By Liz Nolan, Contributing Writer
Northborough – The Northborough Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) continued the consideration of the petition for a special permit with site plan approval to construct two buildings on the lot of 50 Southwest Cutoff, which will continue to be used as a contractor’s yard. During its Nov. 24 meeting, the ZBA approved the special permit 4-1 with conditions.
The property is the former site of Delgreco Supply Co. Inc, a masonry supply company in the Business West zone, whose use was deemed a contractor’s yard. The new construction would be grandfathered in for this use.
Resident and Planning Board member Amy Poretsky disagreed on the grandfathered use.
“We are not reviewing the grandfathering of the contractor’s yard interpretation,” ZBA Chair Fran Bakstran said. “The only thing that is before us is a special permit to allow the construction of two new buildings. The use of the property is not before us.”
Another concern of both residents and some ZBA members was that at this time the applicant 86-88 Main Street LLC does not know who the tenants would be, but could be up to eight different tenants with four per building.
Applicant representative Tim Shay said if someone needed the whole building for their business operation, the whole building would be leased. That would lessen the number of different tenants occupying the space.
Bakstran said the Board could mitigate any concerns with conditions that must be met as part of the approval.
Restrictions could limit the type of businesses that could operate at the site such as operation hours of Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. and limiting the outside storage space.
Town Engineer Fred Litchfield had some recommendations for conditions, including permeability tests within the area of the infiltration system, an Earthwork permit, copies of the MassDOT curb cut access permits, and requiring the applicant to verify whether or not if the Board of Health has already approved the septic system.
The town staff would have the chance to review the final plan before construction begins to ensure any comments or conditions of approval are incorporated.
Although difficulty of enforcement of conditions has come up previously as concerns, Town Planner Kathy Joubert said they actually don’t receive a lot of complaints about enforcement.
“There are just some very vocal people right now and maybe rightly so that they are upset about things in their particular neighborhood,” she said. “There are so many properties in this town that are operating and contributing taxes and doing wonderful things for the community. Are there people out there that defy regulations? Absolutely, but it is not the norm. I think a lot of people are led to believe that it is the norm and how Northborough operates and that is not true.”
The Board approved the special permit with site plan approval with restrictions including hours of operation and outdoor storage as well as the restrictions made by the Design and Review Committee and the Town Engineer. The vote was 4-1, with ZBA member Brad Blanchette not in favor of approval.
