At its Oct. 4 meeting, commissioners identified their four top priorities for ordinance revisions, which are: rooftop uses, Downtown parking requirements, Tree Ordinance, and Standards for architectural design. Pairs of commissioners were assigned to thoroughly review one of these topics and be prepared to present problem statements at the PC’s first meeting in November.
Commissioners Debono, Hay, Tinberg are working on rooftop uses; Commissioners Maise and Salliotte are assessing the downtown parking requirements; Commissioners Kirk, Vollick are reviewing the tree ordinance and Commissioners Gaines and Barry are evaluating architectural design standards.
Also at that meeting, commissioners discussed the internal reviews provided by the Building Official, DPW Director, Fire Chief, Police Chief, and DDA Director. They requested a more detailed checklist from these department directors to see what items they considered in reviewing the plans. Planning consultant Sally Elmiger will work with City Manager Pat Sullivan to address this request.
At the Oct. 18 meeting, the Planning Commission moved to hold a Public Hearing for the next available meeting for the change in land use being requested by Mischelle Lussier regarding changing the space from three small units to one larger one and adding a garage to the back of the building at 126 E. Main, which has the Table 5 restaurant on the first floor.
In a related review of 126 E. Main, the Historic District Commission on Oct. 19 moved to accept Lussier's application as complete and granted a Certificate of Appropriateness for the project.
Also on Oct. 18, the Planning Commission moved to postpone the Zoning Text Amendment requested by 456 E. Cady St. LLC (The Foundry mixed-use building). Based on the applicant’s request, the postponement is for at least 30 days or until the applicant chooses to return. This provides time for the developer to talk with project designers about construction alternatives related to the commercial section of the building, where a 42-foot total building height was sought – six feet higher than the zoning ordinance currently allows in the Cady St. Overlay District.
