TOWN OF HOLDEN
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
HEARING
JEFFERSON MEADOWS LLC SP 1013
The Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing on January 6, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Selectmans Room of the Starbard Building, 1204 Main Street, Holden, MA on the Application of Jefferson Meadows, LLC for property located off Quinapoxet Street as shown on Assessors Map 102, Parcels 1, 2, 13, 14 and 21 and Map 115, Parcel 41 for a Special Permit to authorize the excavation and removal of sand and gravel.
Members in attendance: R. Spakauskas, R. Oslebo, F. Lonardo, J. Deignan and R. Butler.
The Secretary read the application, findings of fact and two letters pertaining to the case.
Attorney Brian Forts, representing the applicant addressed the Board. The applicant has ap-plied for a special permit to remove sand and gravel from the site. There will be sufficient buffering, traffic will be limited, depending on the economy. Atty. Forts said he contacted the Police Chief and he did not consider this area a dangerous stretch of road. There will be no processing on the site or storing of heavy equipment.
F. Lonardo asked how it was determined that there was sand and gravel on the site. Denis Damore from Jefferson Meadows said they bored as far as 55 feet and evaluated the material. Mr. Lonardo also asked about the intended hours of operation. It was answered 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
R. Oslebo asked if they intended to strip trees and remove loam. The applicant said the loam will be kept on the site but they intend to clear the area for the operation, which would probably be about 10 of the 30 acres.
J. Deignan asked how long the site had been unused. It was determined that it had been decades.
R. Spakauskas referred to an old entrance that was referred to as an old cart path and asked if they intended to use that. They will be using the same cart path to get up to the actual gravel bank which is between 600 and 700 feet. There will be approximately six truck trips per hour. Mr. Spakauskas asked if they intended to take a left turn and come over the railroad tracks. Atty. Forts thought the best way would be to take a right hand turn towards I-290.
A resident from 112 Quinapoxet Street asked what the precedent was for this type of special permit. R. Spakauskas said there was a question that this proposal was close to a quarry opera-tion permitted in an R-1 zoning district. The resident said this was an inappropriate use and would result in a negative value on his property.
Atty. Forts said the bylaw shows sand and gravel removal permitted in certain residential zones.
F. Lonardo referred to the Town of Holden Zoning Bylaws referencing the regulations in a Quarry zone.
Eric Johnson, 48 St. Mary’s Drive, expressed concern about whether there would be a huge hole left in the ground after there are finished; it was answered no.
Atty. Forts showed the Board and the public a topographical map of the area.
Frances Underwood from Quinapoxet Street noted that this is quite a drop down and asked if they would be bringing the access road up to grade. She felt there would be trouble with traffic coming around the curve.
Ronald Armstrong, 18 Quinapoxet Street, asked the applicants what their intent was in the future for this site. They said they had none at this time.
F. Lonardo asked about plans for eliminating dust. The applicant said the distance to Quinapoxet Street is over five or six hundred feet and there is a huge buffer. If dust becomes an issue, they will have a watering truck.
R. Butler asked for confirmation that the site would be gated.
J. Deignan asked if any vehicles would be stored on the site. He was informed there would only be a loader.
R. Spakauskas asked if any samples had been taken. The last six samples resulted in somewhere between 79% and 96% sand.
Atty. Forts, in his summation, said this was a suitable use for this site, adequate buffering is provided and it will be a temporary situation, maybe three to five years.
Since there were no further comments or questions, the public hearing was closed at 8:05 p.m.
The Board voted unanimously to approve the variance with the following conditions: 1) The hours of operation shall be 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. No vehicles are to be started before 7:00 a.m.; 2) The surface of the entrance road must be covered a mini-mum of fifty (50) feet from Quinapoxet Street to the culvert; 3) The gate will be located a distance of thirty (30) feet +/- of the culvert on the Quinapoxet Street side; 4) No processing of material to be removed shall take place on the site; 5) If required, there will be a mitigation of dust; 6) This special permit is subject to review after one (1) year;
7) The grade plan should have a finished elevation of 742 +/- two feet based on the City Sewer Collection System as designated on the plan by Aldrich Engineering, drawing number 09_03_MA dated October 19, 2010; 8) The access road should be constructed as depicted on the plan submitted with the application, subject to Conservation Commission approval; 9) Only a left turn is allowed out to the intersection of Princeton and Quinapoxet Streets; 10) LEFT TURN ONLY sign should be placed at the exit; 11) TRUCKS ENTERING LEFT sign should be placed 200 feet from the entrance where traffic is flowing from the west; 12) TRUCKS ENTERING RIGHT sign should be placed after Fairview Avenue that exits out on to Quinapoxet Street.
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Ronald E. Spakauskas, Chairman
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