office use and any other Medical Center use shall require an amendment of the special permit three provide a copy of agreement between current property owner and MBTA for use of 7 to 10 I previously said 7 to 10 and um I would say at this point8 um parking spaces and abing abandoned railroad right away I'm thinking now though um for use of um for use of space for or um for use of um area for eight spaces because they're not actually giving you the parking spaces they're giving you enough area for the parking spaces and then for the basement may be used only for storage and utilities um I guess we may want to note U medical waste as well um since that is would being told is the plan so there's no question or concern about that being allowed so

okay does anyone have any questions for Michelle no questions from Michelle is there a motion Ken tanucci Mr chairman I'd like to make a motion to Grant the special permit with the four conditions so Grant approval with conditions as modified right yes okay Eric push I'll second that motion Eric seconded Ken's motion okay okay Michelle go ahead Ken antonucci yes Diane chuha yes Patrick Hayes yes Eric Henry yes Eric mcos yes Ronnie r RMA yes cheze I openen yes so that's s to zero motion passed yeah so the special permits been granted with conditions

um one of which will be holding you to the plans that were revised tonight um and uh good luck with it anything else Michelle no uh what will happen next is I'll prepare the decision it will be posted with the city clerk you'll receive a copy of it then the 20-day appeal period will begin after the 20-day appeal period ends if there's been no appeal I'll you will be able to pick up the decision requ record it and then you will be able to come in and get your building permit we'll be in touch about everything thank you thank you okay the next item on the agenda is y I will is 578 Main Street uh before I ask Diane to read it I would like to inform the petitioner that as you can see um due to some late uh people calling in sick uh we only have seven people in attendance tonight so um after Diane reads the notice you're welcome to come up and let us know how you want to proceed thank you the Malden planning board will hold a public Hearing in the herbel Jackson Council chamber Malden City Hall 215 Pleasant Street Malden Mass at 7 pm on Wednesday February 12th 2025 on the petition of guardian angel Senior Services Inc on behalf of 578 Main

Street LLC permanent application number c00 0 69827 d202 4 made under title [Music] 12.28.19 643 and case number 9318 namely to amend conditions of the special permits which allow medical center use and to allow general office use of preexisting non-conforming ex non-conforming existing property in the residence B zoning District at the property known as in numbered 578 Main Street Malden Mass and also known by City's assessor paral ID number 049 279 926 thank you Diane let me turn turn on the microphone counselor good evening good evening uh Mr chair and board members uh Thomas Calahan with offices at 1 Center Street in Malden uh I would respectfully request that the board table the matter uh to allow for a full compliment of members at the next meeting okay so typically we would require a week's notice but since the fact is that we don't have a full contingent uh for various reasons uh the petition is requesting that we table the hearing um Michelle do we have to suspend planning board rules for this or if you if you find if you find exent circumstances you don't need to spend suspend your rules if you don't think there are exent circumstances you need to wave your rules and not having a full board would be Ed if you think so ccum

it's your decision yes but yeah I I think in the past you've considered that okay um is there a motion uh to allow the petitioner hold on a second Eric mcus um I'd like to make a motion to honor the petitioner request to table the um the matter till the next appropriate meeting thank you very much Eric Ken tanucci I'll second that okay so this is to table the entire matter so that's the public hearing um we won't need to the petitioner won't be required to republish the notice the new notice um and unless you direct me we will not send the new notice to abutters it will be posted on your agenda it will be posted online you know on the city website but again unless directed we're not required to mail the notice to a Butters so um and how many notices are there uh you recall a rough number 500,000 I can tell you in a second hold on hold on yes well about I would say about 160 170 okay Property Owners received notice okay I think you should yeah you

should notify them okay um for the next hearing since was tabled then it's it's basically our fault okay yeah it will just just be all the all it will be is a new notice sent with the new date on it so okay so I will we will mail notice to buts okay thank you very much uh if you'll take the the roll call Ken anucci yes Diane Chua yes Patrick haes yes Eric Henry yes Eric makush yes Ronnie Raj Bara yes check I open yes so the tabling has been granted um right now we're looking at March um so the next time would be the next meeting March 12th is where it's tentatively scheduled so uh you know unless unless that something happens with that that's when we' be expecting to take this up at our next meeting okay that we actually have okay thank you and thank you for your courtesy in the table thank you sir good good evening yes 12 yes now on that note I will note um we already do know there are two members absent one has a previously scheduled work commitment and another is out of the country yeah so just letting everybody know for the 12th two yes for the 12 I already know March 12th there were two no so everyone else needs to show and yeah I mean again unless there's an unexpected sickness you know which is what as you mentioned happen Happ tonight okay well and I will be letting everybody else know that too um Mar I'm having surgery right before that I

