Application and purpose.
This article sets forth the process of submission and review of any site plan required to be approved by the
Planning Board or
Board of Appeals. The purpose of site plan review is to assure that development proposals are consistent with the environmental and siting objectives of the Town of Wrentham. The site plan provides the basic information necessary for reasoned review by citizens and agencies of the Town.
Site plan submission.
An applicant for site plan approval shall submit the following:
A. An original drawing of the site plan drawn in indelible ink and five full-sized (24 inches by 36 inches) contact prints and nine copies of the plan at a size of 11 inches by 17 inches.
B. Three copies of Application Form 1 or Form 2. The applicant shall state in his application the time within which the required work on the ground will be completed.
C. Five copies of the Stormwater and Drainage Report.
D. Five copies of the Traffic Study.
E. A list of all abutters, together with the address of each as determined from the most
recent local tax list certified by the Board of Assessors. An abutter is any property owner within 300 feet of the site.
F. A location plan of the site at a scale of one inch equals 200 feet, showing all proposed uses, ways, driveways, buildings, parking and loading areas and their relation to one or more existing streets.
G. A sketch plan, acceptable to the Board, showing a prospective layout for any adjacent land owned or controlled by the owner or applicant.
H. Ten copies of the community and environmental assessment report as required by
Article VIII: Community and Environmental Assessment.
I. The plan shall not be deemed to have been submitted until the application, plan, and fee herein required have been delivered to the Board at a regular or special meeting. Receipt will be acknowledged by signature of a majority of the Board on each copy of the application, two of which will be returned to the applicant.
J. Site plan applications for PI/OP development. The following shall supersede the requirements listed in the above subsections:
(1) Any applicant seeking site plan approval and a special permit for a PI/OP development shall submit a consolidated application therefor to the Planning Board in triplicate, together with on original and 12 copies of the site plan and all supporting documentation for the proposed development.
(2) Together with the application, the applicant seeking site plan approval and a special permit for a PI/OP development shall submit the following:
(a) A written undertaking to pay the reasonable fees specified by the Planning Board of such independent professional consultants as the Planning Board may select for assistance in reviewing the proposal, subject to the provisions of MGL c. 44, § 53G.
(b) A list of all abutters, abutters to abutters and owners within 1,000 feet of the site, and parties in interest entitled to notice under MGL c. 40A, § 9.
(c) Community and environmental assessment information as referred to in
Article VIII: Community and Environmental Assessment.
(d) A detailed study by a professional engineer of anticipated traffic generation and flow, and its impacts on adjacent roadways. The Planning Board may, by regulations promulgated hereunder, define the type, form, and level of detail of the information to be submitted pursuant hereto.
(e) The applicant shall provide the Board with a .pdf version of the plan and other application submittals and reports by email, compact disc or thumb drive.
Site plan form (Planning Board).
The site plan shall be prepared by an engineer and surveyor and shall be clearly and legibly drawn at a scale of one inch equals 40 feet on a material which is suitable for reproduction. If multiple sheets are used, an index sheet showing the entire site plan shall be provided.
Site plan contents.
