Planning board grants Connell Excavation site-plan approval, conditional-use permits and waivers for Meeks Road site

The Kingston Planning Board unanimously approved a site-plan application from Connell Excavation LLC to establish a contractor’s base at 1 Meeks Road (Map R13, Lot 7) in the Commercial 3 zone and Aquifer Protection District, granting the waivers and conditional-use permits required for the operation.

Carl from SCC & Associates presented the application on behalf of owner-operator Caden Connell. The proposal is for a two‑story, roughly 6,000-square-foot steel-frame building with office space and vehicle/equipment storage, an on-site septic system, a new drilled well, a paved equipment yard and an infiltration basin to manage stormwater. Connell described the operation as a small excavation contractor business with mostly off-site work and limited staff; “I’m going on my fifth year in business now,” he told the board.

Planning staff advised that the use requires a planning-board conditional-use permit because the contractor use is neither explicitly permitted nor prohibited in the C-3 district. Staff also noted the need for a conditional-use permit for activity in the Aquifer Protection District. The application requested waivers from preliminary-review requirements, a reduced engineering-review account, and interior-parking landscaping requirements; the board granted each waiver after discussion.

Town engineering review (Dennis Quintel) recommended a pre‑construction meeting, a guardrail or similar protection along the southerly parking edge to protect the infiltration basin from sediment and snow, recording of the stormwater operation and maintenance plan at the registry of deeds, and a site‑restoration/construction bond. The board made final approval conditional on those items: adding a plan note that the site is partially in the Wetland Conservation District, completing the second test pit the town requested, including Dennis’s numbered comments as conditions, and establishing the bond and stormwater O&M record prior to construction.

The board voted unanimously on motions to invoke jurisdiction, grant the requested waivers (including the preliminary-review waiver and reduced engineering-review account), grant the conditional-use permits for the contractor use and for the Aquifer Protection District, and to approve the site plan with the staff conditions. The planning-board file will include the conditional-use permits, recorded stormwater O&M documents, and the required pre‑construction meeting and bond prior to ground disturbance.