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Neighbors raise privacy and lighting concerns as board reviews proposed medical office on College Highway
Summary
At a public hearing on Aug. 5, the board heard a site presentation for a proposed 7,200–7,500 sq ft medical office at 38 College Highway, probed driveway and emergency access, and continued the hearing to Sept. 2 after neighbors asked for conditions including an eight‑foot fence, photometric plan and vehicle‑turning analysis.
The Southampton Planning Board continued to Sept. 2 a public hearing on a proposed medical office at 38 College Highway after hearing the applicant’s engineering presentation and detailed questions from board members and a nearby resident.
Mike Bowen of Leveque and Associates presented the proposal on behalf of KBIP LLC, describing a site bounded by an intermittent stream and wetlands, the Manhan River, portions mapped as NHESP priority habitat and inclusion in the town’s flood and water protection overlay districts. He said the plan proposes an access drive off College Highway, a parking area with 36 spaces, handicapped stalls and a bioretention area to collect runoff. “College Highway obviously is a Mass DOT road,” Bowen said while describing constraints from the right‑of‑way, adjacent wetland areas and existing easements.
Board members focused on vehicle access and emergency response: several said the driveway geometry lacked a clear turnaround for garbage, delivery and emergency vehicles and suggested the applicant provide vehicle‑tracking or an auto‑turn analysis and consider removing a small number of parking spaces to create a turning area. Natural Heritage (NHESP) had issued conditions (duration of authorization five years, requirement for Cape Cod berms, limits of work delineation) and board members cautioned that expanding pavement near the leach field or into mapped NHESP areas could trigger further review.
Neighbor Dan Regent, who lives next to the site, asked the board to require screening and operational limits to protect privacy and safety. “We simply want to ensure that the design in a way that minimizes unnecessary impact on our own,” he said, and requested an 8‑foot privacy fence, limits on illuminated signage and a photometric plan showing no undue spill into adjacent homes. Board members requested a photometric analysis, a signage plan, evidence of MassDOT review for the driveway opening and comment from fire and police; with those materials the board will reconvene the hearing on Sept. 2 at 7 p.m.
