Office of Outdoor Advertising
Public Meeting
March 12, 2015
11:00 AM
Ten Park Plaza
Conference Rm 5 & 6
Boston, MA 02116
Present:
John Romano, Executive Director
Chris Quinn, Esq., Counsel
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Office of Outdoor Advertising March 12, 2014
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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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am going to call the meeting to order.
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that the meeting is being recorded.
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Romano; I am the Director of Outdoor Advertising for
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MassDOT.
Please know
My name is John
To my left is Chris Quinn our legal counsel.
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I
If you haven’t signed in already,
please make sure that you do at the table over there
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against the wall.
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and there are also abbreviated minutes from the
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February 12, hearing which, for the record, was my
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first one and it was a pretty swift one.
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good start.
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There are also copies of the agenda
So it was a
So officially review -- a quick review
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of the meeting minutes of February 12.
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comments, questions, or concerns about those?
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none, we will make those officially approved for the
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record.
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Are there any
Seeing
For today’s agenda items the first item
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on the agenda is a license request from Bill Board
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Trust.
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well paperwork has been reviewed and it looks like
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everything is in order for this application.
Is anybody here from Bill Board Trust?
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Okay,
We will
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Office of Outdoor Advertising March 12, 2014
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take this under advisement as we do with all of our
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items and we will let them know in the very near
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future our finally decision on it.
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paperwork looks like it’s in order for that.
As stated all the
Next item is agenda item B which is
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applications for electronic permits.
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the docket here is Cove Outdoor, LLC.
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number 2015D003.
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applicant?
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JOHN ROMANO:
Hey Ed, how are you
today?
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ED O’SULLIVAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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ED O’SULLIVAN:
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Yes, Ed O’Sullivan for
the applicant.
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Well sir, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Congratulations on your
appointment.
JOHN ROMANO:
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Thank you very much.
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appreciate that.
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today?
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representing the city, Everett?
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from the District Office?
No, okay.
I
Let’s see, any abutters present here
Anybody here from the city,
MARK KRATMAN:
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It is permit
Is anybody present for the
ED O’SULLIVAN:
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The first one on
No.
Okay, anyone
Mark Kratman from
District 4.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, Mark, any comments
or concerns?
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MARK KRATMAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
No concerns.
I know that Teddy is here
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from Traffic operations.
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your name for the stenographer, please.
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Teddy can you just state
TED MASSE:
Yes, Ted Masse from 10 Park
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Plaza in Traffic Operations.
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with it being at a signalized intersection but the
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main concern is that we found it to be a DCR road.
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we are going to set something up with John and some of
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my co-workers to try and figure out what this entails
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for a traffic study.
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that.
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There are a few concerns
So
So we will keep in touch about
CHRIS QUINN:
All right, do you have an
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equivalent over there at DCR, someone who attempts to
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do it as good as you do -- that is the guy we want to
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go to.
They must have a traffic safety engineer.
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TED MASSE:
I know -- I am fairly new
to this -­
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JOHN ROMANO: Ken Curwen.
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TED MASSE:
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Steve Timmins was telling
me about this.
CHRIS QUINN:
All right.
So you will
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look into that with DCR and see what they think about
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this location?
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TED MASSE:
Yes.
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CHRIS QUINN:
I think, probably we will
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defer to them.
It is their roadway.
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you can see this from Route 1.
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Route 1?
I don’t think
Can you see this from
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ED O’SULLIVAN:
No.
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CHRIS QUINN:
No, I didn’t think so.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, so we will connect
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back with our traffic people and if there is any
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concerns or if a traffic study is needed we will make
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sure we get all that information to you shortly within
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the next few days or the next week.
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know what needs to be done as far as moving forward on
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that end.
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Then you will
Okay, thank you.
Ok, let’s see, Ed, certified mail
notice sent out to all the abutters?
ED O’SULLIVAN:
The City of Everett did
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a certified mail notice.
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issues by the city, their abutters list, and the
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communication from the city indicating that they did
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send out timely.
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I have a copy of the letter
JOHN ROMANO:
Okay.
Do you have that
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with you?
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ED O’SULLIVAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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if we could have that.
