USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1922 > Part 6
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Mr. Charles B. Devereaux, Chairman of the Joint Board, then explained the action of the Board and illustrated by means of slides the area described in the article and the efforts of the Board in arriving at a solution that would be acceptable to the Company and the least disadvantageous to the Town.
Mr. Alexander H. Rice, Chairman of the School Com- mittee, opposed the substitute motion, giving as the reason of his Committee the depriving of the Town of the land in question for future playground purposes. The matter was discussed by Messrs. Straight, Schwamb, Drouet and others, and on the question being called for the substitute motion was declared lost, 74 voting "Yes" and 131 voting "No."
The motion as offered by the Finance Committee was then taken up and it was
Voted, That the Town do not authorize the sale, convey- ance, or other disposition of all or any portion of the land situated in said Arlington bounded and described in Article 9 of the warrant.
Article 10 taken up. (Proposed Widening of Mill Street.)
The Finance Committee recommended that it is unde- sirable at the present time to widen all or any portion of Mill Street.
Mr. Muller offered the following substitute motion:
That the Town deems it desirable to widen all of Mill Street eventually, in order that large tracts of land in the northeasterly section of the Town may be opened for develop- ment with a direct communication to Arlington Center, Jason Street, the Locke property and ultimately to Pleasant Street; but that for the present it is desirable to widen Mill Street from Massachusetts Avenue for a distance of approximately five hundred and thirty feet only, provided the cost of widening such part of Mill Street does not exceed $50,000 in addition to
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any amount received as the purchase price in the sale of a por- tion of the land described in Article 9 of the warrant.
In view of the action taken under Article 9 and the ques- tion on the substitute motion being called for the substitute motion was declared by the Moderator as not being carried. The question then came on the recommendation of the Finance Committee, and it was
Voted, That the Town deemed it undesirable at the present time to widen all or any portion of Mill Street.
Article 3 taken up. (Change of name of Albemarle Street.)
Voted (on recommendation of the Finance Committee), That the Town do not change the name of Albemarle Street to Gloucester Street.
Article 7 taken up. (School Accommodations.)
Voted, That a special Committee of five citizens be appointed by the Moderator for investigation of the matter of additional school accommodations, such committee to report not later than the next annual Town Meeting, and that the sum of $1,000 be appropriated for the use of said Committee.
Voted, That when this meeting adjourns it adjourn to meet on Wednesday evening, November 8, 1922, at eight o'clock.
Two hundred and five Town Meeting members attended the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 11.30.
A true record, attest :
THOMAS J. ROBINSON, Town Clerk.
ADJOURNED TOWN MEETING, NOVEMBER 8, 1922
Pursuant to adjournment from October 26, 1922, the Town Meeting members met in the Town Hall on Wednesday evening, November 8, 1922 and were called to order at eight o'clock by the Moderator, John A. Colbert. One hundred and eighty-seven members attended the meeting.
Article 1 taken from the table. (Reports of Committees.)
Voted, That the various articles in the warrant be now .
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taken up and that the recommendations of the Finance Com- mittee under the articles in their report be considered as now before the meeting, to be voted upon without further motion.
Article 2 taken up. (Building Laws.)
The Committee on By-laws presented the following report and same was received:
To the Citizens of Arlington: Your Committee on By-laws offers as its report the printed pamphlet which has been placed before the voters entitled "Proposed Building Laws, Town of Arlington." In this pamphlet we have tried to include all the requirements necessary for the town at the present time. The laws proposed are on the whole much the same as the laws now in force; but we have amended and added to the old laws so as to make them complete and up to date. The changes made meet the approval of our town officials whose duty it will be to see to their enforcement.
We have not included in our proposals any attempt to restrict certain types of buildings to specified areas or zones of the town, although this was part of the work given to the committee. We found that to be a matter requiring much study and involving so much time that a satisfactory result could not be obtained for presentation to this meeting.
