SOUTH DEERFIELD — Proposed plans for a new Cumberland Farms at the corner of Greenfield Road and Elm Street are making headway through town government.
Recently, representatives from the convenience store chain petitioned the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, which provided feedback to preliminary plans.
At a Planning Board meeting Dec. 5, Civil Design Group co-owner Phillip Henry presented plans to construct a 4,700-square-foot convenience store, two 20,000-gallon tanks, and eight gas pumps, “supported by 27 parking spaces.”
Currently, Cumberland Farms is working with the state Department of Transportation to get curb-cuts on Routes 5 and 10.
If Cumberland Farms receives approval, the new gas station would have a main entrance on Elm Street.
As far as potential problems, Henry said the roughly half-acre and commercially zoned 31 Elm St. property has potential water table concerns that designers will have to address. Planning Board Chairman John Nove acknowledged that “groundwater is an issue with every project we do in South Deerfield.”
“It was expected to be high,” Henry added, relating that the state Department of Environmental Protection requires a little more than 2 feet of separation between the estimated seasonal high water table and the property’s “basin floor.” Right now, preliminary designs outline about a foot and a half separation.
“We need to look at other ways of managing stormwater,” Henry said, addressing the Planning Board. He said the final plan will have to change, “breaking it up into different sections, or even raising (the building) half a foot. We have comments from the Conservation Commission, we have comments from the (Zoning Board of Appeals), now we’re looking for comments from you.”
Other concerns raised during that meeting included potential traffic problems because of the nearby railroad crossing, which could also affect pedestrian access.
Henry said sidewalks along Elm Street, as well as a cross walk would be part of the plan.
No vote was taken by Planning Board members at the meeting.
For the Cumberland Farms store to gain approval, it’ll have to receive a few special permits from the Zoning Board of Appeals, including a few exceptions to the town’s sign requirements.
“By way of a little bit of context, we’ve been contemplating this project and this site for over a year,” said Tom Reidy, an attorney with Bacon Wilson Attorneys at Law in Amherst at a meeting recently.
Reidy requested a special permit because of the building’s size. He also asked that the town make an exception to its limit of two signs per business.
“We hope to work with the town; we think it’s a good project for us, and for the town as well,” Reidy said, adding, “We’re also, quite interestingly, proposing a town sign to promote direction to the downtown. We’re interested in discussing ‘what does that look like,’ and ‘what goes on the sign.’”
In response to Reidy’s presentation and the store’s intentions, the Zoning Board of Appeals asked for more information at its next meeting, next Thursday, as well as letters of support from town police department, Fire Department, and Department of Public Works.
As to what would happen to the existing Cumberland Farms at 2 Sugarloaf St. in the center of the village, Reidy said “We would clean up the site completely.” Then, the business would sell the property “with a deed restriction that another convenience store couldn’t come in.”
At the Planning Board meeting, Nove suggested the town might be interested in what happens to the building.