The Essex Junction Development Review Board on April 17 approved a final site plan to add three dwelling units to an existing three‑story mixed‑use building at 34 Park Street in the Village Center district, with modified conditions that remove an immediate dumpster‑enclosure requirement and ask for modest residential‑scale landscaping at the primary residential entrance.

Park Street Ventures LLC representatives Chris McKeeling (owner) and Ryan Augustine (engineer) described the application as primarily a documentation exercise: the building currently contains two dwelling units above a commercial space and the application documents existing conditions, updates lighting and parking plans, and adds a bike rack and bench. The board concluded the building’s footprint will not change and approved the site plan with conditions as adjusted.

Board members and staff discussed several operational and design items during the review. Staff and board members asked the applicant to replace noncompliant lighting fixtures with dark‑sky‑compliant fixtures and to adjust fixture aim and shields as needed; the applicant indicated plans to do so. The board requested a small, residential‑scale landscaping treatment centered on the building’s residential entry so the entrance reads as serving apartments as well as businesses; the applicant agreed to add planters or similar treatments that do not require removing existing concrete.

A key staff condition proposed in the packet would have required the dumpster serving the building to be screened from the public right‑of‑way. Board members noted the dumpster sits on a portion of land that is part of a larger master‑planned redevelopment (Chittenden Crossing) and that the dumpster location is likely temporary; members decided to strike condition number 5 (the immediate enclosure requirement) and instead ask that the dumpster be brought into compliance or relocated when the master‑plan work occurs. The board instructed staff to ensure the dumpster’s future handling is reviewed when the master plan advances; the applicant said the existing dumpster will remain in its current location for now.

Board members also discussed footprint‑lot ownership issues: Park Street Ventures owns the building footprint but not all the surrounding land, which creates the need for proof of concurrence from other parcel owners when site improvements affect shared land. The board asked the applicant to coordinate with surrounding parcel owners and staff as required.

The motion approved the final site plan with conditions as adjusted: strike the immediate dumpster enclosure requirement and require a residential‑scale landscaping treatment at the primary residential entry; the motion carried unanimously.

Next steps: The applicant will finalize the conditions with staff, adjust exterior lighting and add the agreed landscaping treatments, and complete any required agreements with co‑owners of the surrounding land before permits for tenant fit‑out and related work proceed.