Your committee, originally five in number, has been reduced by death and resignation to three, and these remaining mem- bers, having devoted over a year to this work, are now anxious to be relieved of further duties in this connection. Such work as now remains unfinished we would ask to be referred to a new committee. We therefore present this report as a final report and ask that it be accepted and the committee discharged.
Respectfully submitted, for the Committee.
(Signed) LINDSEY K. FOSTER, Chairman.
On motion, it was
Voted, That the Building Laws as presented by the Committee on By-Laws be taken and acted upon article by article and section by section and that they be read by the Town Clerk.
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On the conclusion of the reading of the Building Laws, the same were accepted and adopted as amended as follows:
BUILDING LAWS TOWN OF ARLINGTON
ARTICLE 15
Section 1. A Building Inspector shall be appointed annu- ally by the Selectmen, and he shall continue to hold office until his successor has been appointed and qualified.
Sec. 2. The inspector shall examine all buildings in the process of construction, alteration and repair, including plumb- ing and gas fitting, and setting and maintenance of boilers, heaters and furnaces; and, where necessary, shall take proper measures to secure compliance with all by-laws of the town relating thereto. He shall make an annual report of his work to the Selectmen with such recommendations as he may deem suitable.
Sec. 3. No building intended to be used for dwelling pur- poses shall be erected until a permit therefor has been issued by the Building Inspector. No other building, except one-story wooden buildings ten feet square or less, shall be erected with- out such permit. To obtain a permit, the person desiring it shall, before he proceeds to build or excavate for the foundation thereof, file with the inspector a notice in writing of his intention with such plans and specifications, or descriptions, as may be required by the inspector, together with a written authority from the owner or the agent of the property on which the structure is to be built, allowing the inspector and his assistants to enter the premises at all reasonable times and inspect the work of construction.
The foregoing shall also apply to additions and alterations.
Sec. 4. If the plans, specifications, or descriptions comply with the requirements of the statutes and these by-laws, the inspector shall issue a permit for such building, addition, or alteration. This permit shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises before actual work is commenced, and shall remain posted until the construction is completed.
Sec. 5. All buildings shall be divided into three classes.
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A first-class building shall consist of fireproof material through- out, with floors constructed of iron, steel or reinforced concrete beams, filled in between with terra cotta or other masonry arches or with concrete or reinforced concrete slabs; except that wood may be used only for under and upper floors, windows and door frames, sashes, doors, interior finish, hand rails for stairs, necessary screens, sleepers bedded in the cement, and for isolated furrings bedded in mortar. There shall be no air space between the top of any floor arches and the floor surface.
Second-class buildings shall be all buildings not of the first class, the external and party walls of which are of brick, stone, iron, steel, concrete, reinforced concrete, concrete blocks or other equally substantial and fire-resisting material.
All wooden frame buildings shall be third class.
Sec. 6. Unless the inspector decides otherwise on account of the proposed use, no building shall hereafter be erected, and no existing building shall be altered or added to, thereby giving it a frontage of more than fifty feet, without one or more par- tition walls of brick or some other fire-resisting material, extend -. ing from the bottom of the cellar, or from a foundation wall, to eight inches above the upper side of roof, which shall be laid and imbedded in mortar in said wall. Such walls shall not be more than fifty feet apart, and shall extend throughout the depth of the building.
If a continuous basement is desired, brick partition walls may start at first floor and be supported on piers or columns, and the ceiling over basement shall be of wire lath and plaster or other fire-resisting material, and all steel work shall be protected.
The foregoing shall not apply to a dwelling house designed for occupancy by one family.
Sec. 7. All buildings hereafter erected or altered which are to be used in whole or in part for business or manufacturing purposes, or as places for public meetings, within the area one hundred feet back from the side lines of the following streets: Massachusetts Avenue from the Cambridge line to the Lexing- ton line, Broadway from the Somerville line to Medford Street, shall be of first or second-class construction, with non-combus- tible roof coverings and metal gutters.
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If an existing wooden building occupied in whole or in part for business or manufacturing purposes, within the above limits, is damaged more than sixty per cent of its value above foundations, it shall not be repaired, and if rebuilt it must conform to the foregoing.
