Sanford & Hawley’s red building has stood along Route 4 in Unionville since 1884, but the fourth generation company’s current neighbors aren’t happy about the lumber yard’s plans.
"I had immediate concerns with safety hazards," said Dan Sullivan, whose living room faces Sanford & Hawley.
Sullivan lives in one of 12 houses on Cottage Street, which basically starts with the lumber yard and dead ends into a park with a small playground for children.
“Kids are riding their bikes from the park up and down this street, so there are kids and 18-wheelers being mixed on a fairly narrow street with no sidewalks," said Lisa Zaccheo, who also lives on Cottage Street.
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Neighbors worry that will get worse with Sanford & Hawley proposing to put its only entrance off Cottage Street with trucks exiting onto Route 4.
"What we're proposing is completely in response to the Department of Transportation’s condemnation of our land and our attempt to be able to survive their project,” said owner Bob Sanford.
The DOT project is construction on the Route 4 bridge in front of the lumber yard, slated for March 2010.
Bob Sanford says that means his family-owned company is losing the front third of their property, so the state is paying for the company to rework the land.
Sanford says they are proposing to move offices into a Cottage Street Victorian home built in 1880 that the family already owns.
Then they would tear down a 1950s-era home, also owned by the family, to make way for a new warehouse.
Diane Bickword worried about their tear down plans, saying “that house there buffers the lumber yard. It still has historic look and we're worried it's going to be a huge building."
But the company says the new building is designed to look like an old barn that will fit into the neighborhood, and its one-way access will ease another one of resident's concerns.
"We believe the proposed barn will decrease traffic in the neighborhood," Sanford said.
Sanford & Hawley has several applications before the Farmington Planning & Zoning Commission that would need to be approved before the project can move forward.
The Farmington Planning and Zoning Commission will discuss the proposal again at its next meeting July 27th.
