Potentially hazardous driveway a reason to amend bylaw, say planners
A driveway planned near 81 Old Littleton Road was denounced as unsafe by abutter Sydney Cannon in a letter read by Whitney Road resident Sue Leeming. The drive would be at a blind spot on the road and present a profound hazard, said Cannon, who cited her own close calls with cars and bicyclists as they sped down the hill near her driveway. Ned Leeming told the board that the repaving and widening of Whitney and Old Littleton roads has compounded the hazard by enabling speed on the winding, steep road. Chairman Joe Sudol told the Leemings that because the current bylaw lacks specific distances for driveway sight lines, the board has limited means to deny this driveway, though he acknowledged that the board must consider safety in deciding whether to grant the permit.
“Here is a place where the Planning Board has an opportunity to exercise a judgment” in the interest of public safety, Ned Leeming told the Press on Tuesday.
Sudol said the board is likely to ask the Annual Town Meeting in May to approve a more detailed driveway bylaw that would include specific sightline distances.
The driveway in question has a sight line of about 125 feet, planners estimated. Traffic manuals, including the widely accepted Missouri Department of Transportation Engineering Policy Guide, 2009 edition, show a minimum stopping distance of 200 feet and a minimum entering distance of 310 feet, given a traffic speed of 30 miles per hour. The manual notes that curves and hills increase the distance required to safely stop or enter a road.
FIAT seeks support for warrant article
The planners enthusiastically received a presentation by the Financial Impact Analysis Team and offered preliminary support for a warrant article that would ask residents to approve an economic development task force. The task force would chart a course leading out of Harvard’s chronic budget deficit, FIAT says, and would specify the zoning, infrastructure, and policy changes needed to increase Harvard’s tax base.
Fruitlands Museum appears one step closer to site plan approval
Last November, Fruitlands Museum began the process of site plan approval for its museum buildings, tearoom, and tent, where weddings and other events are held. In light of a new bylaw that allows for museums in residential districts (enacted by Town Meeting in 2008) and the board’s desire to set a baseline for Fruitlands’ buildings, parking, and lighting, the planners want to write conditions to prevent Fruitlands from changing anything without the board’s approval. Planner Barbara Brady will draft conditions based on hearings to date. Brady says her goal is to complete the conditions by the next hearing, Feb. 23.
Plan advances for apartments and commercial space at Ayer Road site
Local developer Lou Russo of Wheeler Realty Trust continues to pursue a special permit to construct a 30,000-square-foot apartment house for the 55-plus set and a 20,000-square-foot commercial space that he said may include a pharmacy with drive-through window. The development is being planned for an Ayer Road site behind the building containing Dunkin’ Donuts.
Board members spoke approvingly of the 42 units of affordable rental units that the project would provide. If built, the project would allow Harvard to impose a two-year moratorium on brand-new Chapter 40B projects, they said. Planners said their initial concerns about traffic safety had been addressed by proposals for a flashing light or other caution marking, and an extra exit lane. They voted unanimously to close the evidentiary part of the hearing. Deliberation on the special permit, requested under Ayer Road Village zoning, will begin on Feb. 23. Russo’s project marks the first use of village zoning, which allows denser-than-usual development in the commercial district, which lies roughly between the Route 2 ramps and the Appleworks building.
