In a wrangle over a new public works garage, the Buxton Planning Board is planning to hire its own lawyer.

Planning Board Chairman Keith Emery said Monday the board needs its own lawyer because the town attorney was talking with selectmen. “We’re going to have to retain an attorney who knows land use,” Emery said.

His comments came during the town’s presentation of a proposed new public works garage on a site adjacent to town hall on the Portland Road. A new garage would replace the current one located on Haines Meadow Road in Buxton Center. The new garage is being proposed by a committee headed by Selectman Dan Collomy.

The garage proposal drew fire from planning board members, who questioned the location and objected to a separate driveway for the garage. Emery said the proposed location wouldn’t allow gasoline and diesel fuel storage tanks to be placed over an aquifer and the garage should be located near the salt shed, which is on the opposite side of town hall from the proposed site.

“Common sense tells us it needs to be near the salt shed,” he said.

But Board of Selectmen Chairman Cliff Emery said the town didn’t own enough land to place the garage near the salt shed. “This is the most suitable place to put the building on,” Emery said.

Planning Board member Sue Schaller, looking at the town’s plot on the map, didn’t see a problem placing the garage near the salt shed. She asked Cliff Emery if the selectmen had considered another site on the town’s lot.

Cliff Emery said there were no wetlands problems with the proposed site. “This is the place that makes the most sense,” he said.

Cliff Emery said they were not looking for the planning board to “tell us” to change the site of the proposed garage. “We are coming to the planning board with a site plan,” he said. “We’ve decided this is the site we would like to have considered.”

The planning board also opposed a separate entrance for the proposed garage. They argued another entrance was unnecessary on a busy highway and lights of trucks exiting the entrance would shine onto homes of neighbors across Portland Road.

But Bill Hoffman, an engineer with DeLuca-Hoffman Associates, said selectman have asked that the garage be served by its own driveway.

Cliff Emery opposed having a single entry serve the garage in addition to town hall, the transfer station and the salt shed. He said a separate entrance would co-mingle truck and car traffic. It wouldn’t be more costly than rebuilding the existing road, he said. Emery asked the planning board what it had against the separate entry.

Planning board member Cullen Ryan said entrances should be minimized in an effort not to disrupt traffic flow. He also said a second road would “cut a gash” into the landscape.

Schaller agreed with Ryan that another entrance would “chop up” a wooden area. She also said Portland Road serves as an artery, but the road is not engineered for today’s traffic. “I would avoid an unnecessary curb cut,” she said.

Another member of the planning board, Dennis Santolucito, said that Portland Road is known for its traffic and he objected to two driveways. ‘I think it would be better to have one entrance,” he said.

Keith Emery felt it was unnecessary to shine lights on homes. “I don’t think we need a second entrance,” he said.

Cliff Emery said there were usually only 18 winter storm days and not all of those would require nighttime plowing. “I see it as very minimal,” he said about the number of occasions when headlights of plow and sand trucks exiting the driveway would shine on homes.

A citizen member of the town’s building committee, Dennis Sweatt, has been involved in planning for a new public works garage for two years. He said the entrance seemed to be the biggest issue. “We feel it’s the best place for the driveway,” he said, favoring a separate entrance for the garage.

The planning board will walk the site at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1, to review the town’s proposal.

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