Planning board recommends ZBA grant parking variance for large tank manufacturer; proposes reserve parking

The DeWitt Planning Board voted to recommend that the Zoning Board of Appeals grant a parking variance May 8 to reduce the site’s required parking from 420 spaces to 273 spaces for a specialty steel drum manufacturer and its proposed addition.

Greg Cromwell, presenting for the applicant, said the use requires substantial floor area for manufacturing and indoor loading but comparatively few employee or customer parking spaces. The existing built site already contains roughly 205 constructed parking spaces and another 68 held in reserve per a 25% banking provision in the code; the applicant expects only a modest increase in employees (about 14) with the new addition.

The board’s recommendation notes that the required code parking appears to be “far in excess” of what this specialty industrial use requires and that the plan demonstrates the ability to construct banked spaces in the future if needed. The recommendation conditions include returning to the Planning Board for final site plan approval and for any action on reserve parking configuration and architecture.

The board voted to forward the recommendation to the Zoning Board of Appeals; the ZBA will make the final decision on the requested reduction and any associated site‑plan conditions.