Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text

CantonMPSC_Minutes Final_6-11-2019

Master Plan Implementation Committee · Source meeting date: 2019-06-11 · Record 64690

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Canton Master Plan Update 
Steering Committee Meeting 
June 11, 2019, 7-9 pm 
Canton Public Library, Aldrich Meeting Room 
786 Washington St 
MINUTES 
Present: Master Plan Steering Committee: David McCarthy, John McSweeney, Tom Theodore, Emilio Mauro, and Tonja 
Mettlach 
Staff: Laura Smead, Town Planner 
Not present: Gerald Carmichael, Michael McMahon, Sonja Grauds, and Meredith McLoughlin 
 
 Discussion/ Minutes 
1. Welcome/Late Arrivals 7:00-7:05 • Meeting minutes accepted out of order, at the end of 
the meeting, accepted vote of 5-0 2. Acceptance of Meeting Minutes 
Next meeting date 
7:05-7:10 
3. Guiding Principles 7:10-7:30 Review of principles developed at May meeting. 
‒ What was the approach? 
o Decided to try to come up with at least one 
guiding principal for each of the general sections 
of the Master Plan 
o Did not create a guiding principal for future land 
use, as the group felt this had been address 
through other guiding principles, especially in the 
focus areas 
o Group crafted guiding principles starting with 
examples from other towns provided by Horsley 
Witten Group, examples from the 2004 Canton 
Master Plan and other types of goals and guiding 
principles (e.g. STAR Communities goals) 
o Some members came ready with guiding 
principles for some topic areas (e.g. Rte 138, or 
Transportation) 
‒ Any refinements? 
o Laura Smead suggested rephrasing the guiding 
principle for Historic and Cultural Resources a bit 
to be clear that we want to encourage both 
preservation of historic structures and sites and 
also adaptive reuse. 
o Laura Smead suggests including renewable 
energy production as well as efficiency in the 
guiding principal for “Climate Change/ Energy 
Conservation” 
o Group discussed how these are all just drafts 
/placeholders and subject to change and 
reiterations 
4. Future Land Use Map 7:30-8:15 Group exercise 
‒ “A land use plan map illustrating the land use policies of 
the municipality…”with accompanying discussion 
o Laura Smead suggested adding icons for both 
Canton Center and Rte 128/University Station

commuter rail stations 
o Discussed having exact study area of Canton 
Junction TOD rather than lose ½ mile radius circle 
o Discussed boundaries of Rte 138 economic 
development study area 
o Discussed whether to collapse Business with Light 
Industrial zones for simplifying map (decided 
against that) 
o Discussed whether to have more lose boundaries 
around land use areas or more strict boundaries 
o Group definitely wanted to highlight the golf 
courses in some way 
o Group discussed whether to have just one “Mixed 
Use” and/or Downtown Canton boundary 
o Laura suggested adding in the Paul Revere 
Heritage Park clearly 
o Group was OK with lumping land zoned for 
Parkland and Open Space with other land that is 
private or public, but protected into perpetuity 
for open space/rec. 
5. Draft Chapter: Canton Junction 8:15-8:30 Flow, structure 
• Group liked the flow and structure and level of detail 
in general 
• Smead corrected the Paul Revere Heritage Site 
number of units to 272, and said that 60 were age-
restricted (not majority of units) 
• Group agreed that number of “affordable” units 
should be listed as well (80) 
• On the map illustration the group agreed that there 
should be two maps: existing and future 
• Existing map should highlight all existing multifamily 
development and senior housing in the area, separate 
Paul Revere Heritage Park from the housing portion 
of the development 
• Future map should highlight the Canton Junction 
transit-oriented development study area 
• Slight rephrasing of how the Canton Junction 
neighborhood is presented 
• Want to note the number of respondents to the 
commuter survey 
• Suggest adding in the MAPC illustration of amount of 
surface parking into the “Managing Parking” section 
of the chapter 
• Consider adding in the MAPC visual preference survey 
and online survey summary to the Appendix in 
addition to Horsley Witten visual preference survey 
and commuter survey results? 
• Discussed paring down the description of 40R districts 
and to present that as one of maybe three options 
• Discussed adding pros and cons of each option 
o E.g. 40R zone 
o Changing underlying zoning

o Form based code vs. traditional zoning 
o Inclusionary zoning 
o Design review/ requirements 
6. Review of Timeline 
 
8:30-8:45 Next Steps 
‒ Drafting Master Plan ‒ Vetting with town departments/staff 
‒ Checking in with Board of Selectmen and Planning Board 
o Group suggested inviting Zoning Board members 
to the Planning Board check-in 
o Group discussed process of adopting the plan 
(Planning Board hearing) 
o Group discussed pros and cons of presenting the 
final plan to Town Meeting for endorsement after 
plan is adopted by the Planning Board or to just 
do a presentation? 
‒ Unveiling of Master Plan (September) 
o Laura suggested picking a date sooner rather than 
later 
7. Public Outreach & Communication 8:45-9:00 ‒ Op eds done for now. Pick up again when we showcase 
the final plan. 
‒ Post draft material? 
o Group was comfortable with this approach