Salem Planning Board
Minutes of Meeting
October 15, 2009
A regular meeting of the Salem Planning Board was held on Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 313, Third Floor, at 120 Washington Street, Salem, Massachusetts.
Those present were: Chuck Puleo, Chair, John Moustakis, Christine Sullivan, Tim Ready, Gene Collins, and Tim Kavanaugh. ~Also present: Danielle McKnight, Staff Planner and Stacey Dupuis, Clerk. Absent: Nadine Hanscom
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of September 17, 2009 were reviewed.
There being no comments on this matter, a motion was made by Christine Sullivan to accept the minutes, seconded by John Moustakis and approved unanimously.
Form A Application for Endorsement of Plan Believed Not to Require Approval- 1 and 5 Florence Street (Map 34 Lots 273 and 102). Benny J. Fisheries Ltd. and Anthony J. Picariello represented by Attorney George Atkins.
Danielle McKnight explained that Attorney George Atkins requested that this application be withdrawn for now because there are ownership issues that he wants to clear up before going ahead.
Gene Collins made a motion to allow withdrawal without prejudice, seconded by John Moustakis and approved unanimously.
Public Hearing: 12 First St. Wireless Communication Facility Special Permit- Petition of Goodman Networks, on behalf of Sprint/Clearwire for the property located at 12 First Street (Assessor’s Map 13, Lot 6). The proposed project includes the relocation of two (2) existing antennas to a different position on the existing arrays, and the addition of four (4) new backhaul antennas, on the rooftop of the existing Pequot Highlands Apartment Complex.
Heather Carlisle presented on behalf of Clearwire; Patty Masterson of Clearwire was also present. She explains that Clearwire has a relationship with Sprint and First Street is an existing Sprint site. Clearwire will utilize Sprint’s existing antennas, moving them slightly and will add four backhaul antennas. Chuck Puleo asked for clarification of which antennas they were theirs. Heather showed which two sets of antennas they were theirs – on the upper level at 135 ft. She explained this work is part of an equipment upgrade – the backhaul antennas eliminate wires and brings wireless communication outside (it is 4G network). Eventually they plan to re-do all their antennas this way. She says Clearwire hopes to start selling their services next summer; they will
be available to residents and commercial sites.
Chuck Puleo opened up the item for public comment; no comments were made, and he closes the public comment portion.
There being no further comments, a motion was made by Christine Sullivan to close the public hearing, seconded by Tim Ready and unanimously approved.
Chuck Puleo asked if they had to do any other reconstruction to the equipment or anything else on the building; Heather Carlisle said no.
A motion was made by Christine Sullivan to approve the proposed project, seconded by Gene Collis and unanimously approved.
Continuation of Public Hearing: Site Plan Review and Drive-Through Facility Special Permit- Fast Food- Petition of Snakebite Realty LLC. The proposed project is a fast food facility with a drive-through on the site of a previously approved bank with a drive-through on the property located at 142 Canal Street (Assessors Map 33, Lot 006).
Dan DiLullo of DiLullo Associates, Inc presented. He said the Family Dollar is now open and functioning well. He reviews the current application, saying that at the time of approval for this project, an 1800 square foot section of the building was approved as a bank drive-through. He says the owner of the building has been talking with donut/coffee shop establishments that are very interested in that section of the building, but they don’t want to commit yet. Reviewing the contents of his application, he says that drawings showing the as-built site plan and the new fast-food drive-through were provided to the Board members. Chuck Puleo noticed that the current plan doesn’t show as much snow storage as on previously approved plans of this site. Also, he says that some stacking spaces at the
drive-through don’t seem to adhere to the required footage. Dan DiLullo said that the requirement for queuing is 8 cars, and they have 10, so if any spaces were undersized, there would be ample room since more spaces are shown than required. He also said the discrepancy might be due to how they were measured – he measured the length of the spaces from the center, so along the curved spaces, they might appear undersized if they were measured from the innermost point. Chuck Puleo mentioned that since these new plans have circulated, he wants to make sure Fire Prevention is okay with the amount of space around the queuing area. John Moustakis suggested having a “right turn only" turn at the entrance area to possibly help ease the traffic flow. Dan DiLullo said that is reasonable and may help. John Moustakis noticed that the landscaping vegetation at the site didn’t take. Dan Dilullo explained that it all has a one year
warranty and that in the spring they can take out what didn’t work and re-do it.
Rob Woodland, a licensed Traffic Engineer of Woodland Design Group, reviewed the traffic study that they did for the proposed coffee shop style drive through. He said they did traffic counts in July and on September 15th, after school and the Dollar Store had been open a couple of weeks. In the morning, he said the volume count was 250 cars heavier driving southbound towards the school, and all the other counts were about the same as their previous study. Mr. Woodland said that since the store doesn’t open until late morning, the only traffic activity they saw at the store was the manager opening the store to prepare for the day.
