Planning board approves special permit and site plan for Home Market Foods with conditions on truck queuing and snow storage

The Norwood Planning Board voted Feb. 24 to grant a special permit and site‑plan approval for Home Market Foods, 140 Morgan Drive, authorizing a reduction in required parking and approving a revised circulation and tractor‑trailer queuing plan subject to several conditions.

Dan Campbell of Lehi Design Group, representing the applicant, told the board the site has operated under a temporary truck‑queuing arrangement for roughly a year with no police complaints and that staff and Conservation Commission staff agreed earlier that a cabled guardrail should be added to the rear tractor‑trailer parking to prevent intrusion into a vegetated buffer.

Tim Sheets, plant manager for Home Market Foods, described on‑site operations and snow‑management practices and said the company uses additional space at a Norton facility and other off‑site options for overflow. "We feel that we have enough storage for snow on‑site, and we not like to see that as a stipulation," Sheets said during the hearing.

Planning staff and Conservation raised concerns about potential curb degradation from truck use near the buffer and recommended a condition requiring submission of a plan showing the proposed cable guardrail prior to issuance of permits. The board discussed neighbors’ past complaints about trucks queuing on public streets and directed conditions to prevent on‑street tractor‑trailer queuing and to require the applicant to notify the planning office if off‑site parking or shared‑parking arrangements change.

The special‑permit request was described in staff materials as relief from the zoning bylaw parking requirement: the bylaw required 333 spaces for the use on the site plan, and the revised plan identifies 219 marked spaces. The applicant explained that many of the prior approved spaces were never striped and that the new plan reflects current operations and the need to retain space for tractor‑trailer storage and circulation.

The board approved the special permit on a roll‑call vote and approved the associated site plan with the planning staff’s standard conditions and several project‑specific conditions, including submission of (1) a plan showing the proposed guardrail in the rear truck parking area before issuance of any permits, (2) evidence of stormwater operation and maintenance (O&M) including regular catch‑basin cleaning and prompt repair of damaged pipes/curbs/bollards, (3) reliance on the parking and personnel plan submitted Jan. 15, 2025, and (4) a requirement that the applicant notify the planning office if off‑site parking or lease arrangements for employee overflow change so the board can consider a site‑plan or special‑permit modification.

Board members also inserted a condition restricting on‑street queuing of tractor‑trailers; staff noted that the police department can also enforce on‑street violations independently. Conservation staff asked that guardrail installation be coordinated so it would not require new disturbance in the wetland buffer.

Votes recorded in the meeting transcript (as announced at the hearing): special permit — roll‑call recorded as affirmative by members present; site plan approval — roll‑call recorded as affirmative by members present. (See actions[] for the formal motion records and published roll‑call items.)