Planning Board - Regular Meeting

edition of your planning board um as you may know  this meeting will be recorded maybe broadcasted   or rebroadcast it on westf cat uh let you know  we will take the administrative item first and   then move on to the public hearing which will  will open with open Forum Mr jitz you have   something for us this Saturday Westford Academy  at 9:00 am is annual town meeting um we can start   checking in at 8:00 a.m. encourage you to to do  so if you're planning to attend get there early   get your parking space um Westburg Academy 9:00  a.m. is annual town meeting great thank you go   to the board anything for open for NOP anybody  in the audience anything for open Forum okay   great so again we're going to pop right over to  our uh General business item PB 2506 10 Liberty   Way request for change views from business  to professional office to light business or   professional office to light industrial business  or professional office I'm going to recuse myself   as my wife's an employer at DCS thank you J sure  uh just briefly um the applicant is here to answer   any questions you all may have um speaking there  are no changes in terms of any additions to the   building the only change involves uh adding some  overhead uh garage doors through the exterior uh   otherwise um there no real changes here it's going  from business professional office to business   professional office with some light manufacturing  uh involved with the company so again abkin is   here I don't anything Jeff yeah and I think  there's they're also proposing uh a tight tank   or two to um address any concerns relative to  septic so that'll all be addressed as part of   uh the building permit process and be reviewed  by the various departments I don't know if the   applicant wants to chime in about anything  uh certainly I'm happy to U my name's John  

Cocker I'm with M Architects the architect for  the project um and as you guys have said DCF is   primarily an office user um the the red area  that's the first floor is the high Bay Area   um that is where the light manufacturing it's  really you know first um low Vine protyping   that they're doing in manufacturing so this is  not a production facility where there's trucks   coming in and out every day um what they do  is work in the military so there's military   vehicles that are coming into the building  um generally they stay inside which is why we   have large over doors occasionally they'll get  shipped back and forth to devons for different   uh maintenance things to be performed on them  um and there's things that range from uh the   chemical lab materials lab things like that  which is why we have the tight tanks so that   nothing's going to septic and other than that  it's it's a machine shop and it's really wiring   and things like that that we're producing it's  it's all electronics are going on great thank   you Jo any questions no no questions thank you  you no just curiosity the the tight tanks are   they going to be uh outside yeah in the parking  lot underground so that they can be pumped once   a mon under the interior of the building they'll  be yeah they'll be on the outside so there's one   there's one for the chem lab which is a a very  small use um it's for us it's it's a 1500 foot   room it's not it's not a very big lab the other is  because we're driving vehicles in we have to have oil so there's a small T great thanks all  right nothing else U Can I get a motion to   approve the request of T can I question  yes Emily teller Texas road if this is  

is granted um and they leave does the granting  stay light Industrial in this building uh or   does somebody have to come to you so anytime um  say they come in and they leave anyone coming   in after them that would get reviewed by The  Building Commissioner to determine if that   is a change in use or not if it is I would  find it unlikely that another tenant would   be doing almost the exact same thing but if  someone was doing the exact same thing thing   um and that would not require any further review  other than customary uh whatever they need to do   with building or fire what if somebody came  in with an assembly line or something like   that someone that would be a different that  would be a different use and that would get   looked at and they have to go through the proper  process thank you yeah okay motion to approve   the request of change of use from business  or professional office to light industrial   business or professional office for 10 Lim way PB  2506 second all those in favor say I I thank you [Music] yeah okay so moving on to  our public hearing for Pb   2505 under our mod for 37 Powers Road  can I have a motion to open a public

hearing first all right uh motion to wave the  public hearing notice second say I I motion will   open a public hearing so Mo say I uh before we get  begin Mr Moret yeah uh thank you Mr chair um just   for the benefit of the board and the applicant  as well as the folks uh watching here and at   home this is the first formal MBTA communities  application uh that we received under our new   bylaw so we're asking for a little patience as  we navigate this new process together uh tonight   the applicant will provide an in-depth overview  of the proposal and we're asking that the board   also authorize the planning staff to consider  establishing 53g accounts to conduct peer review   services on behalf of the Town specifically we  are looking for reviews relative to traffic civil   and storm water and then consistency with the new  bylaw particularly as it relates to design and or   architectual standards so after the applicant  concludes their presentation we hope that the   board will Prov their initial feedback before  you open this up to the public for comments and   as you may recall the board only has 60 days to  act on this application from the date that it is   submitted um therefore we are requesting that the  applicant Grant an extension of time for the board   to take action so that everyone may have benefit  of the results of that peer review process and to   keep this process as efficient as possible our  goal is to provide uh the board to provide the   applicant with clear and meaningful Direction  at the end of tonight hearing before continuing   it to a future date we're happy to answer any  questions throughout the process thank you Mr   chair thank you good evening Mr chair uh members  of the board my name is Melissa Robbins I'm from   FN Robbins I'm here tonight for ZD Acquisitions LL  LP um also with me tonight is Jim Dunlop and Chris  

Copeland over they are the applicants uh we also  have a team with us to give you a presentation   Brian G an engineer from Hancock Associates  uh Dan lasv traffic engineer from Vanessa   Associates Ian Ramy our landscape architect  from cople Wolf and Brian oconor our architect   from Cube 3 as Jeff has pointed out we're here  tonight for our initial meeting for the property   of 37 Powers Road in accordance with the town of  westford's MBTA communities multif family overlay   district for the rest of the presentation I'm  going to call that mcod not going to say that   again I just again want to say congratulations to  the town of Westford for being one of the first   communities one of the first in 33 communities  to be approved by eohc for MBTA communities and   also hot off the presses within the last 4 days  uh one of the first communities to receive MBTA   community community Catalyst funds to support  pedestrian amenities and other amenities uh to   support their MBTA communities it's just amazing  uh only other nine other communities got funds   out of that application uh the site at 37 Powers  Road is currently the location of Westford earth   materials I think everybody who lives in Westford  is very familiar with their ongoing uses out there   um Brian when I turn over to him we'll talk about  some of the existing uses on site today uh the   proposal is going to create 530 very necessary  units of rental housing in the town of Westford   uh the units will be a mix of Studios one bedroom  two bedroom and three bedroom units they'll be   divided into five separate structures these are  just the residential structures in addition to the   five residential structures there'll also be two  Community buildings or club houses whatever you   prefer to call them uh six garages and there'll  also be a structure over the wastewater treatment   facility each of the residential structures I know  this is going to be a question of the board will   all have its own integrated trash and recycling  system uh not do I also think that's important  

for the town of Westford but I think people will  recycle um if it's located within their building   and they don't have to go outside to a dumpster  or some other location uh for recycling uh we're   proposing 8812 total parking spaces uh some of  the visitor parking spaces towards the entrance   of Powers Road will also be public parking spaces  uh which is exciting to me because there's not   much Public Access or public parking spaces  to get to trails in the town of Westford and   there will be a new Trail on the site uh that  will run the entire perimeter of the site and   be almost a mile long uh so that will allow for  direct Public Access and public parking right on   the site um in addition we've worked cooperatively  with our butter B Westford who has also agreed to   give us pedestrian access through their property  which is amazing um in the scheme of things and   um my landscape architect and architect will'll  go through some of our open space amenities but   it really means that we can get access directly  through Bell up to the front of Littleton Road   and get on to the LRTA which will help hopefully  help us reduce our dependency on vehicles uh and   get people on those sidewalks along Littleton Road  into some of our Trail systems that go right off   of power's Road uh Central mail is proposed  at the front of the site and obviously that   will be confirmed by the postmaster who gets  to tell us exactly where our mail is delivered   but right now we are proposing one Central mail  location uh likewise we're going to propose one   bus pickup which will also be towards the front of  the site but again uh we propose these things but   ultimately debus will tell us if our plan is good  or bad uh 10% of the units that we're proposing   of the 530 will be affordable in full conform with  your regulations uh these units will be affordable   to those families earning 80% or less of the area  median income um these units as required will be  

dispersed throughout all of the buildings evenly  and through all of the number of bedrooms evenly   uh that makes them in full conformance with eohc  regulations which means you can count them all on   your subsidized housing inventory um also I I'm  sure the board knows this but I think it goes   uh I think it should be said that 70% of those  affordable units can have a local preference on   them which means that they can be rented directly  to town of Westford residents or employees of the   town of Westford uh we've got some preliminary  comments that the affordable housing trust and   the Council on Aging would like to talk to us  about um additional affordable units or some   questions about uh reducing affordability so  one of the things I will do after this meeting   this evening is schedule some time with them  to discuss some of their initiatives or plan   some for some additional affordability um as to  the open space this proposal is in Far excess of   what's required under the MBTA communities um  your own bylaw it'll create so much open space   and amenities both P private and public uh a  little later we'll go into more detail about   that um but I will say that one of the reasons  that we have this additional open space is because   of our single special permit request before this  board which is to increase the uh height of the   structure to be five uh five stories tall uh I  think that this actual increase will have little   to no impact to our abing neighbors given the  location and the existing uses on the site but   the impact of being able to go up to five stories  and actually giving give this open space to the   community and the amenities to the residents there  will be huge uh we've been actively working on the   site design for some time uh so I think it goes  without saying I think you saw maybe a single   page or two pages a couple months ago and now  our set is 66 or so pages long um we've had we  

had a preliminary conceptual meeting with this  board we've had an a Butters meeting uh we had   a technical review meeting with your department  heads we've met with the fire department we've had   a preliminary discussion with the water department  and have started our impact study uh with the   water department we've met with Bel Westford  um I know some of the the abuts that we talked   to at the abutters meeting some of their biggest  concerns are traffic and traffic impacts to this   area uh we have our traffic engineer here tonight  which will give an overview and I anticipate that   this part this board will also send that out for  thirdparty reviews so that all of those questions   can be well examined to make sure that we don't  have an impact on the area uh just uh permitting   path it's up there on the board but in addition  to this permit uh from the town of westf we   ire a order of resource area delineation saying  where the wetlands are that is coming um we're   just about to file our notice of intent uh we also  need permits for our wastewater treatment facility   from DP we need a connection from National Grid  and we also need an enf from meepa you're thinking   Melissa this sounds like an awful lot but I will  tell you we've already started all of this um so   our timeline on here permits in 2025 we really  mean it uh it's our anticipation that we will have   permits all of these permits this year and we will  start construction soon thereafter um before I   turn over to Brian I just want to hit on something  that Jeff just said I actually giggled a little   bit when I saw the timeline and the staff report I  know that that's not feasible uh so of course I I   anticipate this going out for a third party review  we'll give the board the necessary extensions of   time uh so that we can get third party out and  get third party back and make sure that we can   have productive meeting on third party review um  I think at that this point um what I would like to  

