By Marney Simon
For the Bugle
A vacant parcel along Route 30 in Plainfield is the latest site looking to accommodate truck parking in the village.
The applicant, Dayfield Properties LLC, is seeking special use approval to provide 160 parking spaces for semi-trucks at a vacant site at 13611 S. Route 30. The issue was brought to the committee of the whole in July for a first look.
The 13-acre property is at the north entrance of the Plainfield Small Business Park, south of the Kuusakoski electronics recycling facility and west of the DuKane Precast facility.
The site will not be used as a terminal or truck stop, but simply truck parking.
“It’s a special use to address the interim use of land,” said Director of Planning Jonathan Proulx. “The vacant parcel has undergone some grading…and during that period of time, the applicant has been using the property for a temporary use for the parking of trucks and trailers.”
The proposal went before the plan commission earlier in July, with several residents voicing concerns regarding noise, pollution, traffic congestion, property values, safety, and appearance.
Trustees noted that like other truck issues, neighbors have valid concerns.
“I live in the area and I’ve already heard from several people who live in the area who have some concerns about it. They’re not happy about it,” said Trustee Edward O’Rourke, adding that nearby residents are worried about trucks getting in and out without a traffic light at that site, and how long the interim use is expected.
O’Rourke also questioned why there was already truck parking for lease at the site, if the special use has yet to be approved. The property owner noted that since the property is already zoned industrial, he was unaware that he needed a special permit for truck parking, but was working to remedy that now.
Spaces at the site have been rented for the past year.
As proposed, the site will be used for truck drivers to park their rigs while they are in town, or for personal vehicles while truck drivers are out on a run.
The site will not be used for any overnight sleeping for truckers, and will not provide on-site security.
The spaces would be rented to individual truckers, with no docking or distribution services associated with the parking lot. Parking spaces would be leased for three months.
The applicant has long term plans to construct an industrial building on site, consistent with approved plans already in place for buildings at the business park. That site has already been graded for a building pad. The proposal for truck parking is an interim use of the land, until the industrial building can be constructed.
The new parking lot will require stormwater detention, which will be built on the east end of the site.
Per the staff report, the truck parking permit for the property is compatible with nearby industrial uses, which already heavily rely on trucks.
Since the spaces will be rented to truck drivers with different schedules, staff believes operation of trucks at the parking facility will be sporadic and intermittent. Traffic volumes are expected to be similar to those generated by existing industrial sites.
“Staff finds that the proposed use can be accommodated as an expansion of the Plainfield Small Business Park,” the staff report notes. “Only three of the nine approved buildings have been constructed. The access drive was designed to accommodate heavy truck traffic.”
Dayfield Properties is expected to come to the Committee of the Whole again with a full concept plan for the interim parking, which would later be up for approval by the full board.
A date for those meetings was not determined.