Medical Arts Building expansion at 29 Hospital Hill Road tabled pending engineering review and access plan

The Sharon Planning & Zoning Commission on July 8 opened a public hearing on a proposed addition to the Medical Arts Building at 29 Hospital Hill Road but tabled a decision and asked for more information and a town engineering review.

Engineer Dainius Virbickas reviewed the site plan at the hearing and pointed to the proposed addition at the northwest corner of the existing building. The project team described stormwater management measures, a soil erosion control plan, a new parking area, landscaping, and installation of a generator intended to power the full structure. The project also includes parking-lot lighting that “will be on until the facility is closed (dusk to dawn),” as recorded in the meeting minutes.

Commission members questioned how the access off Hospital Hill Road will be resurfaced and how refuse will be handled. Commissioners asked that garbage receptacles be bear resistant and placed within an enclosure. The minutes state that the Inland Wetlands Commission had not yet acted on the proposal.

Following the presentation and questions, Mr. MacMillan moved to table a decision to allow additional review; Mrs. Hall seconded and the motion carried unanimously. In new-business action later in the meeting, Mr. Moskowitz moved that the commission obtain an independent engineering review of the 29 Hospital Hill Road plans, require the applicant to provide in writing how the access off Hospital Hill Road will be addressed, and require bear-proof containers and an enclosure for refuse; Mr. MacMillan seconded and the motion was unanimously carried. The commission reminded applicants that a town ordinance requires applicants to pay for outside consultants and asked LUA Blass to request an estimate from the commission’s engineer and request payment from the Hospital.

The commission recorded the hearing and deliberations; the minutes state those recordings are available at Town Hall. No vote to approve or deny the expansion was taken on July 8; the commission deferred a final decision pending the engineering review, a written access plan from the applicant, and any action by the Inland Wetlands Commission.