By CHRIS FROST
Eagle Times News Editor
CLAREMONT, NH — The Planning Board approved a site plan for a take-out pizza shop with a drive-up window without left turns during its Monday, Nov. 13 meeting.
Keith Bell from KAB Properties, a Domino’s franchisee, will convert 54 Washington Street into a pizza shop. Bell can present an independent traffic study by a third party to address the left turn concern and get approval from the proper agency.
City Planner deForest Bearse said the lot conforms to the area and width at the building line, and the applicant requested no waivers.
“The project was reviewed by department heads Tuesday, May 23,” said Bearse. “I have reviewed the plan with all the site plan criteria, and my primary concern is the proposed left turn onto the property from Washington Street.”
She said there is no parking standard for the proposed use, which should be determined by the Planning Board and part of the site plan approval.
“The plan shows six spaces in front of the building with an additional six spaces in the rear of the lot,” Bearse said.
City Council Representative Debra Matteau asked if any inside seating would be available, and Bearse said only drive-up service or ordering inside the location would be available.
Board Member Bruce Kolenda asked who discussed the left-hand turn on Washington Street.
“This was brought to staff review the second time, and there was a previous proposal using two lots,” Bearse said. “The second proposal used only one lot, and in both cases, the staff, police department, fire department and the DPW [Department of Public Works] said no left turn.”
She said the 2014 Access Management Study said there needs to be a median to prevent left-hand turns on that section of Washington Street.
“It’s been quite well known that we don’t want left-hand turns in that area, but we’ll leave that up to the board,” she said.
Vice Chair David Putnam added the committee reviewing the business district, including Washington Street, recommended no left-hand turns on Washington Street.
“We also talked about having roundabouts so people could have access by making a turnaround easily,” said Putnam.
Advanced Geomatics and Design President Dan Nash represents Bell on the property and said it is currently in poor condition.
“He did get a permit to do a little bit of cleanup and demo so the condition of the building could be assessed for future reuse,” said Nash. “We have circulation around the building. I put the six spaces in front of the building to allow customers to come in and pick up their pizza or order a pizza and wait. We also have circulation around the building and a bypass lane, so if people are waiting at the drive-up window, people can go around them.”
Nash said the left-hand turn is a low-traffic generator, and they only want left turns onto the parcel.
“There’s a long stack lane, over 300 feet long, coming eastbound on Washington Street before you get to Winter Street,” he said. “If a car is waiting to turn left into our facility, there would be no obstruction because it’s in the left turn lane, and there’s two lanes of through traffic.”
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