WESTBOROUGH – A building that once housed a roller-skating rink could soon become a self-storage facility.
Representatives from WDA Design Group showed plans for 161 Milk St. and 220 Turnpike Road to the Planning Board on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
The presentation was part of a public hearing for a site plan review application.
According to the application, the current property owners are Lyman Realty Trust and Paulini Loam LLC, both out of Milford; the petitioner is Mark Johnson of 161 Milk St. Nominee Trust; he is the owner of MA Restoration on Fisher Street.
Barry Yaceshyn, senior civil engineer for WDA, said the plans are focused on 161 Milk St. The building with the rink was constructed sometime in the late 1970s and closed years ago.
The plans call for the conversion of the building into a fully automated self-storage facility. There will also be a new, 20,000-square-foot building – a two-story office and a single-story warehouse. The proposed new building would be used by MA Restoration.
The plans also include a solar canopy over the south side of the parking lot; charging stations for electric vehicles; and removing a portion of the existing pavement and installing landscaping.
There were several questions from the Planning Board about the driveway connecting 161 Milk to 220 Turnpike Road. Yaceshyn said there are no immediate plans for the site itself, but the driveway will remain in place.
In the traffic plans, tractor-trailers will enter from Turnpike Road and exit onto Milk Street; passenger vehicles and box trucks may use either road to enter and exit.
Several abutters attended the meeting and had questions about drainage.
Terry Barton, who lives on Park Street, said the neighborhood had a “bad drainage problem” and asked whether the plans included new drains at the site.
In a letter provided to the town, WDA said the current drainage system would be adjusted. As part of the work, catch basins would be outfitted with hooded outlets, and the in line catch basins would be transitioned to direct drain manholes.
The stormwater runoff from the parking area would be collected and pretreated before being conveyed to a subsurface chamber. The water would be detained and infiltrated under the parking area.
Runoff water from the roof would be collected and discharged to infiltration basins, according to the letter.
The public hearing has been continued to Tuesday, Oct. 3.
