MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury Development Review Board has given John Rouse permission to build a new, 40,000-square-foot warehouse on a 6.45-acre parcel off Wilson Road near Route 7 South, behind the Martin’s Hardware store. Once completed, the new facility will give Rouse Tire the capacity to store tires and other business-related supplies that are currently being stored outside of its buildings on Willow Drive and Exchange Street, according to the project application.
The Rouse Tire proposal must still receive an Act 250 permit, which appears imminent. The District 9 Environmental Commission is reviewing the plan as a minor application, meaning the permit can be granted administratively and without a hearing.
Foster Brothers Farm has received permission to subdivide a 147.5-acre lot in a manner that will make the 6.45-acre building parcel available to Rouse Tire.
Plans call for a pre-engineered steel building consisting of one large, open room and two smaller rooms for mechanical equipment and a bathroom/break room for employees working at the facility. It will be equipped with two overhead doors and loading docks on its northern side, and four overhead doors and loading docks on its western side.
According to a project narrative drafted by Naylor & Breen Builders Inc., vehicles will access the new facility via Wilson Road. The parking lot and gated driveway will be a combination of gravel and paved areas, as budget allows.
“There will be tractor trailer boxes left for periods of time to be loaded with waste tires to be hauled off for recycling,” the narrative adds. “There will be no exterior storage of tires at the new facility other than temporary instances where trucks are offloaded, inventoried and moved within the building. At the close of each business day, Rouse Tire will commit to having all tires stored inside, or inside one of the trailers at this facility.”
Rouse Tire hopes to receive a certificate of occupancy for its new facility by late fall, according to its application.