wouldn't I don't think I'll be making that meeting okay so March okay so March 12 isn't okay so now we're down to to8 so what we'll do is you know I'll talk to the chair obviously we don't want to convene again if this is only 7 you know for this particular right case so maybe it would get pushed to a okay and that's why I mentioned that yeah well no that I'm glad I just mentioned that thank you for tell we looking to be meeting March 12th but we may not be okay so I'm going to write that down you're Eric no Eric March 12th anybody else no no no okay good luck yes maybe H over from that's February you're still going to be H over yeah well it's actually late this years okay so next order of business um let's Ronnie you're on if you could give us a CPC update so our last CPC meeting was January 15th and I gave an update on January 27th our next CPC meeting is actually scheduled for February February 19th so I don't have any update since that last meeting um because we met on January 27th um so I should have a meeting for our March 12th excuse me meeting next month okay thank you appreciate that um Michelle any updates on Master planning activities or open space and Recreation plan from oscd yes you have a memo attached to the agenda a memo dated February 11 202 you should please take that home read it bless you at your leisure um it's got an open space plan Recreation Plan update and the update on the comprehensive plan

um thank you very much so you should take a look at that appreciate that um and then the next item on the agenda is a review of the zoning amendment process if you could take us through that Michelle yes and and the reason this came up just to let people know uh at our last joint meeting it was mentioned that planning board members can propose zoning changes and it's a little more complicated than that so what I asked Michelle to do is pull out the ordinance and review it for us so we understand how is zoning amendment can happen and what's needed um to do that so if you could take us through that Michelle yes okay so what I've attached also you should find in the agenda is a one page it looks like this it's it says 12. 32050 amendments this is a page from the city zoning ordinance um you can see at the bottom where I took it from so if anybody wants to go back in and look any further they can that's the link at the bottom so this is um the amendment process so this is per our zoning ordinance which I will note incorporates portions um of state law as well it's not exactly what state law says it it includes some additional things in addition to what's in the state law required for the zoning amendment process so it is I'll read from it it says the city council Board of appeal an individual owning land to be affected by the zoning amendments 10 registered voters planning board and Regional planning agency May petition for an amendment to this ordinance then it goes on to talk about um the petition needs to be in writing there's a fee um

there's the cost of notices and it gets submitted to the city council then it takes up the process of what the council does the council has 14 days to submit the proposed amendment to the planning board and then the next a b CDE e f and g or what happens after that uh the pl which you are involved in um as you're familiar you're involved in so first the planning board and city council within 65 days receeded the amendment jointly hold a public hearing as required by Mass general laws that is one of the differences between our ordinance and state law state law says a hearing needs to be held by planning board and city council our ordinance says it needs to be held jointly that's why you come together with the ordinance committee to do the joint hearings you may find in other cities and towns they do a separate hearing planning board in a separate hearing councel um but here we do it together then this is just specifics as to what the council does as I always tell you you make an advisory recommendation the council may not vote to adopt or reject the amendment until after the board submitted a report with recommendations or 21 days have expired have elapsed after the hearing and you haven't submitted a report that's why I always tell you you have 21 days to submit a report typically you make it the same night you'll come up with the recommendation and then I will give it to the council the council then takes your recommendation and has up to 90 days after the public hearing to act otherwise a new hearing needs to be held um then there's some other specifics in here um I won't get into there they um well at least e andf have to do with Council action um G does talk about planning board mailing notice to Property Owners of Butters um to be included in a proposed zoning map change so that's what this office does um uh with the zoning amendments if it's not a

map change we only have to notify ating cities and towns and the regional planning agency so back up to the top though because that's what the question was about who can propose a zoning Amendment so who can propose a zoning Amendment the city council that's typically who proposes the zoning Amendment so you'll see sponsored by City C councilor or this city counselor or that city counselor Board of appeal could also do that um I don't think in the years I've been here we've seen uh a Amendment proposed by Board of appeal an individual owning land to be affected by the zoning amendments we've seen that a couple times uh a petitioner wants to change most recently that I recall seeing it was on Handover Street a petitioner was in a residential district but he abided industrial and he had industrial property he wanted to be in the industrial district he proposed the zoning change but he himself uh went through the council that's what has to happen he actually asked the counselor to sponsor it for him so the council was the sponsor even though it was technically proposed by the individual landowner if the landowner himself wanted to propose it he'd be paying $1,000 filing fee that is my understanding of typically why not only do you want the support of the counselor with the proposal you would like the support with the fee as well there's no problem with that it's perfectly legal to do um 10 registered voters I'm sorry um 10 registered voters again I have not seen that is to my knowledge um I haven't seen a petition that's been filed by 10 registered voters doesn't mean it can't happen but I haven't seen that that um and then you have planning board uh planning board

