The Planning Board is looking to streamline the town's requirements concerning business construction and parking.

In a presentation to the Select Board on May 16, members a brand new Site Plan Review bylaw, which will go before Town Meeting for a vote in June, would maximize business accessibility and property values.

A site plan review occurs whenever a business owner seeks to make changes to a property. Under the town's current bylaw, the Planning Board must review a site plan when a business adds new structures, changes a facility's use, makes any substantial alteration to a facility, pedestrian, or vehicular patterns, or enlarges a parking lot.

In addition to the previously mentioned instances, the updated bylaw would trigger a site plan review when there is a request to increase the seating capacity at an existing business, when a site “that had contained a use [is] discontinued for two or more years,” and/or if a site will contain at least 1,250 square feet of pavement in a commercial district or… 2,500 square feet of pavement in a residential district, said Town Planner John Hansen Jr.

“Many of the standards are just being revised or enhanced,” Hansen noted.

The updated bylaw also calls for a reduction in the number of required parking spaces for large retail stores to help minimize the creation of parking spaces that go unused for the majority of the year, Hansen said.

Additionally, by requesting a special permit through the Planning Board, business owners will be able to reduce the number of parking spaces required if they can prove that a parking lot can be built on-site, but that the required number of parking spaces will not be needed, or that fewer parking spaces will minimize storm water run off and increase green space.

Other details of the plan include creating mandatory sidewalks and crosswalks. Walk-through zones—areas connected to sidewalks where pedestrians can easily access the premises—and outdoor seating will only be required for larger businesses.

New landscaping standards will help prevent loss of vegetation and increase shade over parking spaces to lower temperatures around vehicles.

Several businesses in town have begun voluntarily implementing the new standards, Hansen said.

Hansen said preparations for the proposed bylaw revisions have been talked about since at least 2004. Since Hansen became Town Planner in January 2015, there have been more than 30 meetings regarding the project involving numerous architects and engineers, town officials, and members of the public.

Though the Select Board was enthusiastic about the new bylaw, board member Sean McDonald said the proposal would be reviewed by the Select Board in advance of Town Meeting, which is scheduled for June 7.