The Planning Board reviewed and approved special permits for Ocean State Job Lot on Monday evening.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Ocean State Job Lot of North Adams LLC. had its conditions approved at the Planning Board meeting on Monday evening.

 

Jonathan "Jay" Sabin, an attorney for Parese Sabin Smith & Gold firm, laid down signage and floor plans for the future Ocean State Job Lot and its prospective tenant Tractor Supply as well as other construction and painting.

 

The stores will occupy the space of the former Walmart building on Curran Highway. Ocean State Job Lot has an agreement to purchase the building and  plans to lease out two storefronts.

 

All of the plans needed special permits however, as the location is technically in an industrial zone. Sabin sought, and was approved for, the following:

"There's very little new construction proposed with this project, probably the most significant piece of new construction is going to be the fence outdoor display area," Sabin said of a 15,500 square-foot outdoor area for Tractor Supply that will take up some parking spots.

 

Forty-five of the 488 spots there now would be used. Tractor Supply would occupy the former garden center section of the building.

 

Sabin explained that the group will need to see the Conservation Commission to figure out a buffer zone between the new construction and the river front, although it will be built on previously disturbed land.

 

The company will also need to seek approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals for waivers of "certain development standards" that are in place now that weren't in place in the early 1990s.

 

"The whole idea behind this project is to attempt to use as much of the existing building, infrastructure, parking areas, landscaping, lighting, et cetera, as possible," Sabin said. The group will ask for waivers for truck loading standards, parking lot landscape requirements and highway buffer areas, as well as signage in excess of 200 square feet.

 

A third tenant has yet to be determined and Ocean State Job Lot will return to the Planning Board when the time comes for signage and the entrance.

 

John Duquette sought permission to continue using his property as a transfer station for gravel and blacktop, but was reject by the board.

The special permit application for John Duquette — who owns Berkshire Construction Co. — to use 446 Ashland St., which he is leasing from Shapiro & Sons, as a transfer station was rejected without prejudice. But he faced backlash from concerned Corinth Street residents.

 

Duquette explained that he needed some time to turn the "total dump" around. He said he hopes to bring it up to standards to his Berkshire Construction Co. property, also on Ashland Street.

 

"This property here I plan on doing the same, I just need a little time," Duquette said.

 

Currently he's been letting contractors use his property for waste and recycling products as well as equipment.

 

"For now I'm all I'm asking is permission to stockpile [gravel and blacktop] for my jobs that we all do around North Adams," Duquette said. "All I'm doing is transferring it to my site, it's just basically a midpoint and to store some machinery."

 

He said he only plans to use it for this year.

 

Planning Board member Wayne Wilkinson suggested covering up the "eyesore," which residents agreed with.

 

"We're here as residents of that neighborhood, we're also here as residents of the city and it goes back to cleaning up the corridor," said City Councilor John Barrett III, also a resident of Corinth Street. "What we're asking for is standards here... and that property should be cleaned, that stuff should be moved off of there."

 

Barrett also accused Duquette of allegedly breaking the mud ordinance and dirtying the street.

 

The city councilor also expressed concerns of whether or not the tractor-trailer truck wreckage from the Dead Man's Curve crash left on the property contained hazardous materials. However, Florida volunteer firefighter Steven Burbank — at the meeting on other business — said he was on scene at the accident and confirmed that the hazardous material was removed and the only thing remaining was calcium fertilizer.

 

 

Alice Cande, a Corinth Street resident, expressed concern about trucks coming and going through the dangerous turn, whether or not if these transfers would happen at early hours and whether there would be bright lights.

 

Chairman Michael Leary said Cande's concerns match his — Duquette's lack of a plan.

 

"I think the point from the board is there is a reason why businesses have to come before the board to obtain permits and that's because when they come here they should have a plan that they come before us with and they say, 'Here's what I want to do, I want to eventually buy this property, this is what I'd like to use this property for, this is how it's going to be fenced... this is what the lighting will be like ...this is when the traffic will be the heaviest... and this is exactly what the hours of operation are going to be,'" Leary said. "That's why we ask people to come before the board."

 

Duquette argued that nothing changed, saying it went from a scrap yard to an open field and now it just has a pile of gravel on it over the past couple years. Leary disagreed.

 

"My feeling is you don't have a permit to do what's currently is happening," Leary said. "I think the property should be cleaned up and then you should come back to the board when you're ready to offer a full-time permit site." 

 

In other business:

 

► Barbara and Eric Rudd's Art Foundation's application to turn the former Methodist Church on East Main Street into an art gallery was put on hold until August's meeting. Eric Rudd will need to seek approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals to waive the parking requirements, as the Planning Board can't.

 

► Michael Milazzo's property on 512 Curran Highway — T&M Autos — will remove a rear storage building that is 8 feet by 56 feet and replace it with a 24-by-66 building, adding it for storage with no change of use. The roof will eventually be changed over to a metal roof and repainted.

 

► Burbank's application for D&S Automotive on 350 State Road to be renamed to to X-treme Automotive was approved.