Could State-of-the-Art Collision Center be Coming to Salem?

If all goes according to plan for New Hampshire's Key Auto Group, the company will soon have quite the compliment to its Salem-based car dealership.

A new, 19,840-square-foot collision center has been designed for a 4-acre property on the Methuen, Mass. border. The property is located on Hampshire Road.

The current collision center is on the Salem Ford Hyundai dealership property, and the new facility would provide much more space and amenities.

According to Civil Engineer Karl Dubay of The Dubay Group, who spoke at Tuesday's Salem Planning Board meeting, the project came before planners last year, but the proposal was for the adjacent lot.

"It was a little tight over there and we listened to what the (Salem Planning Board) had to say," said Dubay. "(Key Auto) proceeded to change over to another site, a little larger."

Dubay was joined by Dan Komisarek, Key Auto Group's collision repair director.

According to Komisarek, the secure facility is strictly being designed for collision repair, and no mechanic work will take place on site.

A total of seven employees would start at the proposed facility, with a ceiling of 24 employees at full build out.

Since the site plan was being seen by planners for the first time, board members offered suggestions related to safety, building security and aesthetics before continuing the plan to a future meeting.

Depending on what the town decides to classify the building as, impact fees could significantly vary.

Planning Director Ross Moldoff said the road impact fee could be as low as $20,000 should the collision center be classified as light industrial or as high as $75,000 for commercial industrial classification.

Similarly, he said that public safety impact fees could be as low as $6,000 and as high as $13,700.

Stephen Pernaw, traffic consultant for the town of Salem, noted that the business will be closed on weekends. Further traffic estimates will be presented at a future meeting.

One traffic impact, as presented by Robert Woodland of Woodland Design Group, will be back and forth travel by sales associates at the dealership.

The proposed collision center would have a section in the rear devoted to new car inventory.

If a customer wants to see a vehicle in a certain color, the associate would drive to the collision center to retrieve that particular vehicle from the inventory area.

Given security concerns related to the inventory space, a chain-linked, barbed wire fence is in the plan, as well as gates on both sides of the lot.

Woodland added that five tractor trailers will make deliveries Monday through Friday, with rare deliveries taking place on Saturday.

Part of the two-story office structure part of the building will include estimating offices, managers offices, small parts storage and a break room.

The shop area is designed to have around 15 repair bays, with a self-contained booth for painting that captures paint fumes and filters the air coming out.

A total of 81 parking spaces are planned for the site with full pavement all the way around the building. Two driveway access points are being proposed.

A small, 0.1-acre piece of the land is located in Methuen. Dubay said that there is an existing home on that portion of the property that will be taken down and landscaped.

The Salem Flea Market and an electrical substation are also near the lot for the proposed building.

John Tuttle, principal architect for the project, said that Key Auto Group wants the new collision center to become the prototype of their business.

"What we're trying to do is implement a brand look to all of their services that they offer," he said.

The company also has locations in Portsmouth and Somersworth.