do is turn over to Brian G just to talk about some  of the existing conditions and our proposed site work nice uh good evening so for the record Brian gadr  with Hancock Associates where the civil engineers   land surveyor and Wetland scientists on this  project so the slide before you uh is just an   overview of of the project site 37 Powers Road to  give you some contacts of where we're located so   495 is at the page at the top of the page um 110  and 225 are the dash lines uh also at the top of   the page and that dark line is is Powers Road so  to the West we have uh our direct butter is Bell   Apartments um kimal is all the way uh page left uh  on 110 and then at the bottom of the page is Thea   much much further down Powers Road the large  uh kind of blank parcel located to the South   is ideal block um and then to the east of the um  project site we have residential PLS um directly   across the road and then in in surrounding um  neighborhoods next slide please so this is a   blow up of the existing site um so as Melissa said  this is Westford earth materials uh it's basically   it's a gravel pit uh so they handle all kinds of  of aggregate um ordinary borrow there is um bark   mulch um being made and stored on site I mean it's  20 acres of the 35 acre parcel that is heavily   heavily Disturbed so when we say it's a disturbed  site it's it's basically compacted gravel for 2/3   of of the property um if we shift to the next  slide please so the next slide is is pictures  

of the active operations so at the bottom left  you can see screening where they're just taking   out large Stones um and processing the material  the other three pictures are are really just   snapshots of everyday activities so we're talking  front end loaders um dump trucks uh 18 wheelers   heavy heavy equipment running in day in and day  out um next slide please and this this this slide   is views of the of the parcel from po road so as  you drive down Powers um there are existing tree   lines there's an existing burm and there's kind  of a snapshot of an entrance as well um so if   you look at our proposed plans and and landscape  and architecture we'll talk a little bit more in   depth about how we're trying to maintain um kind  of this view shed right right now they're trying   to screen heavy equipment in a gravel operation  and and kind of retain some of that vegetation   we're going to be looking to retain the vegetation  and kind of do the same thing to to hide some of   the massing of the development in the buildings  as well um next slide please so this is an overall   uh picture of the parcel that highlights our  resource areas so as Melissa uh indicated we   were before the Conservation Commission with  an ad anrad which is an abbreviated notice of   resource area delineation so essentially we went  out there we flagged all of the wetlands brought   it to the Conservation Commission uh we had some  discussions about what was jurisdictional and what   was not that process is closed and an oad has  been issued so the Wetland resource areas that   we're showing on the plan have been codified  by an oat uh next slide please and this is an   overall uh kind of color coded uh picture of  existing site development so when I talk about  

20 acres of active Gravel Pit active Material  Handling that's all of the yellow so that's the   central portion of the site if you could shift  to the next slide please this is that same slide   uh overlaid by uh different zoning setbacks so  our 20 acres goes down to about 18 buildable   uh and then when we get into the proposed uh  actually why don't we get into the proposed   thank you so this is our proposed development now  just at a high level uh oh I didn't tou anything J all right so back to our  proposed plan we have the scroll okay thinking

all right so back to our our civil site plan uh  I'm going to give you a very high level overview   of the technical aspects of the site itself but  uh we'll we'll be turning it over to architecture   and Landscape to kind of talk about that that  streets gave from Powers kind of the the the   reason and the idea behind the layout itself um  so what you see before you is uh the proposed   development it's across five buildings there's  going to be two clubhouses a small wastewater   treatment facility as well as a number of parking  um garages small uh single story parking garages   scattered throughout the site um the 20 acres  of disturbed area is going to be uh kind of   redeveloped into this scheme now with this scheme  13 acres remains impervious so we went from 20   AC ACR of essentially impervious gravel down  to 13 of pavement building and walkways that   introduces an additional or seven acres of open  skate of man manicured um landscaping and kind   of passive Recreation amenities uh walking  trails and and things like that uh at the   northeastern portion of the site uh there we are  proposing a Connect to Bell apartments and that's   a pedestrian connection so and and Landscape will  dive into this a little bit more but basically   we have a looping uh walking trail around the  entire perimeter on the Northern portion of it   it's multimodal so it's intended to be bicycle  as well as pedestrian and that continues from   Power Road through the site on the the northern  uh portion of the page uh to Bell uh Westward um  

the there was uh excuse me so for utilities um we  are proposing storm water management uh within the   existing condition there really isn't storm water  at all there's a a catch Basin located at the   front that collects a little bit of runoff from  the the paved area around the existing building   and that's it there there were a number of gravel  ponds which are essentially depression that that   um collected sheet flow uh from the existing site  um what we've done in in the proposed condition   is we're now instituting storm water management so  we have a number of underground systems scattered   throughout the site um that provides the TSS  removal the 90% TSS removal with the local   regulation as well as 60% phosphorus our points  of discharge are going to mirror kind of the exist   existing patterns so we have Wetlands to the north  and two Wetland complexes to the South uh we're   trying to mirror the existing condition with those  those discharges after we uh treat the storm water   um as Melissa indicated uh we had a meeting  with the fire department to kind of discuss   the layout um from a first responder perspective  so we took the ladder truck the largest uh piece   of apparatus that the fire department has did a  sweat path analysis went around the entirety of   the site uh to make sure that it could maneuver in  out uh and the fire chief was was satisfied with   our current configuration um we had mentioned  wastewater treatment facilities so there is a   small wastewater treatment building at the lower  right hand course portion of the page uh by our  

secondary curb cut access now that that building  itself um really just how how handles some of the   Mechanicals in there it's not allowed or um smelly  building if you will and with the AR the specific   architecture it it really is going to look like  um part of the development in itself now with   respect to the location um kind of being up near  pow Road uh it's not unique to the community uh   the town of West if you look at Granville Woods  up off North Main you drive into that development   wastewater treatment is the first building you  see on the left hand side and and you don't really   even know it's there it's kind of it's tucked  you can see the building but from a resident   standpoint from a putting standpoint it's really  um uh rather benign so the wastewater treatment   facility the the underground leech fields are  scattered um throughout the center portion of   the site so they're underneath the green space in  between buildings one and two they're underneath   the parking lot the Center Drive aisle down  that area um and then there's a a tank field   also underground located uh behind the burm um  at the front of the property um we met with the   water department and there is a 12in water line  within Powers Road there's also a 12in line on   vet on um B Westford so what we're proposing  as a part of this is to actually connect to   um two main lines two 12in lines one from powers  and one from bell bell right now is a dead end   line and we're going to connect it into the main  on PO Road um we' also met with national GD and   they had confirmed that there was adequate uh  Power infrastructure um for this project um so at  

a high level uh we're bringing the site into storm  water compliance we are reducing the amount of uh   impervious area the gravel out there by about  7 Acres and um we have sufficient uh utilities   for the area uh and with that I'm going to turn  it over to Daniel lva with VII to speak about traffic thank you Brian uh for the record my name  is Daniel lasa I'm a traffic engineer with finan   and Associates we the traffic consultants for the  project um we prepared a detailed Transportation   impact assessment or a fancy word for a traffic  study um in consultation with the town of Westford   as well as with Mass DOT um that includes an  assessment of vehicle pedestrian and bicycle   volumes along the Power Road Powers Road quarter  both with and without the project um to attempt   to assess the uh impact of the project provide  a series of recommendations as they relate to   traffic um and see what if any uh traffic  mitigation is necessary to accommodate the   project next slide please the study area that we  assessed as a part of our study um consisted of   four uh signalized intersections um two of them  along Littleton Road 110 up to the north uh those   being the intersections with conquered Road and P  Road uh then coming south along P Road the signal   intersection of uh powers in conquered and  then further south in Littleton the signalized   intersection of Great Road and Powers Road um as  well as looking at the um existing uh Westford   uh earth materials driveway as well as both of our  proposed access points can I just ask one question  

on this slide because I had it when I saw it what  time of day was this for so we looked at this just   notional or one more time this just a notional  diagram to explain how you did it or was there   a specific time of day nope so so this is just um  a a diagram to show what existing conditions are   out there now so the intersections we looked at  what the lane use how wide the lanes were where   um sidewalks and crosswalk so this isn't so these  aren't uh traffic volumes these units are in feet   and turning radius yes okay that wasn't clear yes  um we do have figures three and four show existing   traffic SL actually show the numbers yeah but this  was uh just to show what's out there geometrically   next slide please to assess the impact of the  project uh we used um statistics published by   The Institute of Transportation Engineers or the  it who are the um Nationwide uh uh use um when   it comes to trip Generation Um the table you see  here for the entire project uh both phases all 530   units um and there's a couple important things to  note about these numbers up here um one these are   vehicle trips so they're a one-way trip so when  we look at that daily number um a a vehicle that   leaves in the morning for work and arrives home  in the evening counts as two trips so 2400 vehicle   trips is around 1,200 vehicles uh same thing goes  for the peak hours as well um which which is the   peak hour in the morning and the uh evening your  uh commuting Peaks when both the project and the   roadway generate and carry the most amount of  traffic um some other things to note are uh we  

believe that this is a conservative estimate of  traffic that is going to be generated by the uh   project for a couple reasons um one to provide a  conservative uh analysis and make sure that the   um roadways and the uh intersections afford  sufficient capacity we did not reduce these   numbers to account for either people walking  or biking or uh people um using the LRTA um   with the connection to uh B Westford we do have um  continuous connection up into uh 110 as well as to   the uh LRTA uh stops up there furthermore uh these  trips do not account for any additional traffic   that's being generated by West earth materials  as it currently stands we do obviously expect   there to be an increase in general traffic uh post  construction of the project but um we do expect uh   that most if not all of the heavy vehicle traffic  your tractor trailers or your dump trucks um will   uh no longer be accessing the site going up  and down P Road once again post construction   of the project next slide please we then dis those  trips within our study area uh with the majority   approximately 45% we expect to go up to 110 um  to the east towards uh U Min not's corner and the   495 ramps up there um with about 20 to 22% either  getting on 110 and going west towards uh Littleton   or going down into Littleton uh South on r Road  and going towards Acton um acknowledging that uh   the trip generation that's included as a part of  the project we expect to be conservative in nature  

