Planning Board Minutes
Wellfleet Planning Board
Wellfleet Senior Center, 715 Old King’s Hwy
October 23, 2017, 7:00 PM
Members Present: Chair Gerald Parent; Vice Chair Andrew Freeman; R. Dennis O’Connell; Steve Cooney; Beth Singer; Alfred Pickard
Others Present: Assistant Town Administrator, Brian Carlson
Chair Parent called the meeting to order at 7:07 P.M.
Discussion-Site Plan Review
Chair Parent announced that this is a Public Meeting to discuss Site Plan Review, but that this is not a meeting open for public discussion. He proposed that the Board members accomplish some “bullets” for Town Counsel to use when constructing the bylaw to take to Town Meeting, and opened the topic up for a discussion amongst the Board Members.
Freeman suggested that they should focus on thresholds. O’Connell said looking at increases of intensity of use should be a factor. Cooney asked about the certificate of occupancy for commercial buildings, and agreed that the square footage might be a factor. The members discussed three thresholds they would like to present to Town Counsel: Square footage, parking spaces, and intensity of use.
Beth Singer joined the meeting at 7:12 P.M.
The Board agreed that 4,000 is too high a number for square footage. They discussed that it would be beneficial to find out the average square footage of commercial businesses in Wellfleet, and that the gross floor area is what should be defined. Chair Parent stated that residents would like to see formula businesses excluded from the town but that the Planning Board cannot govern based on ownership, rather the Planning Board can govern as far as size is concerned and that all businesses should be treated similarly. The Board agreed to explore the ranges of square footage of businesses according to the gross floor square footage, in order to tell Town Counsel what to base the criteria within the bylaw.
The Board discussed the allowance of ten parking spaces, and that anything above ten spaces should go before the deciding Board. The Board members are interested in possibly requiring a traffic study so that they can better understand the amount of trips per day as another criteria with which an applicant will be reviewed.
Chair Parent will review the Board’s thresholds with Town Counsel, Carolyn Murray, and schedule a time for her to attend an upcoming Planning Board Meeting. There is a tentative work session scheduled with Murray on November 16th.
The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 9:05 P.M.
Public Record: None to note