Selectmen grant business park one month extension
By Karen Mann

The issue of the slope stabilization at 142 State Road East is still ongoing as selectmen will now write a detailed letter to contractor Don Barry, who is overseeing the project, indicating they want him to use seed and loam to stabilize the slope. Journal Photo/Kevin J. MacLean

Selectmen agreed to give CFS Engineering more time to submit a set of definitive plans for the Westminster Business Park project.

Charles Scott Jr., of CFS Engineering, said because of the detail they are putting into the plans, they were not ready to present them to the Planning Board yet. According to Scott, the definitive plans were supposed to be submitted around Aug. 13, seven months after the preliminary plans were approved.

Scott said this is a two-phase project. The first step was filing a preliminary plan with the Planning Board to get comments on the project. From there, Scott said they moved forward to establishing definitive plans, which involves the construction of roads.

Selectmen granted the business park's owners' the earth removal permit last summer after many public hearings. The permit was conditional based on a definitive development plan being developed and implemented.

Board Chairman Lorraine Emerson believes if the company spends thousands of dollars to have a road built where they are removing land, they will not back out of the project.

"It is a good way to make sure the area does not just turn into a gravel pit," Emerson said.

Selectmen are giving earth removal permit for the project in increments. Scott estimated that 30 percent of the land has been removed from the lot selectmen gave him a permit for.

Scott said there are three lots ready to sell, each one ranging between 14,000 and 25,000-square feet. He plans to have five lots total by the end of the first phase. According to Scott, they have had some interest from companies to purchase a lot.

Selectmen raised concerns with this project and the start of school next week.

"We cannot risk an accident with a school child," Emerson said.

Scott agreed fully with her, and said he would send a letter to the workers reminding them of safety precautions.

Scott said the company would submit definitive plans at the Monday, Sept. 11 Planning Board meeting.

In other business:

 Selectmen discussed the ongoing issue of the slope stabilization at 142 State Road East. Selectmen tried to decide what to write in the letter they would be sending to the property owners.

Emerson reiterated her original point, that if Don Barry, who is overseeing the construction project, had applied for the necessary earth removal permit, he would have known how selectmen wanted the project done. She also said that Barry was not following the original plan he had presented to the board, which stated he would use seed and loam to stabilize the slope.

Barry was not present at the meeting.