Bellingham Planning Board Moves Maple Street Contractor Complex Toward Final Decision

BELLINGHAM -- January 23, 2025, Bellingham Planning Board advances long-revised Maple Street contractor-condo project toward a final decision. The board voted unanimously Thursday to continue the public hearing on the zero Maple Street development to February 13 and directed town planner Rob Orr to draft a positive decision covering three concurrent permits, a development plan approval, a Scenic Road permit, and a flex-parking special permit, before a hard deadline of February 28. The project, redesigned multiple times since its original submission, would create five 3,000-square-foot contractor-rental bays intended for tradespeople, with 28 parking spaces against a zoning requirement of 30. Board members pressed applicant engineer Shane Oates to add four to six mature trees to the stamped landscape plan to match renderings showing robust screening, and to include a condition prohibiting outdoor fleet vehicle storage. One board member said he remains "a little concerned" about the driveway's proximity to a Route 126 bridge where vehicles travel well above the posted speed limit, despite the project's compliance with AASHTO sight-distance standards.