By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The Planning Board supports a citizens’ petition that would allow marijuana sales in town but will not recommend allowing a self-storage facility on Quannapowitt Parkway. Last week’s Planning Board votes came at the conclusion of separate public hearings on the marijuana overlay district and the self-storage overlay district.
The two citizens’ petitions will appear as articles on the April 29 Town Meeting warrant. Because both Town Meeting articles involve changes to the Zoning Bylaw, the Planning Board’s practice is to make a recommendation to Town Meeting on each zoning article.
The Planners voted unanimously to recommend favorable Town Meeting action on a citizens’ petition that would allow a retail marijuana facility at the end of Teal Road.
But the vote against the self-storage district at 50 Quannapowitt Parkway was split, with three members opposed to recommending favorable action at Town Meeting and two in favor of a positive recommendation.
Both of last week’s hearings were continuations of the initial hearings on March 12.
At last week’s hearing, attorney Michael McCarthy offered an abbreviated encore presentation advocating for the marijuana district. The contemplated facility would be located at 12 Teal Road. He said that the use would generate tax revenue for the town. He noted that the current owner of the site, Michael Clifford, would also be the licensee of the marijuana facility.
McCarthy pointed out that there are no residential abutters to the isolated Teal Road property.
Planning Board member Matt Lowry reiterated his earlier concern that there did not appear to be room for much parking on the site.
Julie Scott of Central Street spoke again last week against allowing an industry in town that is poorly regulated by the state.
Noting the remote location, Arthur Caggiano of Lakeview Avenue spoke in favor of the measure, arguing that it would allow the town to benefit from the additional tax revenue as other communities are doing.
In the end, the board voted to recommend favorable action at Town Meeting as long as the proposed area was reduced from three lots down to a single lot where the dispensary would sit. All five Planning Board members, Theo Noell, Matt Lowry, Jim Hogan, Kevin York and Bill Spaulding voted to recommend favorable Town Meeting action.
Attorney Brian McGrail advocated for the citizens’ petition that would allow a self-storage overlay district at 50 Quannapowitt Parkway. He offered a summary of the presentation he made at the earlier hearing, stressing the “low impact” of the proposed five-story building that would be located far back on the property, leaving plenty of room for green space and landscaping.
He said that the owners of the property had decided that it was time to develop the site. He argued that, since it was inevitable that something would be built there, a self-storage facility was preferrable to other possibilities like a residential building, a restaurant, retail, an office building or a hotel. All of those other options would require parking, he said, which would limit the amount of green space that could be preserved.
If the self-storage overlay district is approved at Town Meeting, he stressed, a Special Permit and site plan approval would still be required, and the Zoning Board of Appeals could require that a significant portion of the site be preserved as green space.
After McGrail said that the board of directors of the Friends of Lake Quannapowitt supported the self-storage proposal, Julie Scott of Central Street claimed that the board of directors were not representative of the rank-and-file FOLQ membership. But McGrail pointed out that the directors were elected by the members to represent them.
Bronwyn Della-Volpe of Cyrus Street asked if anyone had spoken to the Conservation Commission yet. McGrail said that any project on the site would require a filing with the ConCom, but that it was premature at this point in the process.
Della-Volpe also objected to McGrail citing other, more intense uses that could potentially go on the property, suggesting that the town was being “held under threat.”
McGrail responded that his listing the possibilities that could be allowed under the bylaw did not constitute a threat.
In the end, the Planning Board voted narrowly against recommending favorable action on the self-storage overlay article at Town Meeting. Voting in favor of favorable action were Lowry and Spaulding. Opposed to recommending favorable action were Noell, York and Hogan.