Application for Woodcrest Health Center Approved

Woodcrest Health Care Center received approval from the planning board to erect a three-story patio/porch addition to its existing facility on River Road Tuesday evening. The construction of an additional 33 parking spaces was also approved.  

Angelo Caputo, architect for Care One, the parent company of Woodcrest Health Care Center, said the 740 square-foot addition is necessary from both an operational and resident perspective. 

Currently, there exists one community patio located above the kitchen. This location is not adjacent to the day area and requires an aide to escort wheelchair patients from every floor via two elevators that are used by the entire facility. Also, wide wheelchairs limit the number of passengers who can ride the elevator at one time, making multiple trips necessary. 

The proposed addition would place each floor's patio/porch near the day areas thereby reducing the need for escorts and making it more independently accessible to residents. 

The new addition will be facing River Road to minimize the effects of southern sun exposure and will be trapezoid shaped. The ground level patio will be open air, but enclosed on all other floors. 

The board recommended the removal of six proposed parking spaces that the applicant planned to construct directly in front of the building, agreeing that aesthetically the design would look better with more greenery as it fronts River Road. The applicant was amenable to the board's recommendation and relocated four linear parking spaces to the southwest parking lot located in the rear of the building and one parallel parking space that is also located in the rear of the building. This allows a total of 33 additional parking spaces, bringing the total number of parking spaces on the site to 115.  

The board approved variances for the additional parking spaces to be 9'x18' instead of 9'x20'.

The applicant agreed to the Shade Tree Commission's recommendation asking for preservation of the Beech tree that sits on the property and agreed that the 20-foot surrounding base be protected throughout the construction. 

Part of the town's engineering report included a recommendation that the applicant perform streetscaping on the portion of the sidewalk that borders their property on River Road. The board agreed with the engineer's recommendation; however, the applicant informed the board that they recently invested approximately $25,000 for the construction of new sidewalks. The board accepted a contribution of $10,000 in lieu of requiring the applicant to perform streetscaping since they have recently re-constructed their sidewalks.