Self-Storage Facility Off Groton Road One Step Closer to Reality
Planning Board reviews improvements made by developer
On Monday night, the Westford Planning Board moved one step closer to approving a 570-unit self-storage facility with an accompanying office that will be constructed on Commerce Way right off of Groton Road.
The project most recently received consideration from the Board on January 7 earlier this year. Board members voted to continue the case until the February 4meeting to allow the development team time to address additional concerns with the Planning and Engineering Departments.
Attorney Doug Deschenes, a partner with Deschenes & Farrell, P.C., and Matt Waterman, a Civil Engineer with Land Tech Consultants, provided representation for the land developer, Cathartes Private Investments. Both Deschenes and Waterman updated the Board with regards to their progress.
Deschenes began the presentation by reviewing a number of changes to the site plan set. He previously provided a letter to Town Planner Chris Kluchman itemizing the changes.
The office space has been enlarged from 600 square feet to 800 square feet. Two additional parking spaces will be constructed to allow for the increase in office size.
Architectural elevations and building floor plans were provided to the town to show how the buildings will appear upon completion. Waterman also reviewed the layout of the site with the Board using a colored rendering.
To accommodate the Fire Department, the size of the on-site cistern has been increased from 10,000 gallons to 32,000 gallons.
Shrubs and trees will be removed from the on-site snow storage area to aide in keeping drive aisles clear during snowfall events.
A waiver request for a full traffic study was also submitted to Town Engineer Paul Starratt as was requested at the previous meeting.
After finishing his presentation, Deschenes praised the parties involved for working together.
“A lot of work went back and forth between Land Tech and the Town Engineer," Deschenes said.
The Planning Board voted to continue the case to the February 19meeting in order to allow the developer time to settle a few remaining matters.
MarkSindone
3:05 am on Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wow, a 570-unit self-storage facility with an accompanying office is huge. This is a great achievement for the investments firm. Having an office with the self-storage facility should quell some public’s concern that the facility does not contribute to the society or help create jobs for the locals living in the area. With offices being constructed, it is likely that the locals will benefit from the jobs offered. Also, with people working in the area, businesses around the office will thrive from the influx of people. It is more beneficial than leaving the site unused.
Donald Borman
7:41 am on Thursday, March 28, 2013
Hi Mark. I hope your comment about quelling public concern about the contribution of this project to the local economy was sarcastic. You do realized that the we're talking about one, single 800 square foot office right?
Aside from adding a modest subsidy to the tax pool all this project will add is traffic. Generally speaking people in Westford do not need additional storage so that means 570 folks from neighboring towns making repeated visits to their cubby and doing absolutely nothing else in Westford (except making it harder to get on and off Route 3). Look on the bright side, at least it's not 40b.