Sec. 8. All buildings hereafter erected, designed for occu- pancy by more than two families, or as lodging or boarding houses, shall be subject to the provisions of Chapter 145 of the General Laws, known as the "Tenement House Act, " and all additions and amendments thereto. No existing building shall be remodeled or altered for occupancy of more than two families except subject to the foregoing.
Sec. 9. All double houses shall have a fire-resisting par- tition wall between the tenements, consisting either of a brick wall, not less than twelve inches thick, extending from the cellar bottom to the under side of the roof boarding, or of a brick wall, not less than twelve inches thick, extending from the cellar bottom to the top side of the first floor timbers, and above that, to the under side of the roof boarding, of two by five-inch studding, wire-lathed and plastered on both sides so as to make a smoke-tight barrier between the tenements.
Sec. 10. No part of a wooden building shall hereafter be placed at a less distance than five feet from the line of the lot upon which the building is to be located, or within ten feet of another wooden building, except where a brick or other fire- resisting external wall of a thickness and in the manner pre- scribed for external walls of fire-resisting buildings is substituted for a wooden wall.
No part of any structure except fire escapes ordered by public authority after the building is erected and cornices shall project over the line of any public way. No cornice shall pro- ject more than three feet over the sidewalk. No such projections shall be less than ten feet above the grade of the sidewalk.
FOUNDATIONS
Sec. 11. Excavations for foundations shall be made not less than six inches beyond the outside of foundation walls and shall not be back filled until inspected. The foundations of all buildings for dwelling, business or manufacturing purposes
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shall be walls of masonry and piers of masonry or iron and shall be laid in cement mortar. Any wooden building not a dwelling, not more than two stories in height, may, with the approval of the inspector, be built wholly on piers or posts. The foundations of all buildings shall rest on solid ground or leveled surfaces of solid rock, or on piles, concrete, or other solid substructure. Such foundation other than solid rock shall be not less than four feet below the adjacent surface of the ground exposed to the frost.
Piazzas, porches and bay-windows shall have a suitable foundation of stone, brick, iron or concrete, built on solid bottom, not less than four feet below and extending not less than three inches above the finished grade, and no woodwork shall come below that grade.
All buildings used for human habitation shall have a foundation wall and a chimney both of masonry.
WOODEN BUILDINGS
Sec. 12. All wooden frame buildings shall be built with sills, posts, girts and plates, all to be mortised, tenoned, br and pinned together, except the plates, which may be mortised, or thoroughly spiked to studding and posts. All buildings shall be braced in each story and in cross-partitions if deemed neces- sary by the inspector.
In all wooden buildings not exceeding three stories in height the posts of which exceed twenty-two feet in length, the sills shall be not less than six by eight inches laid flatways, and the posts and girts not less than four by eight inches; in all such buildings the posts of which are twenty-two feet or less in length the sills shall be not less than four by eight inches, and the posts and girts not less than four by six inches; in all wooden buildings the studding of the outside walls shall be not less than two by four inches, set sixteen inches on centers; in all wooden buildings the studding in all partitions carrying floor timbers shall be not less than two by four inches, set not more than sixteen inches on centers, and resting on girders not less than six by eight inches. All window studding to be not less than three by four inches. Ledger boards may be used in place of girts in one and one-half story houses or in dwellings where
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the attic floor is below the plates if the spaces back of ledger boards between studding shall be filled with joists of same size as wall studs cut in tight and filled with brick and cement mortar so as to prevent a draft in case of fire. All one and one-half story buildings shall have end girts mortised, tenoned and pinned together. All self-supporting walls or partitions above the first floor in any building shall be trussed in a manner approved by the inspector.
All timbers herein mentioned to be solid sticks excepting the plates, which may be in two pieces, each not less than two by four inches, thoroughly spiked together.