Yes, I do.
Okay, that would be great
I appreciate that.
ED O’SULLIVAN:
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Mr. Chairman what I
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have here are the email communications from the city
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indicating how they did their abutters list and here
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is a copy of the abutters list.
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letter sent by the City of Everett to the abutters.
JOHN ROMANO:
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Here is a copy of the
Okay.
Keep that under advisement.
I will review
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that.
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did review and see that there was a special permit
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issued by the city for this.
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ED O’SULLIVAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Let’s see, and I
Yes.
And we I have the signed
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paperwork here.
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going to have -- one thing I did want to note where
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that was put in by the city on their permit is there ­
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- that we have all of our various requirements for
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electronic permits.
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special permit that it needs to be a fifteen second
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minimum versus our regular ten.
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that?
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That seems to be in order.
Now I am
The city did put note in there
ED O”SULLIVAN:
So you are aware of
We are aware of that,
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yes.
That was a condition.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Absolutely, great.
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you.
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inspector make his presentation, Chris.
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state your name for the stenographer.
Thank
So with that I am going to have my field
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CHRIS CHAVES:
Chris, just
Chris Chaves, Inspector,
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Outdoor Advertising.
This is, as you mentioned, a
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proposed new build located at 76-79 Vine Street in
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Everett facing the Revere Beach Parkway.
It is a one
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face facing north.
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fulfilled with Woody’s Tire and Whites Auto body.
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The two-business requirement is
At the time of the original inspection
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on January 15, there was a current permit located at
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this location.
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up inspection was done on March 9, at that time the
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current board has been removed as you can see in the
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picture.
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the conformity of this area was the current permit
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there.
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Clear Channel permit 80210.
A follow­
That was the only thing that was holding up
There is a school affiliated with the
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Everett public schools over 400-feet from this site on
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the corner of Chelsea and Vine.
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Clear Channel 14 x 48 static sign just to the east, if
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we are looking at this map here at the Stop n Shop
There is another
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parking lot there.
About a thousand feet down the
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roadway.
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about 11,000 feet away.
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issues with this site at this time.
I will point it out for you. So that is
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So there is no conformity
JOHN ROMANO:
So based on your
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inspection those criteria that you review, everything
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is good.
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CHRIS CHAVES:
According to 711CMR, yes
sir.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Great.
Thank you very
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much.
Ed, I’m sorry one thing I just forgot to ask,
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did you receive any written comments in support or
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opposed to the sign?
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ED O’SULLIVAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
No, no comments.
Okay.
Any comments or
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concerns from anybody in the audience on this?
Seeing
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none, we will take this under advisement.
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review all the information you just gave me and we
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will also get back to you after we sit down with our
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traffic people and get a little bit more information.
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Sometime next week we will get you any information for
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anything further if a study needs to be done as they
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suggest, I will recommend we will get that and what
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you need to do.
I will
I should have that to you by the end
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of next week, hopefully.
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ED O’SULLIVAN:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Thank you.
All right. Thank you very
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much.
Next up on the agenda is Orange Barrel Media
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this is item two under section B.
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application for number 2015D009, new structure 49 - 65
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Lansdowne Street in the City of Boston.
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to go back for a second.
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City of Everett on the previous board.
This is for an
I just want
We did provide notice to the
I forgot to
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mention that.
On this one, we also -- notice was
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provided to the City of Boston on March 2 of this
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hearing.
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of Boston.
So for the Orange Barrel Media in the City
Is the applicant present?
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PETE SCANLON:
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Orange Barrel Media and my colleague Chris Reiner.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, is there anybody
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here from the City of Boston?
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any abutters present today?
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form the district on this one?
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you’re up again.
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TED MASSE:
Pete Scanlon with
No, okay.
No, okay.
Are there
Anybody here
Ted from traffic,
There are no concerns and
no traffic study is required.
JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, so Pete, I did
receive from you the notice that you sent our to the
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abutters and all the certification that goes with it.
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Thank you very much.
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Have you guys received any written comments in support
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or opposed to the -­
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We do have that in the files.
