The Marion Planning Board spoke well of Cumberland Farms’ work to address traffic flow issues and parking violations at their regular meeting on Monday, November 5. The Board earlier had sent a letter detailing their complaints to representatives of the business. Chairman Jay Ryder and Vice Chairman Patricia McArdle also met with four representatives of Cumberland Farms for a discussion of the traffic flow, improper parking of delivery trucks and current organization of the parking lot.
“Within a week they had sent a letter to all of their vendors detailing where delivery trucks are allowed to park and that there are no exceptions,” Ryder said. “That was very positive.”
The representatives of Cumberland Farms also identified the possibility of adding up to eight more parking spaces to the lot during their tour of the property with Ryder and McArdle.
“We found six or seven or eight places where they might create parking spaces,” Ryder said.
Ryder also said that Cumberland Farms is willing to pay for any work that the Board might ask them to complete in order to improve the traffic and public safety on and around the property.
“[We] came away from the meeting very confident that they would do anything we ask them to,” Ryder concluded.
Some changes, he noted, would require the Board to change the order of conditions. The changes, however, would be done in stages per request of Cumberland Farms.
In its other business, the Board concluded the public hearing of the River Road definitive subdivision plan by Investors Fund Trust.
“Given that Ken Motta and the applicant’s engineer are agreed on the waivers … we can vote on granting the waivers as a group,” Ryder said.
The Board unanimously voted to approve the waivers, as well as to approve the subdivision plan.
The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board will be on Monday, November 19 at 7:00 pm in the Town House.
By Anne Smith