BRICK, CONCRETE OR TERRA COTTA BUILDINGS
Sec. 13. When the walls of a building are to be of solid concrete, concrete blocks or terra cotta blocks, they shall conform to the rules for brick walls so far as they apply and in addition concrete walls supporting floors and those exposed to the weather shall be mixed in the proportions at least as rich as one part of cement by volume to eight parts of sand and gravel or broken stone so graded and proportioned as to make a mixture without voids.
Concrete blocks shall be made of a mixture at least as rich as one part cement to four parts sand or fine gravel or broken stone properly graded to make a mixture without voids.
The bearing area of each block shall be at least two-thirds of the horizontal area occupied by the block.
The concrete in both walls and blocks shall be kept moist and shaded from the direct rays of the sun for at least four days after it is placed and no block shall be laid in a wall or founda- tion in less than thirty days after it is made.
All walls built of concrete or terra cotta blocks shall be so constructed that where they are to support any portion of a floor or roof the loads from the floor joists or other beams or timbers shall be distributed over the whole width of the wall at the point of support. This may be effected by the use of suitable wall plates or by filling the blocks with cement con- crete. No method of construction in which the floor joists, beams or girders simply rest on one side of a concrete or terra cotta block will be approved or allowed to be used. When
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terra cotta walls support wooden floor beams, girders or headers the timber shall project not less than four inches into the wall, and the wall shall be so constructed that the timber shall have full bearing for the whole of the area of its under side which projects into said wall.
All brick walls shall be built with proper bond and all inter- sections of walls shall be tied together with wrought-iron straps as often as every eight feet in height. Floor beams shall be anchored to brick walls on which they rest and to each other so as to form continuous ties across the building, wherever directed by the inspector, and at least every ten feet.
External walls of brick, concrete or terra cotta dwelling houses, if not more than twenty feet in height above the founda- tion walls, shall be not less than eight inches thick for their entire height; if more than twenty feet in height they shall be not less than twelve inches thick to the top of the second floor, and not less than eight inches thick for the remaining height; and if three stories, and more than twenty-five feet in height, they shall be not less than twelve inches thick to the top of the third floor, and not less than eight inches thick for the remaining height.
The external walls of all brick, concrete or terra cotta buildings other than dwelling houses, if not more than forty feet in height above the foundation walls, shall be not less than sixteen inches thick to the top of the upper floor, and not less than twelve inches thick for the remaining height; and if more than forty feet in height and not exceeding sixty feet in height, they shall be not less than twenty inches thick to the top of the second floor, and not less than sixteen inches thick to the top of the third floor, and not less than twelve inches thick for the ยท remaining height; provided, however, that with the approval of the inspector the method known as "Mill Construction" may be used whereby the external walls are constructed of a series of piers, of such width as the inspector may approve, and of the thickness not less than prescribed for external walls, said piers to be connected by curtain walls well bonded to the piers, and not less than eight inches thick, in which all windows or other openings must be made. All floors must be supported on the piers and no portion of a floor shall for any reason be supported
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on the curtain wall; and provided further that the external walls of all brick, stone, concrete and terra cotta buildings, not exceeding twenty-five feet in height and covering'an area not exceeding two thousand square feet, to be used for stables or light mechanical or commercial purposes, may be not less than twelve inches thick.
Party walls and all partition walls of brick or concrete in all buildings other than dwelling houses with external walls not exceeding forty feet in height shall be not less than sixteen inches thick to the top of the second floor and not less than twelve inches thick for the remaining height and, in buildings having external walls exceeding forty feet in height, said party walls shall be not less than twenty inches thick to the top of the second floor, not less than sixteen inches thick to the top of the third floor, and not less than twelve inches thick for the remain- ing height; provided that where mill construction is used pilasters may be utilized with thoroughly bonded curtain walls not less than eight inches thick, the spacing of the pilasters to be satisfactory to the inspector and the thickness to be not less than that prescribed for party walls.