has not proposed any amendments per se I will say that I work to propose amendments typically they the administrative type uh what I call cleanup we had a paper recently as we go through the cases and you hear different things we realize there are some issues with wording things like that I will typically propose work with the city counselor and the council will propose so that was would be administrative what I would call administrative um you're not proposing it but I'm just letting you know planning staff is proposing it in the sense of administrative what I call administrative cleanup things now that's not the same as when a counselor calls me and says I want to change the zoning to allow this type of use use car wash or regulate this or that Heights or that lot area I'm often approached can you help me draft the language so I help draft it that doesn't mean I initiated it or it's my petition but I will help with the language since I'm familiar with the format of the zoning what section should It Go in what what types of RS do you need do you need dimensional controls do you need parking do you need a definition so I will help any City official that asked me for help with that as well um and so then finally that's it the regional planning agency that would be in our case the mapc mapc the metropolitan area planning Council again in my years here 23 going on 24 I've not seen that ever proposed I've never seen them propos a zoning Amendment um now you may be thinking hey wait a minute the state's propose things the

state does propose things in the sense of they change their laws and then tell the city you have to update your laws so I would in a way they're proposing zoning amendments but they're not coming to you saying here Malden consider this they're saying you know for example with the Adu Statewide hey everybody this is the new law update your laws or here's MBTA zoning mbca communities update your laws so MPC definitely works with with you know the officials that propos those zoning amendments but they're not proposing it per se you know you don't see a petition from that agency before the council but bottom line is anything is going to have to go in through the council start at the council and eventually come to you for the joint public hearing so that's a overview that I'll give I'll stop there people have questions um or comments Pat Hayes yes thanks Michelle so if somebody from the board of appeals or somebody from the planning board wanted to do this they have to pay a $1,000 filing fee it's any any individual would have to pay the filing fee if the petitioner is not an officer or Board of the city you pay the filing fee so if the whole planning board proposes an amendment you're not paying the filing fee but if you personally as an individual even though you are a board member you're proposing it as an individual you would pay the filing fee I would recommend you don't pay the filing fee that you approach your city counselor or a counselor at large and ask to be sponsored why shouldn't you you know who does the fee go to uh the city um it it's supposed to cover administrative costs if you will you know it's still the same Administration whether the fees paid or not so um thanks

yeah can ucci yeah just to clarify what kind of on what Pat just said so if a planning board member wanted to you would not submit it as a planning board member you would recommend a member go to the city counselor their city council to propose that I'm just I'm just confused the way the planning board you're a planning board member but you this is saying the planning board can submit an amendment it doesn't say a planning board member can so I my sense is when you submit it you're submitting it as Ken antonucci who is a planning board member you're not submitting it as the planning board right no I'm talking more of a clearly people are going to know who you are and you should identify yourself if you're submitting something you should say I'm a planning board member no I'm just trying to clarify so if a planning board member had an issue that they wanted to bring up to the planning board for the planning board to present it that's different than what Pat's example is which is an individual right you would be discussing it and and talking about it and hopefully come to would have to vote on it yeah the board would have to agree to propose it if you're proposing something present that uh yes the board would present it or You' ask me to present it for you but yeah you then there there would not be a fee purely hypothetical question that's all just clarifying it thanks any other questions Pat I saw your name pop up but did your question get answered Eric Henry I think I'm following I just so I'm just do we say well next month we want to put on the agenda to uh um uh have a discussion to present to the to the zoning committee about changing square footage on a lot how

does how do what is the process of getting an individual planning board member getting that in front of the planning board and getting the planning board to take action on that no I'm going to let you um you would you would I would recommend you speak to the chair and say chair uh chair you could do it publicly you could call the chair email and say I would like to discuss a possible zoning Amendment about XYZ whatever it is that you want to talk about and then the chair will direct me to put it on the agenda he the chair sets the agenda and it will come in I would say under new business or you know I forget how to put it under is it new business or yeah or new business or public meetings you you should discuss it at a public meeting and then you can talk to your colleagues and you know I would recommend you you know you could just bring an idea or if you have more than an idea you could bring information or data or um and you discuss it if you agree and you want to propose the zoning Amendment as a whole then I can help you with the language you know the format and whatnot and I would say it would go down as a letter to the city council from the planning board chair or from me on behalf of the planning board uh with a proposed zoning Amendment um right but to clarify wa so I come up and I have an idea that I want it gets put on the agenda right we discuss it at a public hearing meeting right I imagine we take a vote as the board do support this proposal right right if you're going to send you're if it gets supported then you go into writing what you were yeah that was I didn't I skip that you have to agree to do it right right if it