PETE SCANLON:
Yes, we received eight
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letters in support of our proposal and no letters in
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opposition.
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would like to submit for your consideration today.
Actually we have an additional one we
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JOHN ROMANO:
10
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Okay.
PETE SCANLON:
This is from a
residential abutter adjacent to our proposal.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay.
Very good, thank
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you.
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to get a variance to the zoning on that and I do have
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that singed off by the City of Boston, Laura Morita
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from the BRE.
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want to point out that -- and Chris will cover this
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that there is a non-conformity on spacing and that
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there was a exemption issued by the Acting Secretary
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Depaola on this.
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bit more.
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will do his presentation on the inspection.
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CHRIS CHAVES:
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We will review that.
So we know that you needed
So we have that in our files.
I do
So we will talk about that a little
SO with that I am going to ask Chris if he
Yes sir.
This is again,
a proposed new build digital one sided board.
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It is
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proposed to be affixed to the façade of the Lansdowne
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garage to face Lansdowne Street.
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mentioned there was a spacing issue according to the
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CMR.
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110-feet from permit number 23290 and approximately
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156-feet form permit number 201109007.
As Mr. Director
The sign would be proposed to be approximately
As he mentioned there is an exemption
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letter from the former Acting Secretary of
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Transportation exempting this site from the 711CMR
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spacing which would be 500-feet.
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federal spacing does still apply at 100-feet.
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we can see by the numbers and the measurements here it
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exceeds the 100-foot requirement for federal statute.
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There is no other issues with this site regardless of
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the spacing.
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All though the
So as
With that it is a conforming site.
JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, great, thank you.
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So I just want to reiterate that all of the other
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requirements for electronic permits are in play here.
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The exemption is only on the spacing and for no other
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aspect of the electronic requirements in the CMR.
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animation and all that stuff still applies here.
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CHRIS QUINN:
So
So it is different from
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your existing board at the end of the street that has
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the full video of the animation and the flashing and
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everything else.
PETE SCANLON:
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Yes, our only request
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for exemption is spacing exemption, no request for
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animation exemption.
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CHRIS QUINN:
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CHRIS CHAVES:
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Okay, great.
I would just like to add
one thing.
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JOHN ROMANO:
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CHRIS CHAVES:
Yes sure.
It is my understanding
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as well that this sign won’t be viewed from the Mass
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Pike.
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won’t be viewed.
So I just want to have it on record that is
JOHN ROMANO:
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The other thing that I
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want to point out in the Secretary’s letter was as
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Chris said that this needs to be screened so that it
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can’t be seen from the Mass Pike and that also one of
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the benefits from the sign will be that you will be
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working with the MBTA to get real time train data up
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there for the commuter rail station and the transit
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station that is specifically stated in the Secretary’s
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letter.
PETE SCANLON:
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Yes sir we have a
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commitment to screen it so it will not be visible from
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the Pike.
It is substantially screened or will be
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already from the existing anti-gun board on the pike.
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We also have a commitment to work with the community
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on those local content issues like the real-time
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sharing and also community issues with the city.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Just to be clear the
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real-time stuff comes from the MBTA.
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specific requirement.
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the Secretary has issued his letter for the exemption
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we still do that in consultation with FHWA.
I know
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that Lindsey is here today, or she was here.
So we
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will continue to consult with them before we make a
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final decision on this.
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have any other questions or concerns or anything?
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sir.
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So that is a
Okay, please note that while
Does anybody else in the room
STEVEN ROSS:
Yes
Steven Ross, Clear
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Channel Outdoor.
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we actually have a board that is 110-feet away.
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question is, if we were to seek a digital permit for
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that location would we get the exemption as well and
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would you permit that?
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My question on exemption spacing is
CHRIS QUINN:
We don’t know.
My
You would
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have to ask.
It comes from the Secretary not from us.
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Certainly, I would -- obviously we can’t promise you
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it would happen but if you are in the same zoning
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overlay district, I think you are, I am not sure where
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it is delineated.
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I would think at least zoning wise you would be on the
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same footing as this applicant.
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through the same local process that this applicant
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went through as well.
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probably be in fairly good step but we couldn’t
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promise you would get it.
