Planning board grants conditional approval for 17,600 sq ft contractor units at 33 Hemlock Drive

The New Boston Planning Board voted to conditionally approve a site-plan revision for Belmore Castaways LLC that would add a 17,600-square-foot building for contractor units at 33 Hemlock Drive (Tax Map 202, Lot 78).

Pete Madsen, project manager with Keach Nordstrom Associates, told the board the revised plans respond to prior comments and engineering review. He said the plan moves a gravel maintenance road to access Hemlock Drive directly to reduce impervious area, upsizes a transformer pad to 6-by-8 feet, adds internal signage and a fire-truck turning plan, and includes landscape islands and trees along Hemlock Drive. "We've also added notes regarding snow and ice maintenance, not using chemical de-icers on the property given that the site is in the groundwater protection overlay district," Madsen said.

The applicant requested three waivers from Section 2.4 of the site-plan-review regulations: a traffic-impact-analysis waiver, an environmental-impact-study waiver and a community-facilities-impact-study waiver. Madsen said a traffic memo was submitted and reviewed by town engineering (Kevin) and will likely satisfy the traffic requirement if the board accepts it. The board also discussed outstanding state permits: an alteration-of-terrain RFMI has been addressed and a response is pending from the state, and the applicant will prepare an amended DOT driveway permit for town submission and signature.

Board members raised technical questions about grading, parking and stormwater protections. The applicant reported parking calculations showing 34 proposed spaces plus 7 existing spaces for a total of 41. He said the stormwater management plan has been provided and reviewed; the proposed infiltration pond is designed to recharge groundwater and is part of the CUP criteria. The plans also show three proposed 7,500-gallon cisterns for the fire system.

The motion to approve found the development compatible with surrounding land uses, required that all state and federal permits be obtained prior to construction, and attached conditions precedent and subsequent (including financial security, correction of plan comments, DES/DOT approvals and compliance with fire-department requirements). The board voted in favor of the conditional approval.

What happens next: the applicant must submit the final, revised plans addressing Kevin's engineering comments, provide the requested professional-certification block on the stormwater plan, forward the stormwater-bond estimate and obtain outstanding state and DOT permits before receiving final sign-off.