3-15-06

Walpole Planning Board Weighs Berkshire Shopping Center Proposal

By Charles C. Bingaman, Contributing Writer

            Declaring that “I don’t think it’s a viable plan without the interconnection of the two [parking] lots,” Walpole Planning Board Chairman Jeff Miller and the full board Tuesday evening received an advisory report on the proposed Berkshire shopping center proposal from Kevin Russell of the Southwest Regional Planning Commission and heard responses from Berkshire representatives.

            While state statute requires the Board to make its decision within 65 days, Planning Board Chair Jeff Miller also said, “I don’t think we should be rushing through this because it’s a major thing for the town.”

            The principal point of debate came when Wagner Engineering’s Jennifer Rzepka noted that Berkshire can commit to bringing a road from the proposed new shopping center parking lot to the edge of the property but cannot, at this time, commit to having it connect to the existing North Meadow Plaza parking lot.

            To that, Chairman Miller stated that, “Having a proposal like this is going to increase the traffic flow.  We cannot expand as you describe without it being an absolute nightmare unless the two parking lots are connected.  I want it fixed or it’s dangerous…unacceptable.”

            In answer to a question from Board member David Edkins, traffic engineer Nicholas Sanders of Bedford, NH traffic engineering firm Vanasse Hangen, Brustlin, Inc., said that the traffic study previously submitted did not assume an interconnection of the two lots.  And that study predicted as many as 150 to 300 additional cars per hour, depending on day of the week and time of day, would be attracted to the proposed new development.

            Berkshire attorney Thomas R. Hanna of Keene argued that “Berkshire’s efforts to get tenants in North Meadow Plaza to agree to connect the lots is a question for two private landowners and we don’t want to play that out here.  The Berkshire proposal is a separate project on independently, or nearly independently, owned property and the DOT will decide whether the traffic mitigation we have proposed is sufficient.”  At the February meeting, Hanna had explained that leases of current tenants in North Meadow Plaza gave them veto power over any additional or new entrances into the current parking lot.

            Miller replied that, “While not speaking for the full Board, even though they are independent, North Meadow Plaza and the new space are one entity in terms of their impact on the town.  If the lots are not interconnected, it’s not a viable site plan.”

            “Even now,” he continued, "under good conditions, the traffic on Rt. 12 is really hectic.  Since Ocean State Job Lot came in there, I think the entry to North Meadow Plaza has maxed out.”

            On the question of the possible impact of the development on the aquifer beneath it, Walpole Conservation Commission Chairman Gary Speed suggested, and the Board unanimously agreed to, the hiring of an independent consultant to advise the Board on any problems present in the proposal.

            The Board also questioned the engineers on whether there might be a sidewalk connecting the “out building” to the main building.  The current plan does not provide for one, even though the buildings are more than 300 feet apart.  Berkshire’s Jamie Keough suggested the possibility of putting a crosswalk through the  parking lot.  He also noted that there is no provision for a drive through around the “out building.”

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            Russell reported that there were no elevations submitted with the proposal for the “out building”, the small building proposed for the end of the lot near the intersection of Rt. 12 and Upper Valley Road and that there had not be a submission of a design for proposed signage.  Berkshire representatives then presented both the missing elevation and a basic design for the sign pylon.