um once we assign these trips to the uh study area  um we still found that all of the movements at all   of these uh signalized intersections were found  to operate at a level of service of D or better   um and those are essentially like school grades  with a through f um level of service D is defined   as the um limit of acceptable traffic operations  within the area so uh with all movements operating   at D or better um with the addition of project  related traffic um we believe that there is   sufficient capacity along these roadways along  power's Road and at these uh intersections to   accommodate the project not to say we aren't  proposing any mitigation there however next   slide please um in addition addition to the kind  of summary that I just um ran through we also   looked at motor vehicle crash data within the  area um is maintained by mass doot and based on   that review we found that there were no uh safety  deficiencies noted at any of these intersections   they all had uh crash rates per number of vehicles  entering the uh intersection below uh the mass do   average crash rates for this District um  as well as lines of sight at the two uh   intersections where the project is uh proposed to  interface with Power Road we're kind to exceed the   recommended uh distances for safe operation next  slide um this I won't go through and bore everyone   with but these are a bunch of recommendations as  they relate to uh site access and circulation uh   the width of driveways the uh distance behind  parking things like that um which we provided   and were included on the uh site plan that has  been presented before you and then lastly uh  

the proposed offsite recommendations um so as I  had talked about uh briefly all of the uh study   area intersections were found to operate within  acceptable parameters however um acknowledging   that uh the project does have the potential to  change travel patterns in the area as well as   volumes um we are proposing to retime five signals  in total uh four of them along Littleton Road um   the two that we studied within our traffic study  as well as the two more to the West um which are   all coordinated together so if you touch one  you're in uh for um retiming and improving all   the others um as well as the uh Powers Road  conquered Road intersection and in addition   to the vehicular uh signal timing improvements  um as you've heard and will continue to here   tonight um uh we are proposing a significant  amount of uh pedestrian bicycle and possible   Transit um improvements in the area as well um  with the connection through Bell Westford um we   can connect right up to 110 um and the sidewalk  and uh pedestrian infrastructure that exists up   there um furthermore we will work with the town  um in an attempt to get additional grant money   um to through uh Housing Works um to to construct  uh further pedestrian and bicycle accommodations   along Power Road and within the vicinity of the  project site um and then our last recommendation   was just to consult with the uh LRTA um see if  they have any want to bring a uh a uh bus stop   to the route 15 bus right uh to the project site  um acknowledging that even if they don't want that   we do still have pedestrian accommodations that  can get you up to um and as Melissa mentioned we  

are expecting to uh receive peer review to make  sure that everything in the traffic study as well   as everything that I just uh told you is up to  scratch uh make sure everything is uh was done   consistent with industry standards and with that  I'm turning it over to I forget who but someone   else Ian yeah and just quickly while Ian comes up  I just want to point out the money that we would   this is all mitigation that we already agreeing  to do this will go out for your third party review   the money that we'd like to work cooperatively  with the town to go after is mass Works money   okay the letter of interest is due this week we've  already talked to staff about filing that letter   of interest to go after Mass Works money for more  infrastructure improvements on poers road Beyond   this um and just for those of you that don't know  those communities that are not in compliance with   MBTA communities can no longer go after this  Mass Works money but the 33 communities that   are in compliance and some of the communities  that are in semi compliance I will call them   right now until June can go after Mass Works money  uh so the town of Westford being in compliance and   being really one of the leading communities for  MBTA communities I think has a pretty good chance   of getting uh some of this Mass Works money for  some of these infrastructure improvements in poers   Road beyond what we're proposing uh so we will  be actively working with the town to go after   those funds now I'll turn thanks Melissa for the  record uh Ian Ry I'm a landscape architect with   copy wolf in Boston I'm going to walk through the  landscape design for the project uh so uh we have   a tremendous opportunity here as you heard Brian  mention this is a largely Disturbed and degraded   site um and the big idea with the landscape  really is to kind of heal the site and to   restore it so we have an opportunity here to bring  meaningful open space meaningful Green Space um   and to deliver a more vibrant kind of public  realm in terms of the residents uh access to   open space as well as offering public benefit and  connectivity from poers Road um through through  

the Bell West Westford site and up to the 110  225 Littleton Road Corridor uh this is a look   at our site plan so at a high level some of the  metrics um as you heard Melissa mentioned we're   uh providing more than two times the required open  space so 63% of the site area is open space that's   designed and managed uh we'll be uh planting more  than 380 uh native trees and along with that about   180,000 Square ft of proposed native and AD Ed  plants um and then what gets us excited about   is 112,000 Ft or about 2 and A2 Acres of um active  resident open space and uh organizationally you'll   hear a little more from Brian the uh ok Conor the  architect on how the buildings are masked but the   idea is that we really wanted to kind of push the  parking to the periphery of the site and use the   buildings to create a connected uh Central Green  Space that green space which we're going to look   at in Greater detail in the coming slides but that  has a lot of of programmed amenities uh that are   part of it and it's all interconnected with a  robust uh network of uh pedestrian paths all of   which would be accessible um I think if we go to  the next slide so this slide just talks about uh   the street Edge as you heard pow road which is  uh in the diagram is the dashed green uh dashed   yellow uh line type we have significant existing  Woodland mature trees that line uh the edge of P   Road and really provide filtered views and and  completely constructed views into the site uh   we do have a few locations where we are proposing  access into the site so that's indicated with the   long purplish arrows uh there's two points of  access and at those points of access there will   be sight lines um into the project um the blue  circles really are indicating kind of the key   facades that you will see on the main entry so the  first of which would be on the smaller building  

the clubhouse um and then behind it the two uh  res itial buildings as Brian will describe later   uh the facades and scale of that is really being  looked at carefully to make sure that the context   of Westford is being met with the design of those  buildings uh the green line you see there is an   existing firm that has existing vegetation on it  we're intending to preserve that uh so that the   views are going to be blocked from Po's Road next  slide this is a blowup of kind of what's happening   on the pow Road Frontage uh so the first thing  that uh we're doing is providing a new public   sidewalk along the edge of power's Road that'll  lie between the two entry points which you see   at the top and bottom of the plan uh there'll be  new Street trees it'll be an accessible concrete   sidewalk um the burm will be maintained the  vegetation on it will be maintained and then   in areas where we do have some openings uh we  will be planting approximately 50 new uh native   trees that kind of bolster the existing Edge  that's there um our plan for the landscape is   to use a native meal planting in areas where  we don't have Lawns so it's a little more uh   ecologically stable and sensitive um and better  for uh local um pollinators and so forth um and   then as you'll see in upcoming slides there is  uh a walking system a trail system that goes   throughout the site that blue p is indicating  about 10 uh public parking spaces that'll be   open to the public uh so that the public can  park and then they can uh partake in that   Perimeter Loop next slide so this is a diagram  that talks about uh The Pedestrian circulation   and connectivity um as you heard mentioned before  we have nearly a mile of a perimeter walking loop   it's 085 miles um that's the blue dash that goes  around the perimeter of the site uh part of that   is the public sidewalk along po Road um part of  it on the northern part from poers road to that  

connection to Bell Westford would be a multi-use  path so wide enough for bikes and pedestrians   potentially have a different uh surface that  makes that Mobility a little bit better and   then the balance of the loop that goes around the  site would be something like a stone dust or other   type of sort of uh low impact development surface  suitable for Walkers joggers strollers and the   like um as you heard mentioned we have a really uh  key connection to Bell Westford and uh North uh I   guess it's the North West corner so that's going  to allow uh connectivity from po Road through our   site to B Westford through that system of existing  walkways to get up to the corridor of and then   within the interior of our site the red uh dotted  lines talk about our sort of extensive system of   walking paths that again link to the perimeter  path but also linked to the active programming   that we're proposing next slide so uh the next  few slides just talk about Trail connections   and really just to highlight that through our site  from pow road we have access to the Bell Westford   development and the other developments with then  that sort of block that blue uh uh dash line will   get you up to Littleton Road which then in turn  gives you access all the way down to things like   the Liberty trail Liberty Way Trails uh so we  think it's a really good story this project   is delivering sort of a critical uh Missing  segment of overall greater connectivity uh so   I think we're sort of in the spirit of the mbta's  uh connectivity goals next slide can I just look   say thing about the slide before you move it just  being I I work right here I use this area all the   time I always run down PW road so this is not that  blue line is not just access that is paved access   most of that is plowed and maintained year round  their sidewalks run tight to their buildings this   is actual access when you get up to Littleton  Road we're not talking about running upon  

Littleton Road we're actually on a sidewalk here  that sidewalk on Littleton Road to a crosswalk   runs all the way up to Powers Road now and the the  sidewalk then turns and then you have an entrance   to that Sugar Maple Lane and the Sugar Maple Lane  has an entrance to the trail system that runs all   the way out to Liberty Way which means now people  that live in this development can get out of their   cars could get on a bike or could go on a trail  and walk all the way from the site to Whole Foods   uh without once having to be on a roadway that  doesn't have a sidewalk or going through a trail   uh so really it's quite an amazing uh loop if  you think about it how you can get through these   accesses and actually use these Trail systems  with just providing this level of access through   Bell Westford as a Cooperative measure I'm sorry  provide you access over to ngog yeah I mean it   really does connect the site a couple more pieces  here and I think we'll have some very you know   coming down Powers Road and some of these other  sites that may be looking for future development   we're going to have some real connectivity  throughout town for the entire Trail systems   I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt excited  about the trail system ins SC it's fantastic   okay next slot do you want to say anything about  this one as well no this is this actually just   I'll stand over for Ian here for a second but this  is what I was talking about I mean I think anybody   that uses the trail systems in Westford uh can  appreciate like I do that you actually have to   leave West to park your car to get on some of  these Trail systems uh so now you will actually   have a location to park your car and can actually  get on these trails and not Park illegally and   run throughout town if you actually want to  um and this actually shows the connectivity   shows some of the connectivity that Bob was just  talking about and I don't think we need to belor   it anymore but I did make them put both slides in  here because this is very exciting to me I think   this is very uh much in line with the intent  of uh MBTA communities which is not only to   get pedestrian amenities up to grade but also to  get people to the LRTA and if you really wanted  

