Planning board reviews project status sheet, commercial-district GIS delay and schedules AT&T meeting on wireless facilities

Planning agent Alec Moore reviewed the board's project-status sheet and explained the color key used to track work: green for completed projects, blue for projects underway, yellow for delayed items and white for projects not started. Moore said the original packet listed about 13 projects, of which 2 are complete and 4 are currently in progress.

Moore reported the commercial-district rewrite is delayed because MRPC (the regional planning commission) does not have sufficient time to finish the required GIS parcel analysis. "There's just not enough time to do the GIS analysis in a sufficient manner," Moore said, and he asked board members to help prioritize next steps. Francois asked whether the board could obtain a list of commercial properties from the assessor, noting some commercial entities sit outside the existing commercial district; the board agreed the list would be helpful for mapping and outreach.

Francois also said a meeting with AT&T is scheduled for Friday to discuss plans for wireless communications equipment on existing towers and potential new tower locations; he asked members to email any items they would like raised in that meeting. "If you have any questions or any directive you would like us to introduce as part of the conversation with the gentleman from AT&T, I would greatly appreciate that you shoot me an email," Francois said.

Alec said he would fold an initial LTA request vote into a recommendation for the select board to get a project started with MRPC. Chair and members noted that Bernie has taken over Karen's lead-planner duties and said staff should confirm titles before publishing materials.

No formal ordinance or zoning vote occurred at the meeting; the board scheduled follow-up work and expected staff to return with drafts and data.