Planning board approves 11 gravel parking spaces for Katana Fish with landscaping and parking conditions

The Bourne Planning Board unanimously approved May 28 a special permit to add 11 parking spaces (alternative gravel/seashell surface) at 1360 Route 28A to accommodate expansion of Katana Fish’s retail operation and an anticipated package‑store license.

Owner Patrick Ross told the board the parcel has operated as retail and wholesale seafood since 1981 and that he and his wife acquired it in 2022. Ross said the proposed back and side parking areas are currently gravel/seashell and explained the parking layout and how a weekend food trailer would be maneuvered and stored on site.

Planning staff and board members emphasized the need for a formal landscape plan to buffer the view of an adjacent courtyard parking lot, recommended wheel stops and restriping in the front paved lot, and asked that dumpsters in the rear be screened. One planning commissioner recommended four shade trees and roughly 33 shrubs, with shrubs specified to reach at least 24 inches at the time of substantial completion; staff required trees to be 3‑inch caliper minimum.

Ross said they will install signage pointing to “additional parking” at the right side of the front door. The board’s motion granted alternative surfacing under the zoning code for the 11 gravel spaces, required the landscaping and screens described in the conditions, deferred emergency‑access verification to the fire department, and required a stamped engineer plan and recording of the decision at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds prior to issuing a building permit.

The motion to approve (special permit SPRS SP 04‑2026) passed unanimously. The decision binds the property and runs with the land; the applicant must submit the detailed planting schedule to planning staff within 14 days and install wheel stops and screening per conditions.