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Planning board continues Red Horse Inn expansion after engineering questions; decision‑deadline extended
Summary
Attorney Kevin Clower presented plans to expand the Red Horse Inn from 26 to 34 rooms and update parking. The board continued the special‑permit hearing to June 23 and accepted a deadline extension to June 30 to allow staff and engineering referrals to be satisfied.
The Planning Board continued a special‑permit and site‑plan review for the proposed expansion of the Red Horse Inn at 28 Falmouth Heights Road on June 9, after applicant representatives summarized plan changes and board members identified outstanding engineering and drainage items.
Kevin Clower, attorney for the applicant, said the project would demolish two structures, construct a new 'building C' scaled back from 14 to eight rooms, add a check‑in building, a pool and reconfigure on‑site parking to provide 38 spaces for a 34‑room hotel (1.1 spaces per room required by the bylaw). Clower said the team had added structural ballards between parking and the check‑in facility, additional streetscape landscaping (including four American elms along the frontage), dumpster screening, an ADA‑compliant pedestrian connection and construction details requested by staff.
Board members raised several technical concerns: the location and size of the on‑site dumpster (the fire department suggested reducing size), parking aisle widths and a landscaped island that could impede circulation, driveway pitch that appears to drain into the street, and outstanding engineering referrals that had redline comments about the driveway and sidewalk. Clower said revised plans address many of the comments and that outstanding engineering items could appropriately be conditioned prior to issuance of a building permit.
The board discussed whether to require structural framing for the ballards now or defer to the building‑department permit review; several members recommended leaving structural drawings to the building permit stage and instead noting the ballards as a condition. Staff proposed drafting a positive motion pending resolution of the engineering comments so the applicant could return with revised plans for a decision hearing.
Motion and next steps: The board moved and seconded to continue the special‑permit hearing to June 23, 2026. The board also voted to accept the applicant's request to extend the decision deadline to June 30, 2026. Both votes were recorded as unanimous. The applicant will submit revised plans and responses to engineering referrals; staff will prepare a draft motion for the next hearing.
