By Bethany Hooper

Associate Editor

The town council this week adopted the county’s design guidelines and standards, a measure officials hope will steer commercial projects until a planning director can be hired to draft a Berlin-specific document.

At the recommendation of the planning commission as well as the historic district commission, the Berlin Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to adopt Worcester County’s design guidelines and standards for commercial properties with minimal revisions. The plan before the town had some specific tweaks for Berlin but is largely the county’s guidance.

Town Administrator Mary Bohlen and Planning Commission Chair Matt Stoehr told officials this week the document would serve as a “stop-gap” measure until the municipality could produce its own guidelines and standards.

“The intent here is to take the Worcester County design guidelines and standards and adopt them as the town’s for the time being until at such time as the town will produce its own document,” Bohlen said. “As you can see from looking through the Worcester County document, it’s quite extensive.”

At its Nov. 13 meeting, the Berlin’s planning commission made a recommendation to the council to adopt the county’s design guidelines and standards, giving commercial developers some guidance when submitting plans for new projects. Until now, the municipality has lacked design standards, which created some conflict earlier this year when representatives for the proposed Microtel Inn and Suites as well as the Wawa convenience store went back and forth with commission members on the respective design of the projects. While the commission criticized the concepts over their lack of historic charm, the developers argued they could not design a project without some sort of roadmap.

“We are told to return with something different, but there’s no guidance or details to go by,” Mark Cropper, the hotel developer’s attorney, told the commission this summer. “We are trying to get there, but this is a hard arena to work in when there’s nothing to work through.”

To that end, commission members last month voted to support the adoption of the county’s commercial design guidelines and standards with some minor wording changes. However, officials acknowledged the use of those standards would be temporary, as the town’s planning director, once hired, would be tasked with drafting a document specifically for the town’s use. The municipality has been without a planning director since April, when the former director, Dave Engelhart, passed away.

“When that planning director comes on board, I bet it is six months to a year before they can even look at these guidelines,” Stoehr, planning commission chair, said at the November meeting. “They are going to be inundated. We need to temper our expectations. This stopgap is going to last a lot longer than anticipated, and understandably so. There is going to be a lot of catch up.”

With support from the planning commission, as well as the town’s historic district commission, council members on Monday had before them a recommendation to adopt the county’s guidelines and standards. Stoehr told officials the document was critical for the development of commercial projects.

“The importance of this has grown vastly over the last eight months,” the commission chair said. “Our meetings have seen more lawyers involved than in the last four years … This is a stop gap until you can produce our own set of documents.”

Councilman Jack Orris, however, questioned if the document had “enough teeth.” While acknowledging its shortcomings, officials noted the document gave the town something to provide developers.

“This gives us so much more than what we have,” he said.

After further discussion, the council voted 5-0 to adopt the county’s design guidelines and standards. The resolution also authorizes the planning commission and historic district commission to grant waivers, so long as the design achieves the overall objectives of the document.

“It keeps things more objective, so they aren’t dealing with someone’s preference or opinion,” Council Vice President Dean Burrell said of the adopted guidelines and standards.