PROSPECT — The Planning and Zoning Commission approved an application for a special permit to build greenhouses and a farm stand at 174 Summit Road.
One acre of land, out of the six acres on the property, would be set aside to build an unspecified number of greenhouses and a farm stand.
The commission held a public hearing on the application April 18. Robert Capanna, who applied for the special permit, told the commission that he planned to have the business open between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The commission raised concerns about outdoor storage of the supplies the greenhouse would need. The commission’s main concern was that the property not look messy.
“Please keep it neat,” commissioner Jack Burns told Capanna.
Capanna said that he was planning on putting anything that needed to be stored between the mulch piles and the greenhouses.
“I don’t think anyone can see it where it is, it’s so far back in the woods. There is one house, but ledge is all in the way,” Capanna said.
Land Use Inspector Bill Donovan told Capanna that the regulations regarding farm stands state that the stand can not be any larger than 200 feet.
“I have a building in the back that I was using on the farm. I mean, it’s a little bigger than that, but it’s not right by the road. … I was going to use it for everything in the barn, plus vegetable on one side of it,” Capanna told the commission.
He explained that the building is 32 square feet by 12 square feet. He was planning on using half for storage and half for the farm stand.
He told the commission that he was willing to comply with the regulation for the farm stand.
“There are some walls in there, so it might be smaller, but I can do 200 [square feet],” Capanna said.
Donovan asked Capanna if he was planning on possibly bringing in pumpkins or other vegetables from offsite, which Capanna was planning on. Donovan told the commission that the offsite traffic was also something it had to keep in mind when considering this application.
Once the public hearing closed, the commission unanimously approved Capanna’s application for the special permit.
