MOTORIOT gets P&Z nod

KENT – Antique and rare car dealership MOTORIOT returned before the Planning and Zoning Commission last Thursday, Aug. 14, to receive yet another cautious approval — this time a parking plan at its Bridge Street storefront.

“This, of course, is the type of site plan we’ve been asking for a very long time,” said P&Z Chair Wes Wyrick, after MOTORIOT’s environmental consultant Larry Page gave the introductory overview of the revised parking scheme.

Thursday’s conversation, which bordered on argumentative at times, follows a rocky history between the business, which opened in 2023 without town or state permits. In August 2024, MOTORIOT was retroactively granted a permit on the last possible day before an automatic denial due.

Despite several tense moments throughout the meeting, though, the Commission ultimately found the parking layout to be satisfactory. “I applaud this site plan,” said Wyrick, “It’s professionally done.”

The revised plan features some rearrangement of the site’s parking to accommodate for the whole property, which includes an additional auto repair shop and landscaping business alongside the classic car dealership. The plan illustrates 52 total on-site spaces, 20 more than the required 20 for the building’s use. As MOTORIOT now owns the building, it is incumbent upon the business to account for all the parking on the property.

The crux of the lates disagreement focused on a proposed “storage area” outside the building in front of the interior showroom. The proposal calls for 20 inventory vehicles — including motorcycles — to be staged in the area, a number which Wyrick and several other commissioners were concerned would be too many for the 75 by 30 foot space.

“We’re trying to avoid the nuisance factor here,” said Wyrick, referring to the possibility of clutter or vehicles protruding from the allotted storage area.

Jason Doornick, co-owner of the dealership, pushed back, saying that the site has to be flexible to account for different arrangements of different types of vehicles.

“The space is designed to be modular,” said Doornick. “I think that’s the key word here.”

P&Z member Darrell Cherniske posited that it was outside the purview of the Commission to assign a capacity to the storage space. “The space has limitations. Whatever they can fit in there they can fit in there,” said Cherniske.

Commission alternate Anne McAndrew asked a question regarding recent complaints from neighbors about MOTORIOT employees and vehicles parking on neighboring streets, which hit a sore note with Doornick. Specifically, several Elizabeth Street residents signed a complaint letter to the Board of Selectmen last month asking that it prohibit commercial and employee parking on the street, citing disruptive congestion and noise on the residential road. No plans are currently in place to alter Elizabeth Street’s public parking status, but the BOS is considering a widespread downtown parking assessment.

“This is an issue that Kent is facing, not MOTORIOT,” Doornick replied to McAndrew, explaining that the parking on Elizabeth Street is unrestricted, and as such the business and its staff have every right to park there. Commission alternate Chris Harrington expressed that the town’s zoning regulations require a business to provide sufficient parking for its employees, which the current plans do achieve, but Doornick doubled down that it’s not his dealership’s problem.

“Look, we’re just here to get our plan approved. Elizabeth Street is a whole other story that the town of Kent needs to deal with, not us.”

Chair Wes Wyrick announced that he will not seek another term after serving nearly 20 years on the Planning and Zoning Commission.

“I feel like it’s time to move on,” he told the rest of the Commission just before the meeting adjourned. “So that’s what I’m gonna do.”