Planning board members spent part of the Aug. 27 hearing pressing Wonder Foods to provide written documentation of operational changes since the facility’s prior approvals and to clarify how many employees are on site per shift and how parking will be accommodated.
The applicant’s representative, Mr. Botcher, testified that first shift has approximately 200 employees, second shift about 100 and third (overnight) shift about 25–30. He said the site currently has 167 parking spaces. Board members pointed out that an earlier condition limited employees on site to 89 at one time and that the shift numbers now claimed would require amending prior approvals.
The applicant said there is a partial certificate of occupancy (CO) for the original building and a temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO) on a roughly 9,000-square-foot portion of the addition (the total building is about 39,000 square feet). Botcher said a final CO for the addition will require resolution-compliance and that the applicant will include a request to amend deadlines in its application materials.
Why it matters: the board must understand current staffing and parking to evaluate circulation, parking adequacy and whether variances or amendments to prior conditions are required.
Follow-up requested: the board asked the applicant to submit a written narrative enumerating operational changes since the 2019/2020 approvals, interior floor plans, a list of prior conditions the applicant seeks to modify (including employee-cap limits), and clarification on how many parking spaces will remain after re-striping or removing oversized stalls.