to you could go on three stops on the LRTA two of  which here using the trail systems or going right   to a sidewalk without again getting onto a public  road that doesn't have sidewalk or accessibility okay so now we're going to dive in a little bit to  the amenity distribution and the open space design   so this is just a diagram that shows uh sort of a  hierarchy of Open Spaces you can see that we have   a centrally located sort of primary Green Space um  but then being sensitive to the size of the site   having smaller uh secondary and tertiary um green  spaces that are sort of distributed throughout the   entire site and the dash green um circulation just  shows how those are all connected the two yellow   circles talk about the club houses which you'll  hear more about architecturally but that's really   kind of the Hub of activity and it's sort of the  arrival center for the site it's the first thing   that you uh come up to when you enter the site um  those will be the areas where most of the public   kind of common uh resident uh activities will  happen so that'll be where the pool is where the   outdoor um cooking areas are where the lounges  are it's sort of the Hub of activity for the   residents next slide so now we we talk about the  central Green Space as I mentioned this is the   primary kind of heart of the development and so  it all kind of stems from the clubhouse that you   see on the right side you can get a sense of the  kind of Meandering path that connect all these   open spaces and what we're really looking to do  is provide a rich sort of variation of outdoor   activation for the residents so things like Bachi  courts um having amenity Terraces with fire pits   having a pool Terrace uh the idea uh potentially  by building three of having what we're calling a   Town Square so maybe having the ability to kind  of do specialty pavement there maybe there's uh   community events where that street could be  shut down for food trucks or community events   on special occasions uh really just to kind of  foster a stronger sense of community of course we  

have the Great Lawn uh where you have any number  of kind of activities that can happen there from   sort of more active Recreation to just passive  picnic on the park um and then trying to really   demarcate uh entry from the parking areas into  the Green Space by having richly landscaped sort   of portals that come into the site next slide  and then this is just a look and feel image of   what that Central green Courtyard would look like  so we're kind of right in the middle of that plan   looking back towards po Road you get a sense of  the scale of the architectural uh residential   multif family buildings on the side and then  you're looking at the Long View of the backs   side of uh clubhouse a uh you can see the sort of  richness of texture of the landscape that we're   trying to propose again uh very heavy with the  native plantings a lot of uh flowering material so   that we can support pollinators and then having an  open lawn that's really great for sort of flexible   use for the residents and I think with that  I'll hand it over to Brian Conor thank you thank you thanks Ian uh for the record Brian o'conor  partner at cube3 and uh what we're going to   do is just spend a few minutes um as I think  it's been mentioned a number of times the full   documentation set has been submitted we expect  a robust peer review uh we're looking forward   to that third party review but just at at a high  level um Ian did a great job of sort of outlining   what we were trying to do when we laid out the  site and really this notion of a central green   that all of the buildings tied to and connect to  uh was was really the organizational structure   we were thinking about and we were doing it with  respect to sort of the visibility into the site   and so from an organizational standpoint we sort  of took the edge of poers Road looked at the view  

Cards into the site and thought about what are  you going to see and how do we manage scale mass   and perception from the road and so Clubhouse a  and Clubhouse B are both single story structures   they're located towards the front of the site  to create sort of a tiered layering system to   the building forms that work with what you heard  Ian describe as a real tiered sort of layering   system to the landscape and the design of the  landscape we also took buildings one 2 and four   and really thought hard about the orientation  of those buildings not only with respect to   Sun Path and open space but really tried to turn  these buildings so that they were end on to this   Street and so you'll notice towards Powers Road in  general other than the edge of building 2 which is   behind a very very dense buffer we've really tried  to orient these buildings to present themselves in   in the best possible light go to the next slide  please so what I what we did is we just cut two   very quick sections to sort of illustrate that and  if you look at the key in the upper right section   A is sort of coming from Powers Road through the  first Clubhouse to the residential building and   what what we did is we just put a person out on  the edge of P Road and what we really wanted to   indicate is the depth of this development which  is really really substantial the clubhouse itself   at the closest point is 170 ft from the edge  of the road and the first residential building   the closest residential building we have uh is  almost 400 ft it's 370 ft to the front corner   from the edge of the road and that's that's the  closest building at building one and if you look   in the key you'll notice that all of the other  buildings are set back beyond that the second   section down below looks at building four which  is over 500 feet from the edge of the road back  

into the site and and down below you'll notice not  only is it 500 feet back but there's grade change   down into the site a substantial burm and as Ian  was talking about not only fairly substantial   existing tree cover along the edge of P road  but the anticipation that will be substantially   bolstered next slide please what we wanted to do  rather than spend a lot of time walking through   all of the buildings and knowing we're going to  have a peer review we wanted to pause for a minute   and sort of just articulate as clearly as we could  what the design strategy was for these buildings   and so we broke it down into sort of six fairly  simple bullets and what we wanted to do is create   buildings that had a a very clear Bay structure to  them that was related to the units internal to the   building so we're working hard to create sort of  an architectural language that is a kit of Parts   if you will and really designed to reflect what's  going on inside the buildings rather than some of   the other structures that you would normally see  with multif family including Bell Westford which   are just very long sort of uninterrupted facades  and so we have a bay structure that we're then   building on and what we're doing is we're taking  those bays and we're actually pushing and pulling   the building to create changes in plane which  gives you Shadow lines and it gives you the   ability to change material so we have a really  rich tapestry of materials which we'll talk   about on the next slide but those materials are  carefully coordinated with this base structure the   base structure also allows us to really create  Variety in the roof form and the parapet up at   the top of the building so we have this sort of  stepping that's happening also in conjunction with   the internal units and that serves visually to  really break these things up when you look at them   from a distance internally to the base structure  and following sort of the development standards we   thought a lot about how to create a vertical  Rhythm that makes sense so you'll notice the  

yellow lines are sort of framing these vertical  elements that happen in the building where we're   hanging uh Cal levered balconies with larger glass  areas that create this vertical texture or Rhythm   Within These Bay areas and then down at the ground  floor we have a sort of very well defined ground   level where the Landscaping intersects with the  building we have outdoor patio areas we have main   front doors and we often have a change of material  that occurs between the first floor and the upper   floors we jump to the next slide please what we  tried to do is really think about the material   pallet for these buildings and we try to approach  it in a way that would really reflect nature   around us by picking warm Grays and like different  tones of brown so what we have is we have a dark   darker wood tone panel that sits inset in some  of these larger Bays we have a lighter wood tone   panel that sort of frames the darker we have a  base to the building that we think in in large   parts will be a masonry and that'll be a light  warm tone masonry and then a lighter siding and   a darker siding and what we're trying to do here  is make sure that we have enough material choices   that are both different in texture and form but  also not so many that it starts to feel clustered   and they all need to really work together so you  know one of the things that we'll be doing um as   part of the building process and design process  is building mockups on site and they'll be like   really fine-tuned as we go but this is sort of the  broad material pallet that we're after here next   slide please uh this is just a typical plan again  these are all in the package we're not going to   spend uh waste a lot of your time going through  all the plans the ground floor plan as you can   see just shows primary entries stair course all  of these floors are very straightforward they're   very typical we have at least typical within this  project we have Studio one two and three bed units  

that are organized around a double loaded Corridor  we have paid very very careful attention to the   location and use of the patios and the balconies  and how those coordinate with the Landscaping   that Ian did such a great job of describing next  slide please and then I think we're just going   to end here here um and I'm sure Melissa has has  more to say but I I think the one thing we wanted   to really communicate with this slide is that  the Landscaping the orientation and placement   of the buildings the design of the buildings the  materials all of these things have been kind of   really working together and this image I think  starts to give you a sense of what we're trying   to accomplish from a field standpoint so and Mr  chair I promise I know we've almost spoken hour so   I won't be labor anything know that the board has  a list of waivers in their package I'd like to not   go through those this evening uh the reason for  that is after going through a third party review   maybe from board comments or butter comments  there could be changes so waivers could be   eliminated waivers could be added so I'd like to  wait on the waivers at least for another meeting   just to make sure that we have those nailed down I  think staff's already pointed out one I've missed   so I have to at least add that one um I will  just say generally speaking as to the parking   waiver I think that may many of you may have had  that commented up in the staff comments as well   but you can see that a lot went into the thought  and design as to the parking location um and why   they're put in particular locations and I'll be  interested to hear what your Architectural Review   consultant if the board goes out for Architectural  Review has to say about uh General compliance with   the bylaw itself um as for thirdparty review  I think I've mentioned that the applicant is   happy for this to go out to third party review  I understand your engineering staff is uh very   busy this spring so this will be going out for uh  third party civil review as well which is fine uh   so once we get those bids in we can get you the  checks for uh the 53g uh the only thing that  

I would like to ask is that uh you will see that  there is a list of 22 waivers to your subdivision   rules and reg regulations and it kind of hits you  over the head when you read it in the staff report   why so many I'll tell you why the bylaw reads  that we have to comply with subdivision rules   and regulations even if we're not building a road  even if we're not creating a subdivision even if   the roadways don't meet any Town standards we have  to ask for a waiver from every section and we are   doing just that we are not creating a subdivision  we are not creating town roads uh so basically   none of the sections are applicable to this  project whatsoever uh I would request that you   send those out to your T Town engineering staff uh  just for them to say that they're not applicable   um don't worry I've talked to town engineering  staff and they have the capacity just to do that   if there are any particular waivers that actually  do need engineering review or the town staff deals   that they are applicable and need to go out third  party review then those waivers of course could   go out to third party review uh so I would just  ask that we take that section out and allow your   uh town and staff to review those waivers just  to find that they're not applicable uh with that   I will stop talking I'm happy to hear the board uh  questions and comments and hear about our comments   as well and we're happy to answer any um initial  questions you might have great thank you very much   thank you everybody for the presentation what I  think I'll do is go to the board uh and then we'll   go to uh the audience and come back to the board  we'll talk about the accounts and the next steps   if that makes sense so I'll start with you Bob  okay first off uh for the residents and attendance   um The Briefing we just saw was made available  to the planning board today and I've asked Joe   and Jeff to get that up on the town website if  you're not aware there is a repository already set   up with all of the project documents out there as  well as you can see what is in the packet tonight  

on the planning board packet site so just want to  let you know about that so first off to the team   Melissa overall I really liked the facade design  I liked the look the visual impact um so I want   to as I start with my nitnoid comments I wanted to  say that first um with respect to the facade I do   want to jump down a little bit here then I want to  jump back into to the site plan um I do appreciate   the visibility that you're trying to protect  in the viewshed from Powers Road um I guess my   bigger concern though is it's probably more of  a impact to Bell of Westford in Tech Park West   and so there was a statement I think it was um on  page 23 of your narrative responses document that   you would um for rooftop equipment visible from  P Road you'd use screens I would just like to add   to that that you would use those screens as well  for visibility from the other abing properties   such as Bell of Westford Tech Park West or if it  could be seen from conquered Road uh through that   clearing because I I do think the Angles and  the bming are going to block much of it from   Powers but it's going to be very visible I think  much more so maybe towards uh Littleton Road um   overall site design uh first oh um you probably  are aware of it but in the packet those buildings   have been called the pool house and the clubhouse  and I think it was pool SL Clubhouse based upon   which subcontractor presented their package to us  um it was also not clear until I saw the briefing   tonight that you actually still appear to have two  pools is that correct one for each pool house um   from an overall site design I am going to ask  that we pay attention into sidewalks and paths  

