POST OFFICE PROJECT NINE-DUMPSTER REQUEST DRAWS CONCERN

The Maplewood Village Post Office site developer's request to allow an outdoor dumpster for an incoming restaurant is actually for a structure to hold nine such dumpsters, it was revealed this week. 

Planning Board meeting Thursday night

The Planning Board met on Thursday night to consider the request from JMF Properties, which is building the three-story, 20-apartment, five-shop structure on the site. It will include a 120-seat restaurant to be run by Maplewood residents Tom and Jennifer Carlin who operate a similar eatery in Gladstone.

JMF had requested that the dumpster space be added to the site plan, which currently does not allow it. Initially, it was thought to be an enclosed structure to house one dumpster.

Developer Joe Forgione

But at the Maplewood Village Alliance (MVA) meeting on Wednesday, it was revealed the structure would house nine dumpsters, with two or three of them for existing businesses Village Coffee and Mt. Fuji whose dumpsters are currently behind their buildings and not enclosed.

Planning Board Chair Tom Carlson said the MVA accepted the request, but asked for more information about hours of service, maintenance and lighting for the structure. The dumpsters would be housed in a structure that would take up at least two existing parking spaces in the Village Coffee lot near the pedestrian tunnel to Memorial Park. 

The structure would be eight feet high, 25 feet wide and 18 feet deep.

Latest post office project site plan, with proposed dumpster structure at lower left

At the Planning Board meeting, several board members asked about how the structure would be accessed and how often the refuse would be removed. JMF CEO Joe Forgione said pick-up would be three times per week.

He also said that two of the dumpsters would hold trash, two would hold recycling and the rest would be for linens, and grease and oil disposal. 

See some of the Planning Board debate below:



In the end, the Planning Board asked that the restaurant owners be present at the next meeting to answer some questions about the exact need and operation related to the dumpsters and again postponed any action on the request. The next meeting is set for Dec.13.