Millis planning board approves waivers and special permit for Middle–High School renovation despite parking concerns

The Town of Millis Planning Board on June 2 approved four waivers and granted a special permit for the Millis Middle–High School renovation project, advancing a plan that reduces required parking and keeps several existing site constraints in place.

Michelle Callahan, senior project manager at Niche Engineering, told the board the project team received a peer-review letter from Beta on May 29 and that comments were "relatively minor in nature." Callahan said the team requested four waivers: preparing plans at 1"=30' instead of the bylaw-required 1"=40', reducing the off-street parking requirement from 315 to roughly 194–198 spaces to match existing campus capacity, allowing parking stalls of 9 by 18 feet instead of 9 by 21 feet, and reducing required loading spaces from four to the single existing loading dock.

"We are requesting four waivers that we wanted to discuss today," Callahan said, explaining the parking calculation relied on a Howard/Stein|Hudson (HSH) study that assessed occupancy and concluded the campus parking was adequate for the proposed enrollment (the team provided a projection of up to 645 students and an expected staffing level of about 80).

Steven Lee of Beta, the project's peer reviewer, said the review found no major issues and described the stormwater design as "a solid stormwater design," adding that outstanding items were minor and could be handled as conditions of approval.

Board members pressed on parking. One member said the zoning-required 315 spaces were driven largely by auditorium seating, and several raised concerns that community uses (town meeting, athletic events) and future enrollment or staffing changes could increase demand. Resident Kaz Pierkowski and others asked whether the study accounted for future growth; Callahan said the HSH parking study evaluated the proposed occupancy and concluded the existing parking supply was sufficient for the project as designed.

Beta noted the question of whether the existing lot is legally nonconforming for parking, and if so there can be allowances under some zoning rules for continuing nonconforming conditions. The consultant and board members agreed that building a multi-story parking garage or removing planned classroom space to add surface parking would be costly; board members discussed management options if parking supply remains constrained.

After discussion, the board voted on the waivers and permit. The board closed the public hearing and then voted to grant the four waivers: the plan-scale waiver was approved without objection; the waiver to reduce the parking count to about 198 spaces passed 3–1; the waiver shortening stall depth to 18 feet passed unanimously; and the waiver reducing required loading spaces to the single existing dock passed. The planning board then approved the special permit with conditions by a 3–1 vote (one board member, Alan, opposed).

The decisions leave the project moving forward with the reduced parking scheme and the other site exceptions; the approval record includes the peer-review letter and conditions noted by Beta. The transcript records questions about enforcement and whether the town would need to manage parking for large events, but the board concluded that the project meets the bylaws as applied with the granted waivers.

Next procedural steps recorded in the meeting: the board will finalize the decision paperwork and the applicant will be responsible for meeting the permit conditions and providing any minor items Beta listed as conditions of approval.

Votes at a glance: the board closed the public hearing on the project (unanimous), approved the parking-count waiver 3–1, approved the stall-dimension waiver unanimously, approved the loading-space waiver (vote in favor), and approved the special permit 3–1."