Jack’s Diner returns to Chester DRB with expanded plans

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC

With lawyer Amanda George doing most of the talking Monday night on behalf of Jack’s Diner owner Jacques Dodier, the Chester Development Review Board began consideration of a new plan to complete the long-dormant project on Route 103 South.

Dodier is asking for a conditional use permit to operate a 78-seat restaurant and bar with two three-bedroom apartments on the second floor. The plan calls for adding a large, wraparound porch to the front of the existing building. According to George, the restaurant would have a 68-seat dining room and a 10-seat bar and would serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and close at 10 p.m. at the latest.

Most of the site visit, which preceded the formal hearing, was taken up with establishing land boundaries and looking at issues surrounding drainage across the property from the Mountain View development.

Bob Parker of Pineview Road and 103 Artisans Marketplace owners Elise and Payne Junker pointed out the problems that engineers for Dodier must overcome to prevent damage to their properties. 103 Artisans is just south and Parker’s driveway is between the Junker and Dodier properties.

Road access was also an issue, with the Agency of Transportation requiring that the business have just one entrance and exit point along the road. A single driveway would require more space for cars to maneuver and something to block cars from entering just anywhere. In an indication of how wary the board is of Dodier’s construction and compliance track record, chair Carla Westine told him she hoped that the solution would not be “an old iron pipe in a piece of concrete with a chain.” George assured her that would not happen.

“How can we review the (zoning) criteria with uncertainty about the traffic flows inside the lot?” asked board member Amy O’Neil, who also asked if Dodier had applied for an AOT permit.

George said he had not.

Looking at dimensional standards, Westine asked about the height of the existing building and George told the board the building was 34 feet 11 inches. That drew a laugh from the audience since the town-wide maximum height is 35 feet. Randy Miles asked if it would still be under the maximum “including the ridge vent and shingles.”

O’Neil said that the height needed to be certified and architect Jeffrey Goldstone said that could be done.

There was also a discussion of safety including emergency egress. Goldstone told the meeting that the building would be equipped with sprinklers and as such did not need a fire escape. Miles asserted that the second floor windows were 4-inches thick and that those could not be broken to escape. Goldstone said that the windows are standard double pane windows about 1.5 inches thick and that while they could be used for egress, that is not required with the presence of a sprinkler system.

Included in the safety discussion was the structural integrity of the building, since it had been left to the elements during several years when construction halted. It was agreed that a structural engineer would check the building out.

The longest discussion of the hearing revolved around the drainage issues. The applicants said that three possible solutions were either unworkable or rejected by neighbors so the plan was to let the stormwater “dissipate on site.” Board alternate Mark Curran suggested a dry well for storm water storage and the board asked Dodier to provide more detailed engineering drawings taking neighbors’ concerns into consideration.

Elise Junker read a letter into the record saying that she and her husband Payne are excited about the project finally being finished, but that they have misgivings about Dodier’s ability or willingness to follow through on the promises made during the hearings.

“Another half-finished project with trash and building materials blowing in the wind is not acceptable to neighboring businesses or homes or the rest of the town,” said Junker, “Mr. Dodier does what he wants, when he wants, with little regard for how it effects others around him. A specific building schedule with oversight from the town and or state is vital to a successful outcome. ”

With a number of plans and other information due from Dodier, the board recessed the hearing and scheduled it to resume on Monday, Sept. 25.

George is also representing Dodier in a lawsuit brought by the Town of Chester for zoning violations. A conference before Judge Thomas Durkin of the state’s Environmental Division in Burlington is scheduled for Sept. 11.