Get ready for a larger parking lot at Rochester Town Hall. The Rochester Planning Board on Tuesday approved the Site Plan Review application for the town’s plan to clear and re-grade land behind Town Hall for an 8,220-square foot parking lot.
The vote came after Project representative Rick Charron explained that on the board’s advice he has changed the planned surface of the lot from gravel to impervious stone, and the drainage system will be a hybrid retention and detention pond because of the lot’s sandy surface. The plan will double the parking lot’s size and prepare for any future modifications. “It’s a much better design,” Chair Arnold Johnson said before initiating the approval vote.
The meeting’s second hearing applicant wasn’t so lucky. The board again reviewed Steen Development Corp.’s request to modify its Site Plan Review application for a senior living apartment building proposed for Rochester Crossing, 22 Cranberry Highway. Steen’s engineering consultant Philip Cordeiro explained last month that the modification is a slight change in the underground drainage design to accommodate a new ring road through the project. He said the town’s peer engineering review by Ken Motta asked only for clarification on drainage and other calculations.
Johnson responded that Motta has said he needs more information and he is not comfortable with making a decision as to whether this is a minor or major change; the latter determination would require a new public hearing. Johnson said the drainage changes now gives the board a margin for error. He doesn’t want to see the drainage changes flooding a neighboring property. The board continued the hearing to its next meeting. Cordeiro promised to give Motta the additional information he needs by week’s end.
The board also hesitated over a request for a modification of the special permit and Site Plan Review application for Dexter Lane Solar 1, 53 Dexter Lane. That change is to remove the project’s proposed floating panels, associated fencing and battery energy storage system. Here too, Johnson said, the board must decide if this is a major or minor change.
Project representative Dean Jones of New Leaf Energy revealed the reason for requesting the elimination of these floating panels is marketing; buyers were not interested in these types of panels. He said the company wishes to strike multiple conditions because of the change. These are mostly related to conditions related to the floating portion of the plan that also include land-mounted arrays but also include a dramatic change in the project’s decommissioning bond.
The board said it would be considered a minor change if the decommissioning bond is lowered using numbers New Leaf could provide soon. New Leaf representatives agreed to this. The board then voted to mark the elimination of these floating panels as a minor change.
In other action, the board continued to August 18 the site plan review hearing for Walnut Plain Road Solar and the site plan review hearing for High Street Solar, sites A and B, at 0 High Street.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, August 18 at 7:00 pm at the Council On Aging Senior Center, Dexter Lane.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco