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Randolph DRB Reviews The Randolph Development Review Board on Tuesday reviewed a site plan for a 40,000 square-foot building on 30 acres off Route 66 in Randolph, for the expansion of a Rochester publishing company. At the conclusion of the hearing, the DRB voted to close the public hearing on the application from Inner Traditions/Bear & Co., and to consider the permit in deliberative session. Zoning Administrator Mardee Sanchez advised publisher Ehud Sperling that it would likely several weeks before the decision is signed and issued. Sperling said planning for the project is ongoing, and it would probably be several years before construction. When completed, the building would house the business’s data processing, accounting, inventory, and shipping and receiving activities. Sperling plans to buy land from the Thomas Mowatt Revocable Trust for the development. The land is behind the Tucker’s Farm Stand and Chamber of Commerce buildings, and extends behind Randolph Union High School to the southern boundary of the mobile home park on Forest Street. In a separate agenda item Tuesday night, the DRB agreed to a request from the Mowatt Trust, to move the southern boundary of the parcel closer to Route 66, to run along Chandler, or Adams, Brook. This will leave as a remainder a narrow strip of land between the highway and the brook. A 23-space parking lot, situated between the highway and the building, will be essentially "hidden" from both directions by berms and landscaping, Sperling said. Sperling explained that he plans to build a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified building, utilizing solar power and heating, and recycled and "sustainable" materials. According to Sperling, the reason that the current building plan lacks details, such as window placement and exterior siding and lighting, is that in a LEED-certified building, form follows function. First comes the energy and environmental engineering, he said, and then the architect has to work within those parameters. The most pointed questions about the plan came from abuttors Greg and Debbie Price, who asked about traffic, noise, visibility of the project, and potential impacts on Ayers Brook. Farmer Warren Davoll, who has worked the fields on the parcel, raised the issue of sight distances at the existing access point, which will be used as the publishing company’s drive location. "You take your life into your hands as you exit," he said. "You can’t see the traffic." Sperling said he has been working with the state on a plan to improve site distances to the east. Work to be done in the state right of way, including grading, will make the spot safer, he promised. State officials have also approved his plan to place some rip-rap along parts of Adams Brook where there is erosion. Jack Cowdrey noted that a VAST snowmobile trail runs through the parcel and he asked Sperling what would become of the trail. "I think I’m probably going to ride my snowmobile on it," Sperling said. The Inner Traditions application needs both site plan and local Act 250 review from the DRB. The project will still need full Act 250 review, and Sperling said he continues to work with state officials on highway access and brook stabilization issues. Subdivision The DRB also approved Marc McPhetres’ request for a five-lot subdivision on Davis Road. The subdivision will create four housing lots of about six acres each, and a 77-acre remainder. Two of the lots will have drives off Davis Road and the other two will be accessed via a right-of-way through lot one. Also approved was Richard McLaren’s and James and Mary Moran’s request for a lot-line adjustment off the Chelsea Mountain Road. Sprague Farms LLC, which is in the midst of site plan and "use review" for a ledge extraction quarry on the west side of Ridge Road, was also on the agenda Tuesday night. The applicant asked to have the hearing continued until the next DRB meeting, Dec. 18. |
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