within the site I appreciate the Meandering path  for um exercise around the site but within the   site one of the things that I noted was between  Clubhouse a and Clubhouse B I expect you could   have a large event where you're going to have  um um employees of the um um zom unit um or   event staff or even patrons from outside trying  to make the way between the two clubhouses and I   suggest that you have a direct path between them  with a um appropriate marked crosswalk it's the   crosswalk I'm most concerned about so that there  is a protection for those people trying to cross   that parking lot because it's not shown on this  plan but there's another print that shows it's a   significant diff PL uh distance right now to  get to a crosswalk Crossing to support that   kind of traffic and as we know people take the  most straight line especially if it's cold or   inclement weather so um I do ask for that um I'm  kind of on the fence on this next comment I'm   looking at the site I appreciate today seeing the  the the perspective of what the common green area   would look like between buildings one and two  and it left me thinking that the residents of   building one and two have it have it nice and and  will live large and the residents in building five   won't have such ready access to that nice space I  just didn't know if you had other Alternatives you   might have looked at for how the buildings were  laid out around that common space so that more   residents kind of took advantage of that Central  communal field um I did not appreciate until the   presentation tonight that you also have the town  square up at building three and I appreciate   that um so that's good and I appreciate when you  talked about the food trucks one suggestion there  

is I know that uh Bell of Westward does a lot of  activities for their residents it would be nice if   in the future U Bell of West and this development  got together and kind of made um joint notices   so that they could each of their residents um  populations could take advantage of those kind of   activities um it's kind of a you know six for one  kills kills a dozen because you're going to get   the benefits for both of those communities which  are pretty sub stantial I've been up to Bell of   Westward when they've done some of the food trucks  and I think that's a big plus if you could share   in those activities uh and make that available  to both um uh am going to ask this I see Tom in   the audience specialty electrical code where do  you f if if that were to be realized does this   development account for um complying with the new  specialty electrical code Cally energ CG energy code he says yes okay just wanted to wanted to  ask because people are probably going to ask us   at town meeting I just wanted to get your opinion  on that um the Waterman connection I appreciated   that discussion tonight uh one question it seems  to me it's a probe this might offer a bypass for   existing customers along power's Road having you  know water supply come from different directions   so um is is that in fact going to be realized  with the new water main connections that you're   putting in Mr chair if I may we are just right  now starting the water impact analysis study   with the Water Commission we actually just filed  the paperwork today um it's our understanding  

that Ty and bond will probably be hired by the  Water Commission to make sure that those types   of questions are answered so as soon as we have  them we'll make sure we report them to just that   that occurred to me tonight um looking at on  this plan here on the slide I believe that's   Quality Automotive that is is down there um  slight concern about safety of small kids   that might decide to to to take a running start  from this site go onto that site and just wanted   to ask about if there's going to be any kind  of fencing or impediments to people kind of   coming off of this site getting into that  industrial commercial area definitely yeah   ideal block is back there and they're further down  I thought that was ideal at first and I realized   it's Quality Automotive espe and just Mr chair if  I may just especially along those points when we   go to more detail on those Trails we're going  to have to think about um not just fencing but   signage and um limitations for entry into those  other properties so that people don't wer yes yeah   um you mentioned trash and recycling uh  on the buildings my one question was um   are you going to denote on here where the the  large receptacles would be placed for pickup   by the trucks so that we can look at the traffic  flow with respect to large trash removal trucks   yeah we can put generally where we're going to  put our larger receptacles because there will   be one basically behind each building because  each building will have unified trash and recy   and then a generalized area for it to be picked  up at each structure so we can generally identify   those on the plan yes um you did make a note in  the package that there's going to be a school   bus waiting area um but I could not find its  location you also indicated this kind of like  

a kiss and ride area for parent pickup I didn't  see that either right and um one request would be   that for the uh waiting area for the kids is that  there' be some kind of open shelter if possible   yeah we're happy to accommodate that on the plan  what we've been using largely is an open gazebo or   something of the like if children actually leave  the minivan or the van before the bus comes you   can see them generally out in that area we did put  one out at Sugar Maple and some of the children   actually use it there uh so uh we can identify an  area on the plan and again my caveat is subject   to if the bus is actually going to come in and be  subject to the approval of debus we assume they're   going to pick up along Powers Road but that will  be confirmed once we have or pull off into that   maybe you might be able to work pull off into that  Loop right the clubhouse hopefully we do have an   easy Loop Road for them to come in and out of I  mean the question will be will debus come in but   we would certainly accommodate it if they would  you mentioned um I had a question already written   down but you mentioned now that you're going to  have some kind of a common mail pickup area yes is   this going to be a separate building um I I don't  know it it it has a lot to do with the post post   Master what's accept acceptable if a common  location is acceptable it'll be an independent   building not in the clubhouse or something like  that but they might also require each building   just to have the boxes for those residents so  we'll just have to work out I guess looking at   the lessons from from Bell I think Bell was able  to put in a common uh parcel uh building and it's   not just mail it's you know nowadays it's Amazon  and all these uh delivery comp companies um and   how do you secure those packages mail is small  letters are easy you can put them in the the   lock boxes but for larger Parcels I would suggest  and that is going to drive traffic on the site  

of how these deliveries are going to come in we  we'll definitely organize that that's a that's a   common issue we uh we end up with large package  rooms and and the technology to it so that guy   can get in and out and Resident can get in and out  without having somebody else you and also have it   be secure yeah I I would suggest looking at Bell  because I know they did something like that with a   separate building and we can identify that on the  plan as well as the bus General bus pickup area   yeah and and you and and part of that it would  also require um setting aside some parking spaces   so that those delivery vehicles aren't blocking  um the path um bottom line is what I'm thinking   about is keeping everything safe and accessible  in the event there is incident on site with an   ambulance for example you don't want the delivery  van blocking it because they don't have a place to park did want to ask um are you off are pets  allowed or not yes yeah they will be allowed   definitely need to do that okay lots of people  have pets it's it's a big deal yeah just yeah   small pets I understand yeah the breeds and  the size and everything is controlled but   pets would be allowed um oh the largest comment I  have you mention it in the briefing the affordable   housing there is not one mention of affordable  housing in the application I want to I'd like to   know what the dis the distribution of unit sizes  is going to be distribution amongst buildings well   I don't think we would have put that in anyway  because it's just known that the 10% affordable is   distributed through the unit mix and through the  buildings and through the floors of the building   I'll I'll one step further than that it's in the  briefing yes it needs to be in the package sure  

let me just talk a little bit about how how it  all plays out at the end game um so we will we're   obviously going to comply with the affordable  housing requirement 10% of the units or 53 units   have to be affordable what happens is after you  approve uh Jeff and I will actually have to apply   to the state for our local action application um  and it's very similar to a 40b application almost   all of the information is the same as part of that  we actually have to then formulate a lottery plan   and within the lottery plan our Lottery agent will  also designate those unit locations throughout the   development for where the affordable units are  located that entire packet after the select board   approves it is then it's submitted to eohc they  bless our Lottery plan they'll bless our unit   locations to make sure that the concerns you're  raising right now are adequate then everything   will come back to the town and to the applicant  the regulatory agreement is then signed uh   sometime sometimes not the affordable units are  located on the regulatory agreement but they'll   be known at that point and then the town and the  applicant will know their location the regulatory   agreement is signed and put on record that happens  any has to happen before occupancy so um all that   being said yeah we'll put it on the drawing you  know for sure that it's it's like not in the   I I did a keyword search on affordable and I  was like where are they 100% compliant with your   regulations and we'll make sure that it's all done  and we have a already have great conditions that   we could uh use in this decision to make sure that  we're in compliance after fact and just to chime   in sometimes uh as part of this early part of the  process or even as you wind down like sometimes we   don't always want to call out and specifically  know which are the affordable units um but it   is a requirement in order for them to count on  the subsidized housing inventory so it does get   taken care of when I say distribution I don't  care where they are as much as what type what  

sizes well they they they do care at the state so  they make sure that it is spread out that if there   are say nuisances potential nuisances that they're  not disproportionately affected then you know the   market rate units they want to make sure that the  one-bedrooms and even the three you know it's all   proportional so that it's it's the same and it's  spread throughout the project so it it has to uh   meet your intent what you're looking for before  uh it can get approved by the state but we'll add   it we'll do a we'll just this just Aid comment  because I you you answered my question with the   briefing um I was asking the question about the  floor plans what about the other three floors in   each building but on the briefing you did label  that one is for floors two to five and one of   them is for the first floor that's not the way  that wasn't the way it was in the prints in the   package it it said floor one floor two and  I was like where are the other three floors yes this is probably as much to the um third party  review as well as the the applicant team do want   to understand forecast for infrastructure  requirements that includes water electricity   would like to understand what the estimate  is for school agent children coming from the development one other thing I noted um was  talking about on-site amenities um I don't   see any besides the outside exercise Trails or  the pool is there anything I'm missing about   other amenities being offered to the residents  at the site uh yeah there there'll be we're still  

working on you know Mak sense um and you're  talking about outdoor amenities well I saw   the outdoor amenities I mean but you know you're  not you're not have a cafe or The Clubhouse is   all amenities and you know that's where they off  typic yeah I mean it's the clubhouse A is probably   15,000 feet and it'll have a clubhouse and it'll  have indoor dining you know demonstration kitchen   and'll have uh good size Fitness possibly um a  theater maybe it depends and we're still working   on what amenities make sense for this demographic  but there's been some study and thought put into   it and we just need to design it so that the  in inside of the clubhouse and the outside   of the clubhouse you know outdoor pool Grill  outdoor dining you know all that matches up   with indoor amenities and they kind of coexist but  the clubhouse will also have management office and   Leasing and not a not not a maintenance shed but  a maintenance you know office you know for uh but   in terms of those communal meeting spaces they're  all in the clubhouse none of those they won't be   any of those in any of the residential buildings  we will probably do remote like building three   is a little far from the clubhouse we will  do some remote uh amenities maybe a smaller   fitness center there Fitness is Big with there  was fitness center in the club houses yes for   sure yeah and and we do these days we do a  lot of uh co-working um we we'll do offices   private offices to rent conference rooms you know  Services uh a lot a lot of times these days we'll   do a podcasting room um that's kind of soundproof  and has all all that goes with pod I don't have a   podcast myself but you know I hear they need to be  soundproof um but we do we commonly do a a podcast  

