Local developers are looking to transform a single-family home on Hudson Avenue into a two-building complex with apartments and some commercial space.
During the Tuesday, May 20, planning board meeting at Town Hall, Anthony Dethomasis laid out some preliminary plans to board members to develop 48 Hudson Ave.
Dethomasis, along with his sister, Laurie Baranski, and brother, Richard, are working together on plans to construct the buildings and a five-bay garage on the lot.
There is a single-family house in a pretty dilapidated condition, Dethomasis said. `What we’re planning to do is build two buildings and a garage.`
He described several businesses along the little known road that connects Delaware Avenue with Adams Street that were converted from single family homes. The site proposal lies on the Delaware Avenue side, up the road from, and on the same side as, Planet Fitness.
`Typically on Hudson Avenue, we find a lot of spaces were single families converted into offices,` Dethomasis told board members.
Building plans show a driveway between the two buildings near the road and a parking lot in the back of the property, with 19 parking spaces and five single-car garage bays. One building is proposed to have three apartment units and the other building is slated to have two units and commercial space for a small retail shop or a professional office, according to Dethomasis.
Roughly 44 percent of the property will remain green, according to the plans, and one handicap accessible parking space would be available for the office space. Dethomasis explained that handicap accessible parking spaces are not required for apartments.
Dethomasis displayed to the board members building materials to be used on the project, which included `blended slate` shingles; modular `common sized` brick; white vinyl trim; a neutral beige colored vinyl siding; and vinyl `cedar shakes.`
A water retention area is proposed in the back of the lots, with all of the roof and blacktop runoff pitched to have storm water flow into the retention area, Dethomasis explained. A berm was originally in Dethomasis’ plans for the back of the property so that fill would not have to be removed from the property and instead could be deposited to help screen the buildings.
Town planners asked Dethomasis to remove the berm, and he complied. Board member Nicholas A. Behuniak asked why an underground catch basin couldn’t be built.
Dethomasis explained that 600 feet of 18-inch pipe and 480 linear feet of 24-inch pipe would have to be installed to make the system work, saying, `It would be prohibitively costly to do this for such a small project.`
`So your argument is not that you can’t do it?` Behuniak asked. `Your argument is that you don’t want to do it.`
`Yes,` Dethomasis replied.
Town planners agreed with Dethomasis and told board members that the water retention area already on the property is adequate and that the catch basin system described was an expensive system.
Board members also asked the applicants about the size of the apartment buildings compared to the surrounding area.
`There’s no question that these buildings are larger than the surrounding ones,` Dethomasis said. `These buildings are larger than anything around it.`
His plans also show undeveloped space next to a building for possible future expansion.
`We did leave ourselves some [room] to expand in case we find another tenant,` said Dethomasis.
There will be Indian Magic Crab Apple trees and Norway Spruce left on the property to be incorporated into the finalized landscaping plan. Planning Board Chairman Parker Mathusa asked the applicants if they could add more landscaping buffers on the site plan to alleviate the glare from vehicle headlights.
Dethomasis said he would be happy to work with the planning department on the landscaping plans and would incorporate new suggestions. Town planners said they were pleased with the single driveway concept and that Dethomasis has been very cooperative in the planning phase of his proposal.
`It’s a nice design,` said board member Katherine McCarthy. `It will fit in well on the street.“