Plainfield
The variance is required because the 3.5-acre parcel on the west side of the road is zoned rural residential.
Bart Industries would use 2,700 square feet for the warehouse with another nearly 900 square feet for office space, according to the application on file with the town.
The property, at 360 Route 12A, had some industrial contamination issues several years ago. The site has been cleaned up but monitoring wells remain. The property was finally cleaned up in 2004 with removal of thousands of tons of contaminated soil.
A dispute over who was responsible for the roughly $1.2 million cleanup delayed the work. A real estate developer bought the property from Donald Berwick Sr., in the 1990s, but later sold it to an Alaska-based company. Those two companies eventually agreed to share in the cleanup costs.
Plainfield Town Administrator Steve Halleran said there has been 20 years of “uncertainty” with the parcel and now it appears it could be returned to productive use.
“Our town plan promotes businesses on state highways,” Halleran said last week.
The distribution of food products would require a couple of tractor trailer loads a day with smaller trucks then delivering to retail locations. Bart Industries is proposing to construct a one-story building measuring 69 feet by 51 feet for its “product exchange center.” It would have four overhead locking doors, two exit doors and a gravel driveway area large enough for a tractor trailer to make 180 degree turn. There would be 20 parking spaces and the surrounding area would be landscaped.
If the ZBA, which will meet on Monday at 7 p.m., approves the special exception, the Planning Board will review the site plan at its meeting on Sept. 18.