I think it is at Brookline Avenue.
You would have to go
All I can tell you is you will
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STEVEN ROSS:
Thank you.
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CHRIS QUINN:
Yup.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Note that there is a new
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secretary, so we can’t speak for the new secretary.
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You would have to go through the city first.
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other questions, concerns, comments?
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your end Pete?
PETE SCANLON:
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Any
Anything else on
No, thank you for your
consideration.
JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, we will take this
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under advisement and we will let you know in the near
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future how we rule on it.
Thank you very much.
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PETE SCANLON:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Thank you.
Next, item number 3 we
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have Carroll Advertising.
We actually have three
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digitals for them and then you will see on the next
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page two static ones.
So we are going to go through
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these in order.
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General Edwards Highway Route 1.
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2015D004 and D005.
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board.
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Notification was provided to the municipality, the
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Town Administrator or Clerk of Sharon on February 17.
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Is the applicant present here today?
So the first one is item A which is 4
They go together, two sides of the
One facing north, one facing south in Sharon.
JOHN CARROLL:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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It is application
Yes, John Carroll.
Okay.
Is anybody here
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from the municipality of Sharon?
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you.
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here from the district office on this one?
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up again, traffic.
Any abutters present here today?
TED MASSE:
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Seeing none, thank
Is anybody
Ted your
No concerns and no traffic
study will be required.
JOHN ROMANO:
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Thank you, Ted.
John,
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was certified mail notice sent to abutters at least 30
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days prior and I believe I have all the copies of
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those.
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received any written comments in support or in
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opposition of the application?
So we are good with that, thank you.
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JOHN CARROLL:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Have you
No sir.
Okay.
And I believe a
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special permit from the town and we have copies of all
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of that here signed off appropriately.
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order.
So that is in
Marc, are you going to be the one doing this?
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MARC PLANTE:
Yes.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, so Marc.
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MARC PLANTE:
Thank you Mr. Director.
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This is a digital application on Route 1 in Sharon.
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Two boards, electronic which will face north and
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south.
It is in a business nature having two
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businesses Stop n Shop gas station and Big Y
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supermarket.
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There is no spacing issues with other
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signs and there is no recreation, park, situation
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within 300-feet.
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3.00.
It is in compliance with 700CMR­
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JOHN ROMANO:
So no issues with it.
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MARC PLANTE:
No.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Great thank you.
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other comments or concerns from the audience?
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John, anything else on your end?
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JOHN CARROLL:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Any
Great.
No sir.
Okay.
We will take that
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under advisement and let you know shortly on that.
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Thank you.
We are not going too far here.
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You are up
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on all of these.
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digital and we are going to combine that with the
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first one on the next page.
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a static.
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both at 1200 General Edwards Highway Route 1 in
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Sharon.
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sent on February 17 for both of these.
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the applicant John Carroll is here and assuming nobody
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from Sharon walked in in the last minute.
The other side of this is
So it is application 2015002.
These are
So again, notice to the Town of Sharon was
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here from Sharon?
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one here?
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Office slide in.
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today.
No, okay.
Seeing none.
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The next one is 2015D006 which is a
We know that
Anybody
Any abutters for this
Anybody from the District
No, okay.
TED MASSE:
Ted you’re a popular guy
No concerns and no traffic
study is required.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay, John, same thing on
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this one.
I have all of the abutter information that
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you sent out and all the certified notices and
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everything.
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Did you receive any comments in favor or against on
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this one?
Thank you.
That is all in order here.
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JOHN CARROLL:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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No.
The special permit is
here and signed off as required from the town.
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So
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thank you.
Chris you are doing this one, right?
CHRIS CHAVES:
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Yes sir.
This is again,
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a proposed new build located at 1200 General Edwards
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Highway Route 1 in Sharon.
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electronic board facing north and a static board
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facing southbound.
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within the area.
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Brody Toyota and Field Martial Arts Academy.
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were some spacing measurements to do.
This is a proposed
There are multiple businesses
There are two that fit the criteria.
There
There is a current digital board owned
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by Carroll Advertising approximately 1,041-feet from
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this proposed location.