doesn't get supported then it either comes back in another version some other way um but we we as a board would need to agree that that's what we want to pursue and send it down to the council that's correct yes need to take that consensus vote you'd have to agree if you don't agree I mean I would personally you know professionally I would recommend if you still want to pursue that idea contact your city counselor or contact the chair of ordinance or contact the ward counselor and say this is an idea I have and you know the planning W's not going to be it say what happened the planning Wood's not putting it forward but I'd like to put it Forward would you put it forward that's how everything you know we've seen that happen we happens with private developers it happens with citizens they approach the council with the idea so you don't know I mean it's going to get foued with the council either it's going to get referred to you for hearing or it's not that's the other thing it could stop anywhere along the process they'll receive it in they only have two weeks to send it out for hearing if they think oh we need to think about that more they may send it to committee and it could just essentially die in committee and get discussed in committee you may not come for hearing they only have you know once the clock starts ticking they have to follow the steps so that would be the other option again I'm not saying whether the board's going to support it or not but if you say no this is a really good idea and I think we need to be talking about it again I would talk to the council and the council can discuss anything it wants at ordinance committee so um you could do that um that you know this I don't want you to think just if there's no consensus that you can't do anything with it there's other Roots there's other options for you to get it still in on the radar screen and being discussed this is just one option I know what the chair referred to and I will mention that that

the counselor has said a certain counselor planning board planning board can propose planning Bo even with the master plan that had land use recommendations and Zoning recommendations the planning board didn't propose them the council took the land use recommendations and proposed them that's how some of those that's how the lot area got increased to 7500 that's how some of the other zoning that came out of that last master plan came to be the height limits and whatnot that came in went in through the council but it wasn't the board that proposed it not for any particular reason you just didn't propose it you know someone else was proposing it okay let me she yeah you all said her yeah I'm great thanks Pat you Eric Kenny Diane Ronnie any comments or questions okay Michelle thank you for taking us through that and giving us a refresher on hopefully it helped a little bit confused you more yes no because as you said we've got people out there telling us almost you you should be doing this and you can be doing doing it but it's there's a process associated with it yeah that needs to be followed right and and I will also say like for example I'm going to give you an example I've recently seen there was another city or town I was looking at their planning board proposed an Adu package of zoning amendments there's nothing wrong with that I imagine City staff help them work on it you know PL all planning boards are the same their citizens you know appointed in Malden a lot of times you this board's familiar with it you notice the mayor is not on this list the mayor doesn't propose zoning amendments the mayor can introduce a zoning Amendment to the council it's the council then takes it in we've seen that on the I the

inclusionary zoning we've seen it on the Adu um we've seen it on um I believe it even was in maybe not The Rao but on the roari um no maybe that was the council but anyway on some of the bigger more city-wide issues the mayor will convene it internal team as he calls it a working group to come up with a zoning Amendment package presents it to the council the council sponsors it and then it comes out to you so different cities and towns I would say do things differently I don't think there's any right or wrong way to do it I think you know myself I think you're very involved um in in the well you have to be involved in the process but like that other town I was talking about that's just how they did it you know I don't know I mean it was a town it wasn't a city so maybe because they have a town form a government it's different and it's not like one you know person doing it I think every city in town is different in terms of who is is in the politics obviously come into play you know who wants to lead it to get the get it through right uh get the Amendments through um okay so anyway that's it I just wanted to add that thank you thank you uh next item on the agenda is subdivision control approval not required at 594 Pleasant Street if you could uh that a proposal 594 Pleasant Street I is the site of the Immaculate Conception Church to Fels Way East is the former site of the convent which is the parking lot those lots were not merged previously there same ownership Arch um Arch dasis um they came in with anr plan to transfer approximately 514 Square fet from the

parking lot parcel to a dwelling on St Mary Street that they also own it was discovered that the larger Lots hadn't been merged so this plan is to merge the two lots the church lot and the parking lot it's common ownership and it's already being used as one parcel um one site so those Parcels will be merged and then a portion of the parking lot end will be transferred to this 3032 St Mary Street I guess they're using it as a driveway access for the home that's there so it'll increase the lot size of that all the lots have Frontage there's no um it's really reconfiguring lot lines in in TR merger and transfer so it is coming in as an approval not required subdivision plan I would recommend that you approve it in endorse it thank you very much Michelle do anyone any questions from Michelle we have a copy of it anybody wants no then is there a motion don't have copies Diane Chua I'll make a motion that we adopt it and some confirm it made the motion Ken tonucci I'll second all those in favor say I I I opposed no one is opposed uh motion carries so that was Diane Diane Kenny seconded it and 7 Z to approve that end yes okay this is the plan if anybody wants to see um Church lot parking lot this is this is the strip of land that they're at so these two are getting merged and this piece is coming

off I will sign that um and no yes I am there is the official pen here oh yes but use if you want me to use yours I will use yours I don't use whatever as as you sign okay is there a um is there a motion to adjourn Diane Chua is there a second can tonucci and that's 814 all those in favor say I opposed let the record reflect no one opposed uh motion carries Happy Valentine's Day everyone enjoy