Planning body reviews site plan for 513 South Main Street; landscaping and lighting clarified

A planning body met to hear a site-plan review for 513 South Main Street, a proposed bridal venue, where the presenter described added buffering plantings, a rear gravel driveway and motion-activated lighting. The body also reordered the agenda and approved corrected minutes from Jan. 14, 2026.

The presenter, Patrick Forstay, said he submitted updated full-size site plans, a stormwater plan, a building plan and a lighting and landscaping plan after a preliminary review. "My name is Patrick Forstay," he told the panel before walking members through the materials. He said the proposal adds plantings to the left of the driveway to increase the buffer between the site and adjacent property and includes additional miscellaneous landscaping features and a gravel driveway in the rear.

Commissioners asked whether the proposal affected a town easement between the two properties. An unidentified participant noted a "town of Berlin easement" running between the parcels and asked whether the plans would impact it. Forstay replied, "No," and said the plantings are close to the existing driveway but sufficient maintenance space would remain.

Members sought clarification about lighting. Forstay pointed to the submitted lighting plan and said fixtures would include down-lighting and motion activation; when asked whether dusk-to-dawn fixtures would be on continuously or motion-triggered, he said, "Yes. They will," confirming motion sensors would be used.

Before the site-plan presentation, the body reworked the agenda to hear the 513 South Main Street item earlier. A motion to move item 5 ahead of item 4 was made, seconded and carried by voice vote; the transcript records affirmative responses but does not provide a complete roll-call tally. The minutes for the Jan. 14, 2026 meeting were discussed for corrections (noting that a speaker identified as a resident of "Branch Street" should be recorded as being from Gray Street) and were approved after a motion and voice vote; the transcript again records 'Aye' without a full tally.

No formal vote on the site-plan application is recorded in the transcript provided. The record shows questions and clarifications about landscaping placement, easement impact and lighting controls; Forstay said the submitted plans on file are the definitive materials and acknowledged that the digital display on the meeting screen may have differed from the printed plans supplied to the panel.

Next steps were not recorded in the excerpted transcript. The body did not announce a final decision on the site plan within the provided segments; the presentation concluded after members received the clarifications described above.