Chase Canopy, represented by Robert Field of Field Engineering, Inc., has been before several Mattapoisett governing bodies, including the Planning Board and the Conservation Commission, over the last month or so.
The application presented before each board has been pretty straightforward; Chase Canopy is desirous of expanding their footprint at their current location on Route 6 in Mattapoisett.
The business has been renting storage space at a Fairhaven location for a number of years and seeks to consolidate their operation at the Mattapoisett site. In order to do so, their application calls for the construction of an 8,000 square-foot building, the removal of storage trailers currently on the site, and the subdivision of a residential building situated on the 2.2 acres that constitute the property.
Simple enough, but added to this equation is the fact that part of the acreage falls into the historical aquifer protection district, and that Mattapoisett Building Inspector Andy Bobola instructed the applicant that the residential structure would have to be subdivided from the commercial sector before a building permit could be considered.
With the clock ticking down on a December deadline for the business owners to apply for a federal small business loan program administered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Field has been successful in gaining, at the very least, provisional acceptance of the project.
At the September 4 hearing of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission, the commission scoped out the necessary Wetlands Protection Act conditions that the project, as presented, would be required to follow. They also agreed that decades of use and disturbances of the property rendered the area unfit for wildlife despite the bordering wetlands, but that a pending decision from the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (MNHESP) required the application to be continued.
Fields asked for, and received, a letter for the Zoning Board of Appeals indicating that the project, as submitted, would be acceptable if MNHESP renders a Negative determination on wildlife impact. The ZBA hearing was continued.
At the September 17 meeting of the Planning Board, the decision was that once the project cleared the Conversation Commission, the project would receive a Form A Approval Not Required decision for the residential lot subdivision, and that the site plan, as submitted, would be permitted. Fields asked for, and received, a letter to take to the ZBA hearing demonstrating the viability of the project as submitted. The Planning Board hearing was continued.
But those letters meant little to one ZBA member on September 27 when Field once again outlined the project, this time seeking a Special Permit from the ZBA.
After Fields presented the scope of the plan, including where decisions by the Planning Board and Conservation Commission stood, longtime ZBA member Mary Ann Brogan asked of Fields, “Have they been approved?”
Chairman Susan Akin responded, “We can put that as a stipulation that they must be done with Natural Heritage and that the subdivision be complete.”
The letters from the other governing boards were reviewed, but Brogan said, “We can’t approve till it’s subdivided – it’s like a Catch 22.”
Fields then explained the interpretation received from Bobola (who was not present), saying, “There’s no mechanism that says you can’t record this.”
Akin again stated, “We can make that as a stipulation.”
But Brogan was not moved to agree, saying that with respect to the Conservation Commission, “I think they are very lax bringing it to us before they approved.” At one point, she said she didn’t care about the letters that had been submitted by the other boards.
Speaking on behalf of Chase Canopy, Ben Philbrook, an employee, indicated that time was of the essence with local jobs weighing in the balance.
ZBA member Tony Tranfaglia pointed out that, even if the ZBA granted the Special Permit with stipulations, if the MNHESP does not approve the project, then it could not move forward.
Ultimately, the application for a Special Permit was granted with stipulations with Brogan in agreement.
Also receiving a Special Permit was Polly Rousseau of 96 Mattapoisett Neck Road for the construction of an oversized garage that will not include any dwelling spaces. The project had already received approval from the Conservation Commission and the Board of Health, according to Field who represented the applicant.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for October 18 at 6:00 pm at the Mattapoisett Town Hall if there are hearings.
Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals
By Marilou Newell