remember these days so with with the co-working  spes um my final comment has to do with the   experience of tech Park West 20 some years  ago they had a gravel wash basin up at the   corner of pow Road and conquered Road up at the  intersection and that impinged upon the design of   the site because it got classified as a potential  Turtle breeding habit that so I just caution you   I don't know what's going to happen with the  state review of the gravel Pond we're all we're   all over all that they already for many months  yeah I think I know the the Vernal pool you're   talking about could talk for hours on it yeah it  was it was it was a non-improved area it's become   more Vernal now but back then it was just gravel  washing and we've been talking about this gravel   Pond you see there and another gravel Pond and  all the weapons um they they've been fully vetted   this point lastly in terms of cleaning up the  existing site how long do you think that's   going to take and are there any contamination  issues you're going to have to address no no   contamination from the operation there there there  are two underground storage tanks petroleum that   we're going remove probably in the next few months  and that the the site is very good soil very good   uh as far as environmental issues go there's  no no contamination no issues it's it's really   quite a good so with that I'll turn it over to the  next course thank you um first of all I'd like to   say thank you for this briefing because this did  help and answer a lot of the concerns that I had   some of the questions I had I know that um Jeff  and Joe are kind enough to send you my comments  

ahead of time um last week and some of them I know  are very detailed as a you know a applies to the   plans because this is basically what we had to  review um again my first big concern like Bobs   was on the affordable units where were they um and  you know understand the whole the process etc etc   so you know I knew they would be there just trying  to understand where they were and hope that they   were in the package um question on senior units  are you proposing any senior units and are there   any 80 to 100% or 120 Ami units proposed these are  just there's just the affordable units and then   market rate units here so none between 80 and 100  um and as for senior unit senior units there'll be   no separate designated senior units but obviously  these are all single floor living with an elevator   uh so to the extent that that that allows for  accessibility in single floor living uh 55 and   over certainly uh those will all be available but  uh like I mentioned I know that there was some   other comments about additional affordable units  or partnering with the West for to do some other   ideas so I think I'm we'll definitely schedule  some time with the affordable housing trust to   discuss if there's some other options over and  above the 10% which is something the trust would   definitely like yes okay you know to at least  be able to talk about it so okay good um my big   concern honestly and I know it's the scale of  the project and I know it's a huge project but   I was very bothered I guess by there was like  no roadway and and I understand that you know   have these buildings you have parking but when  you first look at it it looks like an apartment   complex with parking so I don't know what the  thought process was to not have some type of   like Central roadway um you know with buildings  with parking behind which was kind of the whole  

intent of the mpta community and what we really  you know worked on and tried to convey in in the   bylaw so you know something you know maybe you  have thoughts on um you know I think it we could   we could probably have Ian and Brian talk about it  as well but the it's it comes down to the the site   plan and the experience of the resident and you  know where and where they live and how they Park   and how they get to the clubhouse and um if we if  we had a road there would be road traffic if we   had a road it didn't have parking and the parking  was all behind the distance from the parking space   to the to the resident home would be longer and  um this is this is not unusual for an apartment uh   site plan um to disperse the parking it's really  dispersing the parking so that people can get to   their apartment easier and faster and and Par  closer closer to the front door really what it   was can I just also add we did look at some other  site designs where we had dead ends and that was a   big problem especially uh for fire and site design  is that we have to try to get as to many sides of   the building as possible without creating a dead  end and I think even our our first plan we might   have shown to this board had a couple of dead ends  so to try to take out the dead ends and make sure   that there was really good circulation throughout  the site uh we went with a design and layout that   allowed for accessibility all around the site and  then you don't have massive parking lots which   actually from a livability standpoint if you  have all of the parking in one area behind the   buildings what you have is a green space in front  and then a massive parking lot in the rear and   that's just really not a design that allows for  a community layout so when we're trying to build   this community layout with an interior open space  that's why we backed away from that and I think  

if we go through the design build standards and  like the form based zoning that's in the actual uh   zoning bylaw when the Architectural Review comes  out I think that we will find that these buildings   are in compliance and some of the parking in front  of uh the buildings yes but I think it's necessary   um in order to make sure that this layout stays  in place and that people just don't have massive   parking lots just one big massive parking lot  behind their building it take did not to look   like a hotel or a commercial area yeah understood  but from the town's perspective right and and I I   I apologize I know it's going to sound bad but  this is exactly what we told the town we would   not do so that's the my concern is you know we  were looking for the the street with the you know   the buildings with you know hidden parking so  that is why I I am a little concerned about you   know the overall concept and how it how it  looks overall um if I can just say one more   thing about but that statement just I think this  is in conformance with your bylaw I think this is   exactly what you Town tell the town to do um  I think from an overall eagley standpoint it   is a lot to take in with the parking around the  buildings and I think perhaps um we have a couple   street renderings from a couple of the locations  maybe some more cut cut renderings from within   the development itself so you can see what these  parking spaces look like with the Landscaping you   could see the amount of landscaping that's coming  into the site it's tremendous 180,000 square feet   uh that's a huge amount of planting so these are  not going to be open parked uh paved areas you   can see that there's Landscaping even throughout  uh the the parking areas to try to break it up   but and then along the buildings themselves just  really Hardy landscaped areas along the buildings   to the entrances so I think maybe some I call them  streetscape for lack of a better term but internal  

uh viewsheds renderings could help follow that  concern so you're not just looking at the flat   site picture here with just pavement buildings  and Landscaping I I don't know all the sites in in   westwards NBTA plan but I think this is probably  unique it's like one of it's big it's big you   know it has the opportunity to provide the number  because of its size and and its location and you   know I guess I was not thinking about the view  from B um and I've met Bell out at Bell looking   back at the site and they they had a lot of nice  things to say um but from Powers Road and driving   up and down Powers Road as much as I've done now  um it it's not going to be visually impactful   it's the opportunity to provide housing in a big  chunk without the visual or otherwise and it will   probably be a visibly positive upgrade for Bell  since they're looking at the big mountains of dirt   right now that's right and trucks and dust and  yeah and and just to just to go just one more step   to the extent that we have to ask for a waiver  this board can still say no so if there is an area   we're not in compliance even with parking  that you're we're asking for a waiver and   it's something that this board thinks is a  design error they can say that they're not   going to allow the waiver and we would have to  redesign those components so once we get to that   point of review it is something we'll definitely  have to look at yeah okay and my another thought   was what are or what is your thought between or  to have two clubhouses oh yeah so um the plan is   a 530 unit project right but you have to have a  backup depending on the market the idea is U the  

clubhouse A is designed to be big enough for  530 units uh or uh retooled if buildings one   two if the market is such that bu buildings one  two and three 330 units might be a phase with a   clubhouse and then a second phase starting you  know thereafter of 200 units in with buildings   four and five in a small clubhouse as a as kind  of a backup so I feel pretty strongly that there   there's a need for housing there's a big need for  housing and the supply of new housing is is about   to take a take a dip in that 530 units will be  absorbed uh at that time we'll figure out do   we even need the second Clubhouse B and maybe we  don't build it or maybe we build it into something   else you know but you know Clubhouse a can  handle um all the amenities for 530 units   so it's it's kind of building in a a plan  B could have an adult pool on a kitty pool yeah makes sense okay another concern  was building five is relatively close   to Ideal block um which I know it's a  very noisy I'm more concerned about noise   it it is and it isn't building four is the one  to oh four to worry about or maybe that's what   you meant yeah yeah um yeah we need to buffer  that's why we put the garage buildings there   and we need to buffer landscape wise there's a  burm there now um you can see where it goes onto   ideal blocks right below the left garage  right that that's not on our property so   that's going to stay there there there's a  burm there um we just have to augment what's  

there and um yeah and and put a we'll have to  fence that's really the only area that I'm on   the property line um having having a fence and  making sure there's no cross traffic okay good um see sorry um again I know  you have my written comments   so I'm just trying to hit the big points here um the sewage this one does not show the sewage  treatment plant when you first enter on the   south entrance pump house that's the pump  house pump house and uh there's on on the   plan there shows there's tanks underground  that's all underground okay that's what I   that's what I was asking okay and now you  said there's no you expect no odor from The   Pump House correct but from experience what  I did pump if there was storage pumps there   is odor so I you you feel comfortable  you can do something to be sure there no don't either yeah no I I mean I know I mean  this is will be a state-ofthe-art facility and   all that will take to be taken to consideration  there'll be a management uh company that comes   in and just maintains this pump house and again I  know Brian said it but if you go into Grille Woods   the first building you run into on their main road  and the left- hand side it looks like a big barn   but that's actually their wastewater treatment  facility it's next to their community area it's   right next to housing um it's properly mitigated  it's a state-of-the-art system it's constantly   managed and this will be exactly the same way  and it'll be designed in in looking just like   our building so you won't even know that it's a  Wastewater Treatment Facility in that structure   okay okay um and um bicycle Lanes within the  development I wasn't quite sure cuz I know you  

have a you know a great sidewalk network but I  didn't really see anything that were like bike   Lanes is it just the outside you're expecting to  be bicycle lane or not you're talking internal   internal yeah like someone comes into someone  rides their bike from their apartment um how are   they going to get back to building one are they  riding on sidewalks are they just going to ride   there's there's sidewalks and there's internal  paths and um through throughout um between the   buildings in connection to the perimeter path um I  think there was um a slide that showed that showed   all that and you're expecting it to be wide enough  for a bikeing people walking okay um will it be   lit the property will be the the parking and paths  you know site will be lit yeah um couple questions   on I I saw when I was looking at the I ities um  outdoor amenities I saw there was one playground   but I didn't see any others was that just because  we're not at that stage yet we're not at that   stage you know we think you know it'll be needed  and wanted um but uh we need to test that a little   B more okay um again I was concerned about fire  trucks making some of those turns but if you do   the SWAT path that's fine snow storage I was kind  of concerned about snow storage and where you're   going to put Snow from from these parking areas  I think we show some limited locations within the   Civil site drawing and that will certainly be  reviewed by the third party consultant to make   sure there's more than adequate snow storage on  the site yeah just because again we didn't want   snow storage on side blocks right okay I did have  some nit comments on utilities but I'm not going   to bother anybody with that because you can  obviously read them um underground electric  

