Roberts Plywood asked the Town of Babylon Planning Board on Sept. 8 to approve a site plan to build a 22,632-square-foot warehouse and an 11,290-square-foot canopy that would shelter loading adjacent to an active railroad spur at 45 North Industry Court in Deer Park.

The proposal, presented by the applicant’s attorney Tom Abate and project engineer Christopher Voorhees, would add a second building in the northwest quadrant of the roughly 5.5-acre site and place an open-sided canopy over the property’s existing elevated rail unloading platform to protect employees and materials during offloading. Voorhees said the spur is active and that the branch serving the site can accommodate about three to four railcars; trucks serving the property range from small box trucks up to WB-67 tractor-trailers.

The application includes changes to on-site circulation intended to make most vehicle movements one-way, counterclockwise, and to expand passenger parking and accessible stalls. Abate told the board the expansion is largely for storage and does not substantially increase trip generation; he said the applicant does not anticipate more than about 10 additional employees and estimated customer parking would rise from 55 to about 60 spaces after construction.

The applicant acknowledged three forms of zoning relief will be required: an off-street parking variance, a front-yard parking/setback variance related to an irregular ‘‘spout’’ of the parcel, and relief for permitting a second building on the lot because the rail spur divides the property. Abate told the board the applicant agreed to the conditions in the planning commissioner’s Sept. 2 memorandum and had no objections to the listed covenants and restrictions.

Board members asked technical questions about railcar capacity, truck sizes, and existing shared access; Voorhees said the south entrance is an existing access easement and that signage and striping at the proposed track crossing will be in conformance with applicable railroad code. The applicant said operations for Roberts Plywood run Monday through Friday for vendors and customers from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; employees may remain until about 9 p.m.; there is no weekend business.

No members of the public spoke on the application. The board voted to close the public hearing and reserve decision in order to review any additional comments and outstanding site-plan issues; the record was left open for written comments to the planning department.

Next steps described at the hearing include submission of the zoning variances to the Zoning Board of Appeals and any technical revisions requested by planning staff. Planning staff provided contact information and hours for review of application documents.

The planning board’s action at the meeting was limited to closing the hearing and reserving decision; no approval or denial of the site plan was made at the Sept. 8 meeting.