Winchester Industrial park proposal mulled

Board begins review of plan

By Sarah Palermo
Sentinel Staff

Published: Tuesday, May 19, 2009

WINCHESTER — After failing to get voter approval for a compost facility, a Brattleboro company says it’s pursuing an industrial park on Route 119 — but residents remain skeptical and ready to oppose the project.

Nearly three dozen residents attended a meeting Monday night to hear the Winchester Planning Board accept an application from N & M Winchester Properties for a business park across from Ashuelot Road.

Following the meeting, residents said they’ll be back, ready to oppose the plans at a public hearing June 1.

Plans call for a road and five building sites on 3 acres of the 106-acre parcel, but the applicants made it no secret they’d like to put a composting facility there instead.

The property owners — who also own Triple T Trucking, a Brattleboro trash hauling company — approached selectmen last year about building the composting facility, but the town’s regulations do not allow it.

Selectmen put two versions of zoning amendments on the ballot in March to allow composting. Voters rejected both.

Robert Stevens, president of the Brattleboro design firm that drew up the plans, indicated the company would lobby for the changes again next spring.

“Our client’s first intent for the site was composting, but that would take a change in the ordinance,” Stevens said. “It’s up to the voters to decide.”

Several residents talked outside town hall following the meeting and said the voters had already spoken.

“No means no,” said resident Paul Kovacs. “I think the voters decided clearly in March.”

The proposed zoning changes were the subject of much debate at the official-ballot first session and in letters to the editor leading up to the vote.

One would have allowed compost facilities by special exception in the agricultural and commercial districts after two reviews. It was voted down 524-300.

The other would have established a looser regulation, allowing the facilities without a special exception, only in the agricultural or highway commercial districts. It was rejected 679-135.

Though the official application presented Monday is for a road and building sites for an industrial park, it has been met with skepticism by town residents.

“They are persistent with putting their dump in Winchester,” Sharron Laurie of Ashuelot wrote in a recent letter to the editor. “This time they are coming in under the guise of a ‘commercial/industrial park.’ ”

Following Monday’s meeting, residents agreed, calling the plans fishy and saying the application looks like a ruse for the company to continue pursuing a compost facility.

“They’re going to put the road in there, and then they’ll say, ‘see, the only thing that fits is a compost site,’ ” Kovacs said.

On Monday, the planning board determined the project could have regional impact because of light and noise pollution or traffic once the buildings are up and tenants move in. An earlier report posted online at sentinelsource.com incorrectly stated the project was approved.

The town will notify the towns of Hinsdale and Northfield, Mass., and the Southwestern Regional Planning Commission.

The commission will review the plans with the board to en sure they comply with town ordinances.

The board also voted to hire an independent engineer to review the plans, at the applicant’s expense.

Peter Gaskil, general manager of Triple T Trucking, said this morning the composting site is still Plan A, but “if we can’t make one thing occur, then another thing will.”

He did not know what types of businesses would be pursued as tenants for the park, but said they would be “businesses that meet the zoning ordinances of the town.”

u The Winchester Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the plans June 1 at 7 p.m. at the Winchester Town Hall.

Sarah Palermo can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or spalermo@keenesentinel.com