I didn't see anything in these drawings yet on  electric um I'm not sure I don't think weend to   have that on on civil drawings no the the actual  construction drawings the building permit the   actual construction drawing sorry those will have  yes no we're saying the same thing as okay yeah   um and and again thank you on the briefing for  showing I did see a lot of those nice landscape   um and outdoor features but was trying to find  on the drawing so these the braing has been very helpful great thanks um I'll start with uh the  same compliments that my peers gave I mean I   think it was very comprehensive packet uh love  the architecture by the way I think that looks   great I think the landscape design is quite  sound as well I don't have any problems with   the amenities the trails all that stuff looks  great um I have significant concerns with regard   to the traffic increase and the degradation of  the level of service to the um surrounding um   infrastructure you know the different uh traffic  lights and stuff that your traffic consultant   spoke to I'd like to hear more than just a a  promise to work with the town to Shore that   up so that we can not have three or four street  lights go to a level of service grade D um while   that you know some of us probably skated through  college with some D's that still is not exactly   an outstanding r or Mark so I'd like to see  an actual plan to make sure that we can bolst   the surrounding signal uh signals to deal with  some of the traffic it's not really a question   you need to answer but if you would like to say  sure um I I will just say what we're proposing to   work through with the town is for specific non  vehicle pedestrian bicycle uh infrastructure   what we're recommending being done as a part of  the project prior to a CFO is essentially what  

you're describing retiming of five signals within  the area four of them being um interconnected to   make sure that exactly what you're describing so I  I'll be looking to see in the peer review from the   traffic analysis perspective whether or not they  agree with that assessment that simply changing   the timing of the signals is going to bring the  quality of service up somewhere well north of D   or whether other recommendations such as adding an  additional Lane to facilitate like right-and turns   where that may not exist today or other things you  can do in a traffic intersection would be required   to bring that up and I would expect that you know  some of those costs to do that might be subsidized   by this project um I also kind of have a concern  with the two points of egis being so close on pow   Road um and that's because uh attorney Robbins I  actually agree with Joanie that I think you have   a site circulation traffic circulation issue with  the layout right now um if you look down so first   of all let me make an a statement I assume  you can't drive over the Town Square that's   not a driveable space right the Town Square as  envisioned in front of building three it to be   yeah no you can drive over it you can drive over  that it would just be treated differently so it   could be shut then perhaps that addresses some of  my concern I'm sorry I misunderstood what you were   looking at yeah yeah yeah the square area so you  can drive over that it's it's different pavement   okay circulation it's just a yeah different  pavement okay so that would be closed when   when they'd have like a street party or something  yes they have they would close it down but other   than that it would be open for traffic but if you  look at somebody who's parked like to the extreme   I guess West behind building 5 the sheer distance  that that person has to go behind building three   or I guess they could go over the the again  that sort of town square and then down the long   Pavement in between buildings one and four so what  if there's an accident 7 o'clock in the morning   actually coming out of one of these points of egis  and now you have to have all of the traffic exit  

from one point of the site so one thing I'd be  interested in seeing is how you envision traffic   moving through the site cuz I didn't see that in  the packet so so I'd love to see how you expect   traffic to circulate through this um CU I see a  few scenarios especially if you happen to have   one of those two points of egis like not available  on one morning for whatever reason you could have   Panic on the Titanic people are like all backed  up through the front of the site in that kind of   horseshoe thing trying to get one way I mean to me  like the smallest thing is off and all of a sudden   you have a a traffic circulation issue okay didn't  know that you could drive over the town common I   guess that helps a little bit but I do think  Joan's point about like maybe something more   like a clear like actual egis way that's meant  just for driving because even the amount of   driving in between other people's parking areas  on a morning even again if I take that example of   I'm way down in this southwest corner of the site  behind building 5 I'm driving past a lot of other   people's parked cars to make my way out of the  site and again busy morning parents are getting   kids into cars or whatever they're getting you  know you're GNA have a lot of pedestrian traffic   getting to vehicles and it's just a long way to  go I assume in a parking area this large you're   G to have some sort of speed mitigation in place  in the parking lot or is that not planned speed   mitigation like a mon or I mean that's generally  what I run over okay um and just to address some   of those concerns what we could do is we can  prepare and exhibit like a pedestrian and   traffic exhibit just showing the uh especially  interconnected like you pointed out where the   conflicts are so you can see them yeah that would  be great yes um I had snow storage on my list as   well so I guess you've heard that one already  and yeah those are those are my primary issues   I think Jo and Bob covered a lot of ground so I'm  good can I add one thing please please also are   you looking at all at the 2A and and I know it's  in Littleton but that 2A intersection because if   you have a large volume that intersection already  can be problematic uh yes that that was something  

that uh we looked at I'm acknowledging that it  is also in uh Litton and it was also found to um   operate operate within acceptable Norms we thought  that there was no um improvements necessary for   this project so one follow up on that and that  is in parallel with this is King Street crossing   King Street crossing is going to be a massive  development at that intersection and so the two   of these together could have some impact on that  King Street and the Littleton Road Corridor going   down past uh Bell of Westford so I don't want  I'm I'm going to have to task you know the T our   town to try to factor that in when we do the third  party peer review sorry that is the salapi project   at the corner on the IBM property the garage  uh structures so what is the garage philosophy   is that like uh certain units have a garage or  all residents can op to pay for service a couple   hundred doll or whatever to put your you know it's  it's like a typical residential garage how many   uh parking spaces do you envision in all of the  garages in total 70 or 72 yeah something like   that okay so fairly small so that's like about 10%  of the required parking for the whole Space do you   think is that about what you see in your other  projects or uh yeah well I mean we don't always   do garages like this that is what B Westford  has I just G to ask if how that compares to   Bell westford's it's almost exactly the same as it  turns out I mean I I continue to think I've been   a broken record on this a slightly larger and  even like a twostory or a three-story parking   garage could help you eliminate some of the some  of the asphalt and make it a little bit easier and   be an amenity that more residents would be able  to enjoy how you wanted to charge for that is   obviously up to you guys but um yeah okay thanks  before before just want to jump in on one thing  

Dylan said because it's the only concern I have  if you're looking you're pulling in on the North   side and say you want to go all the way around to  the end of building three or coming out that way   in the morning I it just me reminds me of you  know trying to get by a Viva with all the cars   coming in out and there you know what I mean it  just take so just that that's my only thought I'm   sorry yeah and and also the large pickup trucks  that extend out past the edge of the spaces what   are you saying about I'm saying that's that's  going we combine a spine road with with a um   parking lot that's the challenge and that also can  affect safety with fir truck and ambulance access   so that's the one drawback to this using the  parking lot as the roadway system yes s yeah   no good good points I was going to say the same  thing the traffic uh third party in addition to   the external really looking at the internal flow  I think um even if you could widen that Loop so   the sort of our you know kind of the loop it goes  around to make that wider to you know make that a   little easier for to get around as opposed to  having to wait for people backing in and out   you know I I have the same thing I I Envision  going through corstone and you know could take   20 minutes to get from here to there so um and  part of that is oneway versus two-way it wasn't   clear yet if it's going to be and I I think um the  third party also just you know compliance with the   mcod you know I think there was a comment about  parking and the layout and everything like that   I think that's all covered there that'll  be covered there too but I appreciate the   Landscaping looks great I think the storm water  attention is going to be you know Improvement   there um my only concern really is the look you  know the the huge amount of parking spaces and  

the kind of the flow but all right can I you  at any point look at parking on uh not really   now I mean like the whole parking structure  idea is as far as parking goes is a fine idea   but it it would kill the project it just you just  can't afford the structure um and that's this this   is what makes sense in this kind of a setting and  this kind of a location so that's that's what we   designed I would just add Mike too in the as we  look at that flow and everything I mean all five   buildings are proposed to be five stories so even  if maybe two of those were four stories would have   less parking space requirements so maybe could  use up that flow a little bit just something to   consider when we get the third party review I  guess all right great so we'll open it up for   comments and questions from the audience um we do  know that this will be continued public hearing so   you don't you have something that comes up in the  future you can always come back up to us but uh   please come up to the microphone state your name  and your address and direct your questions to the   Emily teller nine Texas Road um I'm surprised  that I like this as much as I do I think the   architecture really had a lot had a lot to do  with it um I've looked at buildings down by the   Route 128 train station and stuff and I thought  please don't bring those to Westford so I like   this um and I don't feel like the five stories is  intimidating um I am thrilled about the trees I am   a tree person in Westford and Westford knows that  and and I'm just worried about the viability of   the trees because lots of trees get planted and  then they get ignored and they don't Thrive and  

I'm concerned about that here and I also hope that  the trees will not be seedlings and tiny little   things I hope there's a mix so that when people  move into this they feel like they're moving into   a place that is already alive and I love the  native plants I think all that's great um I'm   concerned about lighting I'm also a big lighting  person when we moved here 42 years ago I could   see the Milky Way from our yard and we live in  Parker Village which this is part of so I'm really   pleading for full shielded cut off everywhere um  and low lighting maybe on the um paths that are   completely shielded also um so that's a concern on  the buildings you know no glare but also shielded   so that the skies remain as St as possible for  our Aven friends um I also am on the board of the   rail trail and I don't know if you all know  I happen to bring some audio visual aids for   you to take home about the rail trail this is the  largest in Eastern Massachusetts and um it will go   from L I think there's some it will go from L to  um rout N9 in Framingham and it will be connected   to the mass Central Trail so bicycling is becoming  a really big deal here and I think I heard you say   that stone dust is the material for the outer loop  that's not ADA Compliant in terms of wheelchairs   or bikes um so I just want to throw that out for  hopefully some improvement and I also noticed   if you come out from this view there are wooded  there's a big wooded Chunk on the top and a big   wooded Chunk on the bottom and I'm just wondering  about kids playing in the woods or walking in the   woods or I mean I assume there won't be fencing  around everything but I sort of think that's a   good thing to have access and I don't know that  it's all Wetlands but from the whole view of  

the parcel there were two big wooded sections  and I hope somehow they'll be available to the   residents somehow viewing wise or whatever um and  I think this time that's all I have in mind and   thank you all for all of your questions they're  fabulous and thank you Bob for running again for   another five years by the way there's a lighting  plan in the package tonight so you can evaluate   see what they Pro uh project for the dispersion of  light emission and maybe timing light too you know   turning lights down after midnight or something  like that you know that would be helpful we have   that in town for all of our street lights so and  not doing it not lighting it concentrically either   as um I think net Scout did theirs concentrically  so you should have been able to but they did   anyway you guys know about that thank you thank  you and on the lighting uh Westford is trying to   support dark sky with hyack Observer atory which  is in the north part of westro but there's 400   Acres of town land that is also not lit in Parker  Village so close to this and you know the EMT   land and all that we do have connected places  that it would be good to keep them as dark as possible okay any other questions comments Tom teller also nine Texas Road uh I had a  question I think it probably is in the package but   I haven't had the access the opportunity to review  the package uh is the project all electric that

