Office of Outdoor Advertising
Public Meeting
March 10, 2016
11:00 AM
Ten Park Plaza
Conference Rm 5 & 6
Boston, MA 02116
Present:
John Romano, Executive Director
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Office of Outdoor Advertising March 10, 2016
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P R O C E E D I N G S
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JOHN ROMANO:
Good morning everyone.
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Welcome to the March 10, Office of Outdoor Advertising
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Hearing.
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Outdoor Advertising for MassDOT.
My name is John Romano; I am the head of
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Welcome.
A couple of housekeeping things; if you
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didn’t get a chance to sign in, there is a sign in
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sheet over on the table to my left.
There are also
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copies of the agenda and copies of the meeting minutes
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from the last month’s meeting.
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This meeting is accessible to people
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with disabilities and individuals with limited English
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proficiency.
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assistant technology, sign language, alternate format
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documents, an interpreter, translated documents, or
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other such services to be available here today, please
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see Lydia.
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we received any requests a head of time.
If you filed a request with us for
Lydia, raise your hand.
I don’t believe
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LYDIA QUIRK:
No.
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JOHN ROMANO:
If you haven’t yet
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received the assistance you need.
We also have
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amplification devices available for anyone who needs
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them or if you need any other similar assistance to
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participate today, please let Lydia know and we will
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do our best to accommodate you.
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there any questions, comments, or concerns from last
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month’s meeting?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
Seeing none.
Are
Seeing none, I will mark
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those as approved.
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agenda today is an application for a new license.
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applicants name 240 Turnpike Inc. in Westborough,
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Mass.
We have first item up on the
The
Is anybody here representing them today?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay.
Seems we received
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all the appropriate paperwork and there appears to be
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no issues at this time.
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comments that they would like to make for or against
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this applicant?
Does anybody have any
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
Great, seeing none, we
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will take this under advisement.
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know in a week or two if they get approved.
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We will let them
Next is an application for a permit
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WrapCity, LLC.
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Ave. in Boston.
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a new structure.
20-44 Kneeland Street / 99 Harrison
Application number is 2016008.
It is
Notification was sent to the City of
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Boston Mayor’s Office and to the Clerk’s Office on
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February 1, 2016.
Is the applicant present today?
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RJ LYMAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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RJ LYMAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
The
Great, thank you.
Is
there anybody here representing the municipality where
the sign is proposed?
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RJ Lyman, L-Y-M-A-N.
Principle of WrapCity, LLC Greg John is here today.
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Please state your name
for the record.
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Yes, sir.
JAMES CHAN:
Yes, James Chan Chief of
Staff for City Counselor Bill Linehan.
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JOHN ROMANO:
James, I know that you
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wanted to give some testimony but would you mind
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holding off a couple minutes and let me get through
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this and then we will take your comments.
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okay.
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JAMES CHAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Sure.
(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Are there any abutters
present here today?
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If that’s
Is there anybody here
from the MassDOT District Office?
(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
This is a static sign, so
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Traffic Operations does not pertain to this.
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certified mail notice sent to the abutters at least
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30-days prior to submitting your applications to the
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OOA?
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RJ LYMAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Yes, it was.
I know I have a copy of
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that letter that you sent out.
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providing that.
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Was
Thank you for
Have you all received any written
comments in support and/or opposition?
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RJ LYMAN:
Yes, sir we have.
We
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received letters, written letters in support which I
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have copies here for the record.
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in Chinatown, Boston Asian Youth Essential Services,
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Chinatown/South Cove Neighborhood Council, Kwong Kow
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Chinese School, and the Asian American Civic
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Association.
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support but we can talk about that at an appropriate
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time.
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I know you didn’t ask about other
We have received some orally as well.
JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, great.
Tammy, we
will make sure we send you these for the record.
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TAMMY HILLERY:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Josiah Quincy School
appreciate that.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, I
Also, I do have, I believe, in my
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possession all of the Post Office receipts for all of
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the abutters you sent.
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appreciate that.
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permit or variance from the City of Boston, which I
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also have a copy of that.
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We
I believe you obtained a special
RJ LYMAN:
That is correct, Board of
Appeals.
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I have stacks of them.
JOHN ROMANO:
With that, I am going to
ask my inspector to give his report at this time,
Chris.
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CHRIS CHAVES:
This is a proposed wall-
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scape banner to be facing west facing Kneeland Street
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and Knapp Street.
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two businesses within 500-feet that fit the
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requirement.
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spacing issue from the proposed site to a Clear
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Channel permit number 13871.
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198-feet, so it does not fit the CMR requirement of
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500-feet.
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this site.
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It is a commercial area.
There are
There is one issue to note, there is a
It has a distance of
Other than that, there are no issues with
JOHN ROMANO:
Great thanks, Chris.
But
it meets the federal requirement of 100?
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CHRIS CHAVES:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Yes sir.
With that issue, you guys
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have requested a waiver of the 500-feet because you
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meet the 100-feet federal.
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morning I received an approval of that.
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of Transportation is okay with that.
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a permit with that exemption as long as everything
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else is in order.
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Deputy Director of Community Planning from the City of
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Boston that they are okay with the exemption should we
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grant the permit as well.
I can tell you that this
The Secretary
With me issuing
I also received from Lara Moretta,
So both of those you
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requested and both of those conditions have been met.
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With that anybody in the community that wants to make
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a comment, I will allow James to go first.
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comment.
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JAMES CHAN:
James, any
Thank you, John.
The
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applicant has done extensive community outreach with
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the Chinatown Neighborhood Council and has received an
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unanimous vote in support of the project.
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Office and Neighborhood Services held an onsite
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abutters meeting which about 15 abutters showed up and
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they all support this as well.
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record on behalf of City Councilor Bill Linehan in
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support of this project.
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We would like to go on
Thank you.
JOHN ROMANO:
much.
The Mayor’s
Great, thank you very
Are there any other community members or
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anybody else in the audience that would like to make
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any comments at this time?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Seeing none, anything you
would like to add, Mr. Lyman.
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RJ LYMAN:
I think the only thing I
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would like to add is that in addition to the Councilor
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Linehan’s support we really appreciate the
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Neighborhood services and the people of the community
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have been wonderfully welcoming.
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that perhaps the numbers at the Board of Appeals
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Hearing but we couldn’t be more grateful for that as
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well as the good working relationship we have enjoyed
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with DOT inspector as well as your own staff.
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JOHN ROMANO:
It is more evident
Thank you very much.
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Seeing no other comment on this we will take this
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under advisement and we will get back to you in the
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next week or so.
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RJ LYMAN:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Romano.
JOHN ROMANO:
Great.
Thank you.
If
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there are no other applications for permits or
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licenses, we did have a few licenses and permits over
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the last month that we approved.
You can see under,
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For the Record section those have been listed.
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there any questions, comments, or concerns on the For
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the Record portion of the agenda?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
We are adjourned.
you all very much.
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Any
other comments, questions?
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Great seeing none.
Are
Whereupon, the proceedings were
concluded on March 10, 2016 at 11:09 a.m.)
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Thank
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Office of Outdoor Advertising March 10, 2016
C E R T I F I C A T E
I, Tammy A. Hillery, do hereby certify that the
foregoing record is a true and accurate transcription of
the proceedings in the above-captioned matter to the best
of my skill and ability.
_________________________________________
Tammy A. Hillery
**All names not provided were spelled phonetically to
the best of my ability.
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