Mr. Woodland said they wanted to get a sense of other traffic operations in the area so they looked at Bagel World, McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts sites; he shows the Board aerial photos of each of these sites. He shows how Bagel World has a narrow stacking distance for only 4 or 5 cars before spilling into street; he says Dunkin Donuts’ stacking is not too bad; and McDonalds’ stacking looks like it meets the standards of the ordinance. He says that on the 142 Canal St. site, there is an existing drive-through window that could possibly be moved back to allow for more queuing, though he didn’t think it would need to be moved. Currently, he says there is room for at least 4 cars between the pickup window and menu board, and there are 10 spaces at least 50 ft from the street, so stacking would
be 15 or 17 cars before it interfered with anything on the road. Of the facilities reviewed, he says this has the longest stacking queue.
Mr. Woodland reviewed the trip generations for this type of facility. He says he found that for coffee/donut facilities, 80% are pass-by trips, those that can take a right in, right out. Right now, he says there are about 900 cars traveling southbound and 500 traveling northbound by the site. He says that since the site is on the southbound site, for many this would be a pass-by trip. For new trips, he says there would be a net increase of 39 cars in the morning, 17 in the evening, with about 40% would be coming to and from the north and roughly 60% to and from the south. He says this project would be generating a relatively small amount of traffic; existing sites with some difficult left exits will not experience more difficulties because of this project; and existing coffee places on the other side will capture
some of the flow because of convenience of making a right turn rather than a left.
Chuck Puleo asked about the number of turns into the driveway, and Mr. Woodland said that they would be going from about 6 left turns into each driveway to about 26 turns. Also, he says there are about 16,000 to 17,000 cars a day that travel on Canal Street. John Moustakis asked about the flow of traffic coming in and out of the driveway. Rob Woodland explained that the activity right now is low and that some parking spaces would be taken up since there will be some tables inside to sit down.
Tim Ready pointed out that the drawing shows three parking spots directly behind the coffee shop in front of the menu board and suggested they block those out because it looks like a dangerous area to park, given that the drive-through queue goes around those spaces. Rob Woodland said they can designate those spaces for employees only, since they would arrive before the business opened and leave after it closed and would not need to cut through the queue.
Christine Sullivan noticed on the plan that when entering the site and heading towards the queue, there doesn’t seem to be enough space between the corner of building with the parking and the ramp. Rob Woodland said there is 27 ft in between the ramp, the corner of the building and the existing retail building. He suggested making some difficult parking spaces employee spaces, so that there is a low turnover rate for those spaces. Tim Ready asked if the Fire Department requirements have been satisfied. Danielle will contact the Fire Department and check, and said she would find out how parking would be reviewed again if other buildings on the site have a change of use.
Chuck Puleo opened the issue up for public comment.
Polly Wilbert, 7 Cedar Street, asked if they took into consideration that there is parking on that side of Canal Street. Rob Woodland mentioned that when he was there for traffic counts, about 16 hours, there weren’t any cars parked there. Chuck Puleo said he noticed that there is a 30 minute parking limit sign in front of the Hertz building, so someone could conceivably park on that side, and there doesn’t appear to be a sign that prohibits parking on that side. Polly Wilbert also mentioned that it’s possible that the coffee shop could wind up serving lunch, since once a fast food permit is granted, it doesn’t specify the type of restaurant, adding to the afternoon hours. Also, she said the Family Dollar store could open earlier than they do now, and that they should take all this
into consideration because this part of Canal Street is very busy.
Sandra Power, 18 Loring Ave, representing the Beautification Committee, says she hopes this project’s landscaping will be maintained; she suggests waiting until Spring to replant any dying vegetation to improve its chance of survival. She said Canal Street is going to be reconstructed and wants to see this site contributing to the improvement of the area. Dan DiLullo said that it’s to the owner s benefit that the street looks good, and they’re hopeful that the rail trail in the back is improved as well.
Marsha Lambert, 26 Charles Street, asked what would happen if during the process an entirely different store wants to go in, do they have to reapply under Site Plan Review? Chuck Puleo thought that if it was food-related use, they would have to come back. Danielle McKnight said it may not have to come to the Board if it’s something other than fast food use – she will check.
There being no further comments, a motion was made by Tim Ready to continue the hearing to November 5th, seconded by Tim Kavanaugh and unanimously approved.
Gene Collins thanked Rob Woodland for his thorough presentation.
Old/New Business
Christine Sullivan suggested that since Dave Weiner resigned, the Board should acknowledge his contribution. Chuck Puleo is currently looking into this, will be talking with Pam Lombardini and will get back to Board members at the next meeting.
Gene Collins reminded all that Board members had talked about putting a plaque at the small park area on Derby St for Walter Power and that he noticed they are working on that area; he doesn’t want to lose the opportunity to put a plaque there. Gene also mentioned about a curb cut near the jail, they were supposed to give that piece of land back to the city. Danielle will look into this.
Tim Ready inquired if there will be a replacement now that the Board is 2 members short. Danielle said that Lynn Duncan and Mayor Driscoll are trying to find new members.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Board, a motion was made by Christine Sullivan to adjourn, seconded by Tim Kavanaugh and unanimously approved.
Meeting adjourned 8:47 pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Stacey Dupuis
Planning Board Clerk
Approved by the Planning Board 11/5/09
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