BERLIN – The Berlin Town Council approved the annexation of two properties on Route 50 this week.
The council voted 4-1, with Councilman Zack Tyndall opposed, to approve the annexation of the former McDonald’s property and the Myers Tool property on Route 50.
“We’re already in your growth area,” attorney Joe Moore told the council.
The proposed annexation of the two parcels received a favorable recommendation from the town’s planning commission in December. Moore told the council this week the property owners were seeking annexation to have access to the town’s water and sewer infrastructure. He introduced Bob Mitchell, Worcester County’s director of environmental programs, who described the poor condition of the septic system at the former McDonald’s.
“This field cannot be rehabbed,” he said. “It’s dead.”
Moore said that because the Myers Tool property essentially surrounded the McDonald’s property, in order for the latter to be annexed the former needed to be annexed as well. He added that the McDonald’s site, which is owned by Two Farms Inc., was expected to become an Auto Zone. He stressed that it would need no more than five or six of the 800-plus EDUs (equivalent dwelling units) the town has available.
Moore said the property was currently zoned commercial in the county and that the property owner was requesting similar commercial zoning once it was in town. He stressed that the property was not usable unless it could connect to public sewer infrastructure.
“We’re not asking to increase the utilization potential of the property,” he said. “We’re actually asking you all to consider annexation so that we can have any beneficial use of the property at all.”
Tyndall, the only councilman to vote against the annexation, has expressed concern in the past about the toll annexation will have on the town’s wastewater treatment facility and the associated financial impact.