A. The site plan shall contain the following information:
(1) Plan name, property boundaries, true North point, date, scale, and zoning district, along with any zoning district boundaries and overlay districts (i.e., Aquifer Protection, Watershed and Floodplain);
(2) Names and addresses of present record owner(s), the applicant, and the architects, engineers and/or surveyors who prepared the plan;
(3) Certificates and seals of the architects, engineers, and/or surveyors who prepared the plan, together with a certificate that all surveying conforms to the requirements of the Massachusetts Land Court;
(4) Suitable space to record the action of the Planning Board and the signatures of the members of the Board on each sheet of the site plan, and the date of such signature;
(5) Existing conditions:
(a) Existing contours at two-foot intervals;
(b) Significant soil types;
(c) Water systems (including standing surface water, brooks or streams, the direction of drainage, wetlands, and the one-hundred-year flood elevation);
(d) Trees exceeding five inches in diameter or the perimeter of heavily wooded area;
(e) Stone walls, fences, buildings;
(f) Rock ridges or outcroppings;
(6) A locus plan of all land within 1,500 feet of any part of the tract and showing:
(a) All dwellings and principal buildings;
(b) The land use of each lot;
(c) Lot and right-of-way;
(d) Zoning district boundaries;
(e) Recorded easements abutting the tract; and
(f) Public facilities, such as conservation or recreation land, footpaths, bicycle paths, or streets;
(7) A utilities analysis showing:
(a) The location and size of the Town's existing water mains, fire hydrants, sanitary sewers, and storm drains relevant to the project; and
(b) The proposed location and approximate size of utilities to be constructed on the site and their proposed connections to the Town's utilities, and any special features, such as culverts, or pumping stations, that might affect the ability of the Town to service the development;
(8) Plan prepared by a registered architect including building elevations and one or more perspective colored renderings indicating materials to be used;
(9) Proposed landscape plan prepared by a registered landscape architect; and
(10) A table showing:
(a) Total land area;
(b) Developable site area;
(c) Common or usable open space, if any;
(d) Site coverage of buildings;
(e) Area covered with impervious surface;
(f) Ratio of impervious surface to total land area; and
(g) The number of off-street parking spaces and, if applicable, loading bays.
B. The approving board may in any particular case, where such action is in the public interest and not inconsistent with the intent and purpose of this bylaw, waive strict compliance with the foregoing requirements. Any such waiver shall require a written request from the applicant and majority vote of the approving board.
Review by other agencies.
The Board shall transmit the site plan and environmental assessment to the Board of Health, Wrentham Department of Public Works, Wrentham Fire Department, and Conservation Commission for review and comment. These agencies may submit recommendations to the Board within 20 days from transmittal.
Public hearing; consolidated applications.
A. The Board shall hold a public hearing on the proposed site plan and environmental assessment within 65 days from the date of submission. Legal notice of the hearing shall be given by the Board to the applicant, abutters, and to the Planning Boards of the Towns of Norfolk, Plainville, Foxboro, Franklin, Bellingham, and Cumberland. Legal notice shall be posted in the Municipal Building. Legal notice shall be published once in each of two successive weeks in a local newspaper; the first notice is to be published not less than 14 days prior to the hearing.
B. In acting on a consolidated application for site plan approval and for a
special permit, the
Planning Board shall conform to the procedural, decision-making and filing requirements of MGL c. 40A relative to special permits.
Site plan decision and enforcement.
A. The Board may approve, modify, or reject the site plan within 140 days from the date of submission. The Board shall issue a written statement of reasons for its decision and shall endorse the plan. A decision to approve or modify the site plan shall require an affirmative vote of four members.
B. Criteria for site plan approval. The Board shall grant site plan approval for a lot or lots included therein if and when the Board finds that the applicant has submitted a complete site plan application for such lot or lots as provided in
§ 390-7.2: Site plan submission.. The Planning Board may impose reasonable conditions in any such site plan approval as it deems appropriate, including, but not limited to, conditions relative to:
(1) The provision of adequate stormwater retention on the site.
(2) The provision of adequate access on the site for public safety vehicles.
(3) Minimizing disturbance of existing natural features, including vegetation.
(4) Minimizing air and water pollution.
(5) Facilitating collection and disposal of solid wastes.
(6) Maximizing pedestrian and vehicular safety and convenience within the site, and between the site and adjoining ways.
(7) Minimizing the visibility of parking, storage or outdoor service areas from public view, and minimizing glare from headlights and facility lighting, through planting or other buffers.
(8) Minimizing intrusion of light from stationary fixtures on the site into adjoining properties.
(9) The character or architectural appearance and arrangement of buildings.
C. No
building permit shall be issued until the Planning Board has endorsed the applicant's site plan with such revisions as are necessary to conform to any conditions imposed by the Planning Board in its final decision.
D. The Planning Board shall not approve a site plan for any project that requires a
special permit unless it grants the special permit.
E. An approved site plan is valid for two years; development must start within that time unless an extension is granted and continued expeditiously to completion. Failure to comply with the Board's site plan decision will result in a penalty of $300, or the maximum allowed under the General Laws for each day of continued violation. Judicial enforcement may be sought pursuant to MGL c. 40A, § 7.
