Is Bus Repair Allowed Under Zoning Regulations?

Martel Transportation’s proposed 8,000 square foot bus shelter and maintenance facility on Powder Mill Road may have run into a stumbling block.

The company is looking to build the metal building on a two-acre piece of land next to its current operations on the former Inertia Dynamics property. It would hold some office space as well as six bays for bus storage and light repair. The latter is where the issue is. 

“Our regulations don’t permit repair of commercial vehicles even if they’re the owners’ own vehicles,” zoning commission chairman Jay Weintraub said during the recent opening of a public hearing on the proposed facility.

Phil Doyle of Landscape Architectural Design Associates in Simsbury represented Martel at the public hearing and said he “presumed in part” the issue had been resolved when Martel moved its current facility next to the property in question. Doyle said Dean Martel has no interest in opening the doors to repair other commercial vehicles and argued that fixing a tire or changing oil is just part of running a bus company that holds the Canton Board of Education's transportation contract. 

“His business is serving your children, my children and driving them back and forth to school,” Doyle said. “That’s his business; the fact that he has to fix a tire, the fact that he maybe has to change the oil in those buses shouldn't predispose this application from not being allowed in the industrial zone in the town. I think that’s a terrible misinterpretation of the regulations.”

Weintraub did acknowledge that other businesses in the area and town, including Martel, perform similar functions and said many are likely grandfathered. But the commission may have to amend its regulations to deal with such situations, he said.

“It should be resolved so it’s black and white,” Weintraub said.

The bus facility would include 6 bus bays and offices upstairs and would be in the town's Light Industrial District. In 2004, another owner gained approval for a 24,000 square-foot warehouse on the site, which is now owned by Martel. 

Due to its location in a flood zone, the company needs a special exception from the zoning commission.

Doyle and Kevin Clark of Clark Engineering told the commission that the plan includes contingencies for any potential flooding, including the placement of electrical systems above flood-stage level, flood louvers on the bay doors, drainage basins and other precautions. Details like an oil/water separator and a valved sanitary system would protect the environment during a flood and on a daily basis, they said.

The public hearing for the proposal will continue on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. in the community center.