No opening or doorway shall be cut through or formed in a party wall or partition wall of any building without a permit from the Inspector of Buildings, and every such doorway shall have its top, bottom and sides of stone, brick or iron, and shall be closed by two fire-proof metal-covered doors or sets of doors satisfactory to the inspector, with an air space between them of at least four inches; said doors shall be hung to roll on approved metal tracks or swing in metal frames, or on iron hinges set in rabbeted brickwork or stonework; if wooden frames are used they must be entirely cased in metal applied as on approved fire doors.
PIERS AND COLUMNS
Sec. 14. All piers shall be built of the best quality of good, well burnt hard brick, laid in cement and sand mortar and well wet when laid in warm weather. Brick piers under lintels, girders or columns of brick buildings shall have a properly proportioned cap of cast iron or steel the full size of the pier. Brick piers and buttresses shall be bonded with through courses
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leveled and bedded, and where their foundations rest upon piles a sufficient number shall be driven to insure a proper support.
Every pier, column, pillar or post resting on the earth shall have a base course of stone or concrete and, if supporting walls of masonry, shall have for a footing course a broad leveler of concrete, granite or ledge stone not less than twelve inches wider on all sides than the bottom area of said piers, columns, pillars or posts and not less than twelve inches thick.
All metal columns shall rest on square iron plates not less than one inch thick and of suitable strength to carry the load, supplied with lugs or sockets cast on to hold the ends of the columns in place, and unless the columns are cast with large flat-topped heads they shall have similar plates on top, on which the supported beams or girders shall rest. The length of the side of the bottom plates must be at least two and one-half times the diameter of the columns, and the length of the top plate or cast cap must be at least twice the diameter of the columns and at least equal to the width of the beam or girder which it is to support. Wooden columns supporting girders and floors shall rest on, and be capped by, one and one-half inch iron plates with lugs or sockets to receive the ends of the col- umns or with properly proportioned socketed casting not less than one inch thick. Metal columns placed one on top of another shall have a plate between them with lugs or sockets on both sides to fit into top and base of columns to prevent slipping, or capped columns may rest on each other. Metal columns shall be of such thickness as the inspector shall require but not less than five-eighths inches in any case and all columns shall have holes bored when and where directed by the inspector through the shell at right angles to the shaft, so as to show the thickness of the metal. All bearing parts of columns and plates shall be turned or planed to true surfaces.
FLOOR TIMBERS
Sec. 15. Floor timbers in dwelling houses, when of good, sound spruce set sixteen inches on centers, shall be of the follow- ing sizes: for a span not exceeding ten feet the timbers shall be not less than two by seven inches; for a span not exceeding
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twelve feet the timbers shall be not less than two by eight inches; for a span not exceeding fourteen feet the timbers shall be not less than two by nine inches; for a span not exceeding sixteen feet the timbers shall be not less than two by ten inches; for a span not exceeding eighteen feet the timbers shall be not less than two by twelve inches; for a span not exceeding twenty feet the timbers shall be not less than two by fourteen inches; for a span not exceeding twenty-two feet the timbers shall be not less than three by twelve inches; for a span not exceeding twenty-four feet the timbers shall be' not less than three by fourteen inches in size, or of size giving their equivalent in strength.
There shall be girders not less than six by eight inches under the main partitions and summers on floor timbers doubled, or their equivalent, under all cross-partitions in the first floor of all dwellings. Headers and trimmers of all openings more than four feet square in the first floor of dwellings shall be floor joists doubled or their equivalent. Beams carrying main or cross partitions in first floor shall be supported on piers or iron posts not more than seven feet apart, except that where larger girders are used the supports may be spaced farther apart with the approval of the inspector; trimmers in first floor over twelve feet in length shall be supported by a pier or post.
The attic floor timbers shall be not less than two by seven inches spaced sixteen inches on centers, for any attic, whether finished or unfinished, to which there is access and which can be used for storage and other purposes.
All floor timbers with a span from ten to sixteen feet shall have one row of bridging; all floor timbers with a span of sixteen feet or more shall have a bridging at least every eight feet and all bridging stock shall be not less than one by two inches.
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