TOWN OF HOLDEN
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
HEARING
JEFFERSON MEADOWS, LLC SP1013 Amendment
The Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing on April 12, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in Memorial Hall, 1196 Main Street, Holden, MA on the Petition of Jefferson Meadows for property located off Quinapoxet Street as shown on Assessors Map 102, Parcels 1, 2, 13, 14, 21 and Map 115, Parcel 41 for an AMENDMENT to a SPECIAL PERMIT granted in January 2011 requiring that no processing of material to be removed shall take place on the site.
Members in attendance: R. Spakauskas, S. Annunziata, J. Deignan and R. Butler.
The Chairman called the meeting to order. Since there were no objections, the reading of the legal notice, list of abutters was waived. The Secretary read two letters pertaining to the case, one from the Interim Town Planner and one from Atma Khalsa who resides at 112 Quinapoxet Street.
Attorney David Bennett, representing the applicant, gave an overview of the case. The applicant is requesting permission to amend their original special permit in order to process material at the site with a small screening machine. Many buyers have approached the applicants, but they all want the gravel screened prior to the sale. Atty. Bennett showed the Board a copy of the original plan and google maps. These showed the operation to be more than 700 feet from Quinapoxet Street; there is quite a barrier between any houses and this should have little impact, if any, to any other neighbors. He further explained that this is a 30-acre parcel of land and screening will be done with one machine. The Department of Environmental Protection regulates air quality and noise.
The applicants said they have already been granted permission to use a front-end loader and the screening machine makes less noise. The vegetation will adequately buffer the operation.
R. Butler asked if the screening machine was portable; it was answered yes, they are able to move it around the site.
J. Deignan asked how many piles will be stored after everything is sorted. It was explained that the material is a coarse sand with a small fraction of pebble size material. This process is to remove the sand and leave the coarser material. He also asked if this would be visible from the road. The applicant said it is heavily wooded and wetlands prevents them from going inside the buffer zone.
S. Annunziata asked if they anticipated bringing in more vehicles, such as a stone crusher, or will there be nothing more than what is currently used. They didn’t think so, but were not sure. He also asked if they intend to use the same route to exit Holden. The answer was yes.
R. Spakauskas asked if there was any possibility that the mouth of the entrance and exit would be widened. The applicant did not feel this would be necessary.
The applicants further explained they have the ability to remove 80,000 yards of material a year, but there has not been a demand for it lately.
R. Spakauskas asked for confirmation that the applicant would provide specs of the screening machine to the Building Commissioner. He also asked if there was any source of water on the site. It was answered that it is not currently required but if they need to bring in a truck, they are willing to do that.
J. Deignan asked if this machine has conveyer belts; they are not a separate piece of equipment, they are built into the machine, which is about 15 feet tall.
Mr. Eric Johnson, 48 St. Mary’s Drive, asked to look at the plan in order to ensure there would be an adequate buffer.
Since there were no further comments or questions, the public hearing was closed at 7:45 p.m.
The Board unanimously voted to approve the amendment with the following modifications:
- The hours of operation shall be 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. No equipment and/or vehicles are to be started before 7:00 a.m.
Modification to Condition #4:
- No processing of material to be removed shall take place on the site except for screening.
- Excavating plans shall be submitted to the Building Commissioner in advance.
- An equipment list, and any changes of equipment shall be submitted to the Building Commissioner.
- There must be a 100 ft. buffer along the westerly property line.
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Ronald E. Spakauskas, Chairman
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