Adams ZBA OK's Truck Signs, Pitching Academy

	Specialty Minerals was approved for a special permit to install two large blue signs to direct tractor-trucks to the proper entrance.

ADAMS, Mass. — Specialty Minerals was given the go-ahead to install two large signs directing tractor-trailer trucks to the correct driveway at the Columbia Street plant.

Timothy Brown, a technical support manager for Specialty Minerals, said the trucks are creating a danger and drivers are getting lost in the plant because they aren't going into the right driveway.

"What we're experiencing is a lot of difficulty with trucks entering in the wrong place," Brown told the Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday. "We have truck drivers walking into loading docks."

The turning lane put in by the state "works great if you're approaching from the north because it's the first entrance that you hit," said Brown.

But drivers approaching from the south also tend to take the first — wrong —  entrance they see, either because they are relying on GPS or don't see the main entrance sign. Many are from national or international companies and may not know the area well, said Brown.

"It disrupts the flow. We want them to come in the main truck entrance and circle around, go through the scale house and pick up their bills and proceed to their loading dock," he said.

ZBA member Peter West said turning trucks on the highway created a danger.

"There's been one fatal accident there unfortunately because someone was trying to take a left," he said, referring to the 2011 accident that killed a town of Florida woman whose vehicle collided with a tractor trailer.

Board members agreed, approving the placement of one reflective 4-by-8 foot sign at the old used car lot now owned by Specialty Minerals and a similar size, reflective double-sided sign across from the main entrance. Brown said the signs would be blue in keeping with the use of blue for informational signs and green for directional.

"I think it's a no-brainer," said Chairman Michael Mach.

The board also spent some time questioning Richard S. Cain about his application to add a studio apartment to a residence he owns at 45 East St.

Cain said he spends most of his time in Florida but wants a place to stay when he comes back to Adams. He proposed creating the studio out his father's former electronics showroom above the garage.

One of his abuttors was concerned about the number of apartments in the building and an increase in traffic or noise. Cain said the two apartments in the building are rented out to people who have not been in anyway a nuisance. There is also parking, he said, for at least 12 cars, double that required by the town's bylaw.

Board members mulled over the idea of putting on a condition that the studio had to be owner-occupied but weren't sure if that would hold if the building were sold. In the end, they approved the special permit but with corrections to the application to note it was an addition to a two-family home and that it was a studio, not a one-bedroom, apartment.  

• An application for Anita Gutmann to operate a photography business from her home on Quaker Street.  Gutmann said the photographing would take place away from her home and most communication with clients would be online, by phone, personal delivery or mail. She estimated two to three customers a month might come to her home for consulting or to pick up discs.

• An application for Jonah Bayliss to operate A1 Pitching Academy at 5 Hoosac St. Bayliss said the athletic academy would involve some physical training but would emphasis baseball because "that's what I did and that's what I train." The Williamstown native was a pitcher for Major League teams such as the Houston Astros.

The academy will be located on the second floor of the former Waverly fabric outlet, above the Berkshire Dance Theatre that moved in earlier this year. Bayliss' brother owns the building as Bayliss Holdings LLC. The mill had been empty for several years.

"It's nice to the building being used," said Chairman Michael Mach.

The board also spent some time debating when or if to schedule a special meeting to take up the controversial solar array proposed for 217 East Road.

Planners unanimously rejected the proposal last month because they did not believe it fell under the state's by-right use.

The next step would presumably be to appeal the application to the ZBA but town officials and solar provider Apis Energy Group aren't quite sure if that is correct step or the deadlines based on the Planning Board's decision.

"The idea was to move into an appeals process," Seth Ginsberg, president of Apis, explained to the board. "We don't want the appeals to go until we know we're doing it right."

Building Commissioner David Pelletier said Community Development Director Donna Cesan had spoken with town counsel but he did not know what the result was.

However, if Apis did come before the ZBA, Pelletier said the "idea of a special meeting was because it would attract a lot of people and be lengthy."

ZBA members agreed since the past several meetings with the Planning Board have been standing-room only. But as the discussion veered into the appeals process itself, West reminded his colleagues that issue was not on the agenda and they could only set a date.

Mach said he wanted to be sure enough members could attend, especially when member Brian Tenczar informed them he was considered an abuttor to the project so could not hear the matter. Anthony Donovan said he was not available on some dates.

"I want to have a full board," said Mach. "I want to make sure we have five people. I don't want the same thing to happen like what happened with the Planning Board."

It was decided for present to clear the agenda for the regular meeting of Nov. 12; another date could be set depending on the determination of the appeals process. Pelletier said he would inform the board about town counsel's opinion.

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