Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the 292 Bedford O Reilly topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves O’Reilly Auto Parts site plan on Bedford Street with stormwater, cross‑easement and aquifer protections
Summary
The Planning Board approved a conditional site plan for an O’Reilly Auto Parts store and two rear retail spaces at 292 Bedford Street after the applicant added drainage improvements, removed pavement to increase landscaping, and agreed to cross‑easements, oil‑water separators, and conditions tying final signoff to water/sewer or well approvals and recorded easements.
The Planning Board voted May 6 to approve a site plan for 292 Bedford Street — an O’Reilly Auto Parts store with two rear retail spaces — after the applicant revised drainage and landscaping and agreed to conditions that protect a nearby wetland and the town’s aquifer-protection requirements.
Engineer Steve Gioso told the board the revised plan "enhanced the stormwater management system" by bringing roof drainage to a recharge system and adding water‑quality separators where none existed. He said the design eliminates about 10,000 square feet of pavement and creates an 8‑foot landscaped buffer along Route 18. "So we're reducing the runoff 2 different ways and we're improving water quality," Gioso said.
Town engineer Greg Tansy confirmed the revisions satisfied his comments, including a pre‑treatment approach credited at 50% TSS removal and downstream improvements that together meet the town’s performance standards. Tansy and the applicant said the recharge chambers will infiltrate roof runoff and the parking-lot runoff will flow through water-quality units before discharge.
Board members and the public pressed on wetlands and aquifer protection. Resident Janet Hansen asked whether lighting would affect the wetlands and whether Conservation Commission (ConCom) review was scheduled; the applicant said the project is before ConCom for an Order of Conditions and that external lighting will be down‑lighting and not directed into wetland areas. The board added conditions requiring recorded cross-easements, confirmation of oil/water separator/floor‑drain arrangements in loading areas, and language tying final planning-board signoff to either a sewer agreement or demonstration of a potable well and Board of Health approval.
The board approved the site plan with those conditions and with standard language that the building must be constructed as represented on the approved plans. The applicant and staff agreed that temporary construction trailers may remain during construction but must be removed within an agreed period after occupancy; the board also noted it will require a Form A (endorsement) prior to plan endorsement and that minor modifications may be necessary if ConCom or other approvals change parcel lines.