planed okay and here the project being  planned passive house that's undecided thank you and noler 89 set Lane um I have a  couple comments or questions so you've   made a strong emphasis about the benefits  of the access to the LRTA on Route 110 and   the potential of the adjustment to  Route 15 going down to your facility   do you know is there a study of how  many people from B Westford use the L RTA do you know those numbers because I question  how many people are going to walk through the   woods up to the LRTA and I'd like to know how  many people from fell West use the LRTA yeah   we can find out okay I think we Mr chair if I  may I know that I should direct the questions   to you but this is the entire part of the  intent of the MBTA communities is to get   people out of their cars getting on the LRTA  or other forms of transportation getting to   the commuter rail and getting into the City  without having to create all of the housing   in the city so that is one of the reasons we're  trying to help fulfill the intent by making the   access way to Bell to get directly to LRTA and  we're actually lucky uh that there's actually a   stop right there today uh it would be lovely if  LRTA would come down pow Road and come into our   site from the frontage but we're not sure yet if  we'll have the right ability that they'll actually   create a new stop that's completely up to the LRTA  uh but we're very excited to be able to get to the   access so regardless of what bell has Bell is a  40b uh not created under MBTA communities it's   part of our intent to get there and hopefully our  residents will use it because we're going to make   it very accessible to them hopefully too if you  increase the number of users you can increase   the frequency of service yes I appreciate  question Westford is rather I can't hear I  

said I appreciate the effort to get people to use  public transit but Westford is a fairly was fair   Rural and a lot of people go to Boston and I  just I question if they would really use the   LRTA but I appreciate the efforts to get people  there my other question well I have two more well   traffic's a major concern for me which I guess  is not yet ready to be addressed but I have a   don't understand the water situation you're  going to bring a pipe down from 110 and then   connect it off so basically at the intersection  of 225 and Powers Road so I think all that has   to be determined by the Water Department they're  just making some suggestions so water department   would make the decision on the best it's  GNA be the same pipe going down P road to   service those 530 units that currently Services  everybody else they're not adding an additional   pipe so again that's all going to be all up to  the water department P service thank you you're welcome uh Jim Hunter 7 Nonet Lane I  assume this has an irrigation system   the grass and but that'll be used in town  water right uh probably we'll use well you're   oh so you're going to put in a separate well  for I didn't read that in any of the plants   I was just curious about that because we're  having water bands on a regular basis now so   to keep all that courtyard nice and green  and all the trees is going to take a good   amount of water um the pump house that  is basically a surge treatment facility right so that's going to have sludge in tanks the  sludge the solid waste is going to accumulate and   be put in tanks how often is that going  to have to be emptied like big trucks I'm  

worried about the neighbors across the street  smell big trucks is that going to be I mean I   see numbers of 50,000 gallons a day is going  to be processed up to 89,000 gallons a day so   that's 20 million gallons a year so I'm just  curious how often that's going to have to be   empty I answer for that I'll will tell you just  just personal experience that I never realized   where Prim roll places where the car wash is y  they have a facility there for all that whole   area right um and it was pretty amazing that you  don't smell anything over there I mean I I don't   know how often they have to pump it out it's  obvious not going to be this big but the the   question that people were asking when they saw  the sewage facility I think they're all over the   place you just don't know about same thing for  Bella Westford no I understand that but it's not   530 Bella Westford is larger huh Bell of West I  believe is larger correct Bell is 402 units yeah   the two Bell properties combined I believe are 420  units um and the one immediate to this is 240 unit   so I don't have an answer to your question how  often will be pumped just it's interesting that   you don't think about it until you think about it  so this is the largest apartment complex in the   area W not just west then we have Littleton maybe  another thousand units is being proposed down   road so traffic is going to be a major concern  and pedestrian traffic is going to be a major   concern people 530 Apartments where are they going  to go to a variety store pick up a gallon of milk it's the end of power's Road and how they  going to get there all right let's cck the   discussion to the board please okay so  there is no walkway from Power Road to  

that convenience that road is dangerous to  walk on period so if I if I may um that's   where the cut through to Bell of Westford  would be able to get you up to but you got   to walk through the the technology  that's like going a big round circle   people won't do it big r it's it's direct no it  isn't it goes around through Bell then you got   to go up all the way up the road L please don't  okay audience please don't talk if you're at the   microphone you can speak yeah so it's a long way  around you're talking about you're talking about   Apple Market yes that's the only Market in the  area and people are 530 units ran out of milk um an opinion 530 Apartments I don't know how  many children there's going to be well I   guess there's ways there numbers out there  somewhere that you can figure this out if   this was 530 homes being built in Westford in a  development it be a playground it' be a soccer   field it' be a baseball field somewhere for the  kids to kick a ball around or play catch or hit   I don't see that here it seems like we've  maximized the number of units over space   for play for kids and there's going to be  a lot of kids um traffic study I really   think you should include how many deliveries  they going to be a day in 530 units Amazon   deliveries UPS I'm guessing that's going to be  a good big number based on how many deliveries   just come into our vinebrook development every day  this is going to be huge that's all I got great  

you know we'll uh we'll suggest that that's part  of the peerreview in the traffic study it's a good point anybody else all right I have just one  comment to add sorry about that   to Trail sideway I have a question about the  amount of parking lots so 530 units it's about   1.7 average cars in Massachusetts per household  from R&B it's more in by the way in marak valy   so because it's higher population so this  has less parking lots than amount of units   multiplied by the average for Massachusetts um  and this excludes all the maintenance people all   the guests and deliveries and so on so I don't  know how it will contain all the parking so the   parking is based upon our our regulations that  require parking per unit um it just how much   that was it 1.5 1.5 with some allowance for  guest regulations aside reality is reality so   we need to look at that right and then if this is  completely detached from everything there's not   another way to park around so if you go above  your regulations inside the town you can park   on the side streets and so on here the only side  streets are the residential people side stre so   I would be careful about it I'll go above the  regulations even if it cuts into profits or   amount of units maybe reducing the amount of FL  to four is the solution here m right that's one   two it's more of a remark than a question is the  water quality most of the residential people here  

are on the water well well water so I I'm curious  what will happen to the quality of the water and   the creation of that especially with all that loan  and all the pesticides that going into the loan   care and I'm I'm sure the water will deteriorate  the question is how much great thank you very much delayed reaction sorry about Diane wood2  um prior to the actual design and plan was there   considering the fact that we're talking about the  location and and we know this is a little removed   from um for corers was there any discussion about  mixed use and having um uh some type of commercial   establishment on the first floor such as a place  where you can buy milk and Gad and and things like   that was that ever discussed or was that ever  put on the table so it's not like we would have   any any say in what they propose right that's  up to them to do that's their business project   you can questions to them considering where the  location is I in contrast to the Regency and and   development there we you're so close to um you  know the the shopping center there this this   location is removed and we're all discussing about  walking here and walking there and um cutting   through and going up the hill and to Grandma's  house robt so my input thank you yes Mr chair I   mean we not considering a mixed use development  out here it's residential the amenities will be   for just um the residents of the site and I  correct me if I'm wrong Jeff but I think if   we were going to propose a mixed use development  that's actually an additional special permanent   not allowed uh by um actually there I think  there are some uses that are allowed as right  

they're called out and some by special perment  but no Mr chair at this point this is purely   a residential development with the amenities to  accommodate uh the residential development anybody else okay so uh back to uh Mr Moret should we call  out what we want for the 53g accounts we would   appreciate it um we've had two uh proposals so far  uh relative civil include storm water would that   be civil and storm storm water would be paired up  together uh traffic I think primary importance and   also that I mean high level you have 530 units you  know stuff internal to the site may may change it   won't necessarily have a big effect on you know  um the overall analysis but obviously we've heard   the message loud and clear the the internal site  circulation is just as important to the board um   so we do have an estimate for um traffic peer  review we also have an estimate uh for someone   to do a review for compliance and consistency  with the bylaw reviewing the architectural   design standards we have heard a lot of perhaps  some subjectivity I think would be best to have   an unbiased opinion from the outside um and we  expect to have a third U proposal shortly relative   to the civil and storm water we do actually concur  with the applicant on this point I think the storm   water is the aspect of the project that's most  subject to change as you work through the site and   design issues so we would encourage uh peer review  of those other matters immediately uh because they   could further inform this board and the applicant  as far as potential changes but we would ask to   maybe delay the storm water because that is the  one most uh I'd say subject to change we want to   establish that now we would ask that you authorize  staff to establish uh these peer review accounts  

um staff can work uh with the professionals and  the applicant if the applicant is not satisfied   with any of these proposals they're free um to  ask for others and come back to the board if   they have an issue with that so they would have  that opportunity so do uh we vote on you want   us to vote on that now specifically for those  we would love that all right so a motion to   establish 53g for civil which is storm water um  and civil engineering uh 53g for traffic uh 53g   for compliance and architecture yes sir make  that motion second all those in favor say I I   all right with that what would be appropriate to  continue this public hearing to U Mr chair I would   I would suggest not going to the next meeting  uh just because we don't even have third party   reviewers so the chance of getting third party  review and a good response back for the seven   is probably not likely uh the 22nd might just even  still be pushing it but perhaps we go to the 22nd   uh for now and then if we don't get things timely  back from the consultant then we can push to the   first meeting but I would suggest was going to  suggest maybe even we go on the 22nd if we haven't   have the peer review we wouldn't have to bring  your full team but if you wanted to come just   answer some questions you know you have to pay all  the experts to be here but if the uh yes yeah why   don't we do that then so the 22nd would be great  so we've request special Tuesday edition yes   ail 2 April 22nd all right so uh can I get  a motion to continue the public hearing to   Tuesday April 22nd 7 o'clock in this room so  move second all those in favor say I I just uh   to note uh we will be putting some additional  materials on the town's website so you can go   there uh we will put the presentation that  was here tonight up there and As We Gather   additional information we'll we'll provide it  there as well thank you very much thank you wa a minute to

[Music] clear St Patrick's Day okay oh yeah thanks that's okay don't worry that's okay don't worry I could ask folks to move  out we going to continue this meeting I just wanted to introduce myself Tom got one I graduated law school like I'm okay continuing on we have the meeting  need minutes to review from February 18th I   can get a motion to approve the minutes  uh any discussion no good all those in   favor say I I and I don't believe we had any  correspondents see unless anybody has anything   else Mr Moret Mr jtz Sir motion to adjourn  so moved second all those in favor say I I