Highlands Landing seeks variances for C Street ferry terminal and seasonal "Sandbox"; board carries application after community concerns

Highlands Landing Corp. asked the Highlands Planning Board to approve a revised site plan for the C Street ferry terminal and the seasonal "Sandbox" beach bar at 326 Shore Drive, seeking variances for dual uses, parking setbacks and reduced parking counts while proposing stacked car lifts to increase on‑site capacity.

Attorney Salvator Alfieri, representing the applicant, opened the presentation and said the applicant will call an engineer, traffic consultant and planner and that they recently received a CAPRA (Coastal Area Facilities Review Act) approval from the state. Brad Thompson, a civil engineer with Najjar and Associates, testified that the project would reconfigure the existing parking field, add sidewalks and ADA access to the pier, repave portions of the lot and install two rows of stacked car lifts (70 lifts total) to make up capacity lost to defined drive aisles and safety improvements.

The application seeks a use variance because the property combines two principal uses—public beach and a parking lot—that the Waterfront Commercial (W C‑2) zoning does not permit together. Thompson said the lot is about 7.666 acres and that the submission requests relief from several standards: 1,863…