Parking lot to have over 3,000 spaces
By:Jeff Mikalaitis
MANSFIELD – The Township Planning Board tabled a request from the National Auto Dealers Exchange (NADE) to build a 3,435-space parking lot on 40 acres of land.
The tabling also included waiting for an environmental impact study and a report from township Forestry Consultant Les Alpaugh. The public hearing will continue on Aug. 28.
NADE is seeking to pave over 40 acres of a 86-acre tract on Route 68 to provide for additional customer parking and storage.
Members of the board were concerned about the effects 3,435 parking spaces would have on the surrounding environment.
NADE had completed a environmental impact study before it began construction on its extension, which was finished last year.
However, Mayor Kelly Shea said he believed this report did not address what effect a large parking lot would have on the site because the paving would require the removal of some trees.
"It’s not fair to compare the development of an open field to the development and removal of forest," he said.
Mayor Shea said that while the state protects the wetlands, the board is concerned with the habitat beyond the wetlands.
"Where their jurisdiction ends, ours doesn’t," he said.
Mayor Shea also was concerned how snow would be removed from the fenced-in lot.
"I think you need a proposal on how to remove snow from an area like this," he said.
Board officials also were concerned about the effect the parking lot’s lights would have on the neighboring community.
Planning Board President Joseph Lawrence said residents in Chesterfield and other areas had complained about the lights.
NADE representatives said they would not oppose lowering the illumination of the lights as long as it maintained an adequate degree of on-site safety.
NADE put the purchase of the 86-acre site under contract last summer, said NADE General Manager Peter Sauber.
"There are about 40 useable acres when you factor out the wetlands," he said.
Mr. Sauber said that NADE is waiting for approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
He said he hopes to hear from it within the next 30 days.
Mr. Sauber said he hopes construction will begin by this summer.
"When we get all the necessary approvals, we will put everything together and get ready to start," he said. "Hopefully this summer, but probably next fall."
NADE allows only licensed and authorized auto dealers to purchase cars at its facilities.
The Mansfield site is the second largest auto auction in the country behind another NADE site in Manheim, Pa.
Last year, construction was completed on an expansion of the original facility on Aaronson Road, between Routes 68 and 206.
The expansion includes a 20-lane auction building, parking for 8,000 cars and tractor-trailers, a pedestrian bridge, a jughandle on Route 68 and a perimeter road.