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location at 1050 General Edwards Highway.
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schools, conservation land within 300-feet or other
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signs within the 1,000 or 500-feet.
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proposed static board that is on this agenda that Marc
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will speak of next that is approximately 700-feet form
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this location.
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with the CMR.
There is another
Great.
No other issues
or concerns?
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CHRIS CHAVES:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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No parks,
So with that said this site conforms
JOHN ROMANO:
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I believe north of the
Chris.
No other issues.
Thank you very much,
Just a reminder, John, on all of these that
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you need to meet all of the requirements for the
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electronic permits as stated in the CMR for the
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digital stuff.
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JOHN CARROLL:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Yes, sir.
Any further comments or
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questions from anyone at the meeting tonight.
Okay,
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great we will take this one under advisement as well
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and get back to you along with the other.
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have one more for you.
I think we
This is also a static permit.
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One Merchant Street, Route 1 in Sharon.
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application 2015003.
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north.
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of the meeting was sent to the Town Clerk and the
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Administrator for Sharon.
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still here.
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Sharon stepped in, I just want to check.
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for this particular sign in the audience?
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none, okay.
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you’re up again.
It is a new structure facing
Same as the others on February 17 the notice
John, obviously you are
You haven’t left us.
Has anyone from
Any abutters
Seeing
No one form the District Office.
TED MASSE:
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Its
Ted,
We usually only do the
digital boards.
JOHN ROMANO:
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apologize.
Thank you.
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and say something.
You’re right. I
So used to having you get up
I didn’t want to leave you out.
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John, again with the abutter notices were all sent out
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and we do have copies of those here in the
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application, so thank you for having those in ahead of
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time.
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for or against.
On this one, any comments or concerns received
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JOHN CARROLL:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Nothing.
Okay.
Again, we reviewed
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the paperwork for the special permit and everything
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seems to be in order in that regards.
It is signed
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off here, so everything seems to be good on that end.
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I think Marc, are you doing this one as well.
MARC PLANTE:
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Yes, Mr. Director.
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Proposed monopole on Route 1 in Sharon.
It is a
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static application to face north on Route 1.
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business character with two businesses within 500­
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feet.
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Chaves indicated because of the static application.
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The next sign to the north is -­
It is of
There is no spacing issues but as the inspector
JOHN ROMANO:
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Marc, this is the one
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that Chris referred to in the previous one that he
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did, right?
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MARC PLANTE:
Yes.
And there is no
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conservation, park, recreation land, within 300-feet.
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So it satisfies the business spacing issue and no
ATM, INC. C ourt Reporting Services
33 9-674-9100
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Office of Outdoor Advertising March 12, 2014
1
recreation land.
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3.00.
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It is in compliance with 700CMR­
JOHN ROMANO:
Great, and no other
issues or concerns on your end?
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MARC PLANTE:
No.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Great.
Thank you, very
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much.
Any other concerns or questions from anybody in
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attendance today?
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we are okay with reviewing this one and we will put
Very good.
With that said I think
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this under advisement and we will get back to you
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along with all the others from today.
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much.
Thank you very
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Going onto item 4, For the record,
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there is one change on the last -- excuse me, the
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first one actually, Guerrilla Outdoor Media.
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wanted to -- we didn’t update the agenda this morning
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but we are changing that from under advisement to
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approved.
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morning on a vendor number.
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are going to approve -- we are going to mark that
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approved.
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I just
We got the paperwork that we needed this
That one is all set so we
Anybody have any questions on the for
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the record items?
Seeing none.
Chris, do you have
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anything to add before we adjourn?
ATM, INC. C ourt Reporting Services
33 9-674-9100
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Office of Outdoor Advertising March 12, 2014
CHRIS QUINN:
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No.
I think it was
another great meeting, John.
JOHN ROMANO:
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are adjourned.
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great weather we are having.
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swimming.
Without further ado, we
Thank you all very much.
Enjoy the
It’s almost time to go
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(Whereupon, the proceedings were
concluded on March 12, 2014 at 11:27 a.m.)
ATM, INC. C ourt Reporting Services
33 9-674-9100