Planning Board has questions about Highland project

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 5/29/19

The Lloyd Planning Board has been questioning the design and traffic issues surrounding a proposed mixed use development project, known as The Views at Highland. The project is being proposed for two …

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Planning Board has questions about Highland project

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The Lloyd Planning Board has been questioning the design and traffic issues surrounding a proposed mixed use development project, known as The Views at Highland. The project is being proposed for two adjoining parcels totaling 3.6 acres that border Route 9W, South Chapel Hill Rd and Mayer Drive.
The property is owned by Nick Dellaportas and Greg Sims and they are being represented by attorney Alec Gladd and architect Carlo Mazzarelli.

The developers are seeking to build two three-story buildings comprised of retail and office space on the first floor of each building and 22 apartments located on the upper two floors in each building.
The board has indicated there are issues with traffic coming in and out of the property and will be reviewing the developer’s plans on how they will deal with this.

In addition, after looking at a rendering of the two buildings, the board stated that this proposal, along with the newly opened self-storage facility and the proposed Urgent and Well Care Buildings just to the north, could result in the Route 9W corridor looking like one continuous wall in this area of town.
At the May 23 Planning Board meeting architect Mazzarelli brought a revised rendering showing an effort to mitigate a “straight plane” view of the two buildings and a lowered roof line.

“With these changes and also with the colors I think it’s going to be completely different,” he said.
Board member Scott McCarthy is concerned with the look of a common ridge line.

Mazzarelli said he would review this issue but he pointed out that, “you start to lose headroom and you start to lose apartments. You have to be careful; there’s that balance of how many apartments you need to make the project viable, so there is a give and take.” He said he felt the few adjustments he made, “is a pretty reasonable solution.” He said a new rendering that he will do will give the “illusion” of it being a lower building as viewed from Route 9W and would “fit in better.”

The Planning Board asked the developer to provide additional information to allow them to see the relationship from the road of the walls of the buildings and its height, done to scale.

Mazzarelli thanked the board.

“I just wanted to get before you briefly, tell you where we’re going, make sure we’re in the right direction, and give you some options, and I think it will be even better,” he said.

Franco Zani asked if Mazzeilli could provide them with 3D images of the project to give them a better understanding of the overall project.

Mazzarelli said once he has a model of the project downloaded into his computer, “I can give you 1,000 views. I can literally bring a laptop and show you around the whole site.”

The Planning Board decided they will be the lead agency on the review of this project.