Town of Aquinnah

Aquinnah Planning Board Plan Review Committee Meeting September 5th, 2018
Members Present: Peter Temple, Chairman, Sarah Thulin, Jim Wallen, Berta Welch, Jo Ann Eccher, and Jim Mahoney
Not Present: Jim Newman and Isaac Taylor
Meeting opened at 6:43pm
Peter entertained a motion to approve the 8/9/18 minutes as presented and amended. Motion was moved by Jim M and seconded by Jim W. The PBPRC voted 5-0, the motion passed.
Jo Ann entered the meeting.
Peter entertained a motion to approve the 8/21 regular meeting minutes as presented and amended. Motion was moved by Jim W and seconded by Sarah. The PBPRC voted 6-0, the motion passed.
Peter entertained a motion to approve the 8/21 executive meeting minutes as presented and amended. Motion was moved by Jim W and seconded by Sarah. The PBPRC voted 6-0, the motion passed.
The Committee briefly discussed the minutes of the 7/30 Finance Committee meeting where three PBPRC members were present. The Committee reviewed the minutes as informational notes.
There was discussion regarding other town’s permitting process and the need for clarification on Aquinnah’s permitting process as well as informing the public about the DCPC. There was discussion on the contentious topic of “visibility” in regard to permitting. The Committee discussed the 1973 article “Performance Zoning” written by Lynch, which outlines and discusses how and why Aquinnah chose to take the performance zoning approach (judging each case on its own merit) rather than the traditional zoning-map approach. The Committee also discussed “Looking at the Vineyard” a visual study report of the Island that breaks down what the town zoning does and addresses what the public may think is objective within zoning.
The Committee reviewed their next steps in revising the bylaws. There was brief discussion regarding a town master plan, which Peter pointed out has several elements (housing plan, open space plan and population growth statistics have already been done). Peter suggested that the Town may want to look into doing an economic development plan because there are many issues circulating in Town concerning economic development. An economic development plan would specify ways in which the Town could improve its economics and would also help the Committee see what changes needed to be made in zoning to allow the plan to happen. The Committee also discussed sending out a survey to residents and land owners to get a better sense on how people feel about certain bylaw changes.
There was discussion on assembling a “view channel vista” committee that could focus on opening up over grown public vistas. The Committee discussed possible members for the committee including Steve Yaffee, Tome Murphey, Isaac Taylor, Carlos Montoya and Sarah Thulin.
The Committee rescheduled the October regular hearing meeting for Wednesday October 10th, 2018 at 6:30pm.
The Committee continued their review of the Zoning Bylaws starting with Article XIII Town of Aquinnah DCPC. The Committee discussed the following ideas as potential revisions to bring before the Town for further discussion:
- Clarifying the phrase “open / highly visible” and possibly removing “open”. The Committee discussed how to define “open/highly visible” including the use of photo examples.
- Clarifying the sentence “large expanses of manicured lawns are discouraged” in section 13.4-2.A. The use of fertilizer and potentially adding a bylaw to address it was discussed. Sarah will talk to BOH about the Lawn Fertilizer Initiative. Removing the word “manicured” from the sentence was suggested. Removing the sentence from this section and placing it in the tree cutting bylaw section was also suggested and discussed.
- Changing the maximum height permitted without a special permit from 24’ to 28’ or higher was discussed (section 13.4-3). Areas would need to be defined.
- Clarification of section 13.4-2.F regarding “consideration of public and private viewshed of neighbors and abutters” was discussed. Peter will consult Town Counsel on what this means and what is required of the Committee.
- The Committee will revisit the setbacks for Special and Historic Places Districts.
- Changing the 2,000sf footprint limitation was discussed (section 13.4-7). It was suggested that the 2,000sf footprint should perhaps exclude decks and hardscaping. The Committee asked Sophia to look at new construction permits within the last 5-10 years to see what footprint has been approved.
The Committee agreed to meet again on September 19th at 6:30pm to continue reviewing the bylaws.
With no other comments or discussion, the meeting adjourned at 9:14pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Sophia Welch
Board Administrative Assistant