The Marion Planning Board has approved the site plan for the town’s new Department of Public Works operations center to be built off Benson Brook Road and off Mill Street.
Ken Motta, a senior project manager with Field Engineering, was on hand for the continued public hearing and opened by telling the board that the 23-acre construction area had been cleared and graded and most recently has been used as a staging area. He alluded to other locations once considered before the town settled on an area nearby the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The construction footprint is 14,400 square feet including a maintenance facility and 21 parking spaces, and all abutting parcels are owned by the Sippican Lands Trust, except for the WWTP.
“I worked very closely with (Marion Building Commissioner) Bob Grillo with respect to the Zoning-compliant elements of the project,” said Motta, noting that the Residence D classification does not impinge on this municipal building’s allowed activity.
Stormwater, said Motta, will be managed using the existing stormwater-detention basin at the foot of the Benson Brook landfill. Pavement runoff, half heading north and half heading south, will drain into a pair of catch basins to the north and one catch basin to the south. The closest wetland, said Motta, is 500 feet away from the construction site.
Sewer will tie into the town’s force-main on Benson Brook Road, and water will tie into the water tower nearby. Oil and water drainage in the maintenance area will be processed by an underground system that holds back oil-based materials and allows water to enter the WWTP.
Board member Eileen Marum sought clarification on the term “solar ready,” a design feature of the roof. Motta said it means no design modification is needed to accommodate panels. Member Dale Jones noted that Randy Parker said that solar panels will be included if there is funding remaining.
Marum expanded her question to general energy consumption, stating her wish that the town go green with new construction and furthermore observed, based on the construction proposal, that the town is not going to build a structure she would consider energy efficient.
Attending remotely, Grillo said that discussion with engineers has yielded the possibility of a radiant heat system with “an electric, heat-pump technology.” He added that while the building’s roof has been designed to accommodate solar panels and the building itself is oriented in the optimum direction, solar is not in the construction budget as of now.
“We’re hoping for the Energy (Management) Committee to get funding for it in the future, either through a lease program or ownership. We’ve just got to make the numbers work, that’s all,” said Grillo.
Board member Alanna Nelson noted that the EMC will have an opportunity in the spring to work with the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC) and put the project out to bid. In that case, administrative duties would be taken off the town’s hands, according to Nelson.
Grillo also noted that no trees will have to be taken down in order to follow through on solar at the new DPW.
Member Andrew Daniel, who serves on the DPW Building Committee, clarified that the salt-storage shed will be a stone base with a canvas top.
No one was willing to put a timeline on the DPW construction once it starts.
A Benson Brook Road resident in attendance expressed concern over vehicular speed to and from the landfill area, and Motta said during construction there will be mechanisms in place to slow down cars and trucks.
The board approved three waiver requests: one from Chapter 230-6.5.d.1 of the Marion Residence D Zoning Bylaws to allow 10 parking spaces forward of the building; the second from Chapter 230-6.5.d.4 requiring bicycle spaces (there will be space inside the building) and the third from Chapter 230-6.6.a requiring visual screening to adjacent properties.
Guey-Lee drafted a decision for the board’s consideration, pending its vote to approve the project. Submitted documents from Field Engineering were to be included. With that, the board voted to close the public hearing.
Before voting on the project itself, Nelson noted that construction hours stipulated in the draft decision were listed as Monday-Friday from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Given traffic concerns expressed by a resident during the public hearing, Nelson asked the board to reconsider the Saturday morning start time given how it coincides with residents’ dump runs, but the board went with the decision as written.
Despite an agreement regarding parking, the Planning Board voted to require major site-plan review for the construction proposal from 133 Wareham Road LLC at the corner of Route 6 and Point Road. The project is in the presubmission-conference phase.
“I think what we should do just to give them something to go on is to tell them it’s going to be major site-plan review, and if they get to the point (where) they’ll do the parking-lot reduction, then we could drop some of the requirements as they get the permit for the parking-lot reduction,” suggested Burr.
Daniel recalled the board’s strategy to include moving from major to minor site-plan review, pending the applicant’s reduction in parking from 11 to nine spaces (Marion requires major site-plan review at the threshold of 10 parking spaces.)
Burr agreed with Daniel’s recollection but said he didn’t want to get the cart before the horse, officially grant minor site-plan review and then find out later on that for some reason the board should have held out for major site-plan review.
Guey-Lee agreed with Burr that the Planning Board, at its discretion, can drop requirements of major site-plan review as it goes along. The Special Permit application for the reduction in parking spaces will be handled separately. The board’s unanimous vote to order major site-plan review includes a strategy to work with the applicant on dropping specific requirements that will be deemed unnecessary.
The Planning Board closed the public hearing for the Chapter 220 Stormwater Management Bylaw considered for the October 23 Special Town Meeting but ultimately left off the agenda. Burr asked the members to remain accountable to one another to deal with the issue toward preparation for a future action.
The Planning Board made no recommendation to the Zoning Board of Appeals regarding the application of Ryan and Glynnis Chase, 15 Maple Avenue. According to Grillo, the Chases requested an extension of a garage but were coming up on a ZBA deadline.
Henry is being replaced by Jones as the board’s representative to the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD.)
The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, November 6, at 7:00 pm at the Police Station.
Marion Planning Board
By Mick Colageo