NORTHBOROUGH – Questions and concerns about traffic took up the lion’s share of the Zoning Board of Appeal’s public hearing regarding an expansion at 300 Bartlett St. on May 23.
The site is currently occupied by FedEx Freight.
“Boy, has this street changed significantly with the addition of facilities like A. Duie Pyle followed by FedEx and Amazon and who knows what’s going to come at 0 Bartlett Street, which unfortunately got passed,” said Manny Lopes, who lives on Bartlett.
Among the concerns were those about the narrowness of the road, safety concerns and noise from the trucks.
FedEx’s facility is currently 31,725 square feet and 56 loading docks. The owner, NBI Northborough, seeks a special permit to extend a non-conforming use and a special permit with site plan approval to expand an existing trucking terminal.
The applicant sought to expand the building’s southern end, adding 20 loading docks for a total of 76, and construct a standalone maintenance shop to service FedEx’s vehicles. The maintenance shop will not be open to the public.
Traffic
Traffic has come up at nearly every meeting the applicant has attended so far, project engineer Peter Ellison said, noting concerns from residents who live between their site and Route 20 and near Algonquin Regional High School.
Residents, he said, have noted “quite a bit of heavy truck traffic” driving on Bartlett and past their neighborhoods.
The expansion is estimated to generate about 169 additional vehicle trips during the average weekday.
According to Ellison, their traffic study, which examined the intersection of Bartlett Street and the driveway, indicates that the number of trucks coming to and from the Amazon site “is extremely low in comparison to the total number of trucks that are on Bartlett Street.”
Other boards have been interested in additional or improved signage on the driveway to prevent trucks from turning left, which Ellison said the applicant has agreed to provide. He said, in addition to not allowing left turns, on-site training would be provided to the truck drivers.
He said Planning Director Laurie Connors has recommended physical changes to make it impossible to turn into the site. However, the location of the shared driveway is on Amazon’s property, and Ellison said the property owner would need to be approached for any changes.
Residents thanked Ellison for helping to enforce the turning direction.
“As [Inspector of Buildings/Zoning Enforcement Officer Bob Frederico said], it’s extremely difficult to enforce,” Rachael Armstrong said. “Having some sort of structure there would be very helpful.”
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