By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- A local developer wants to build a 227-unit trailer park off of the north and south sides of East Hatfield Street near Riverdale Apartments.

Michael Wachs, who owns Harte Haven Plaza, has plans under review by the St. Lawrence County planning board and Massena Village Zoning Board.

“It would go from the railroad tracks all the way over to powerline off of (East) Hatfield, to behind Tractor Supply. He’s also looking at doing nine property lots on south side of East Hatfield,” according to Avis Hazelton, secretary for the Massena Building Department.

She said Massena fire and code officials are concerned about the plan.

“The firemen and code officer have reviewed it and are concerned. He’s got only one entrance in and out of this,” Hazelton said. “They are concerned being able to get a fire truck in and out of there. There are concerns we have that would be discussed at a planning board meeting.”

She said there are other issues with the project. She said it has not been made clear who own the trailers, whether it be Wachs or his tenants, Hazelton said.

She said Wachs will need to get county planning approval, along with the local zoning variance and local planning board approval before he can build.

The area Wachs wants to develop is listed “commercial auto-related zoning” and “residential B,” Hazelton said, so he will need a zoning variance.

She said the size of his proposed lots also requires a local code exemption.

“Our code states in a trailer park the lots are supposed to be 60 feet by 100 feet. He’s looking to make them 30 feet by 100 feet,” she said. “He wants half the area per lot, so he’s got to get an area variance, also.”

If the county planning board denies Wachs’s proposal, the local zoning board can override the decision with a supermajority vote.

There is a Dec. 19 public hearing at 5:10 p.m. upstairs in the town hall where the zoning board will discuss the project. The public may attend.

The zoning board had discussed the matter at their Nov. 21 meeting but tabled action because Wachs’s contractor from Bergman Associates couldn’t make it due to the snowstorm.

Wachs’s plans are now public record. Citizens can review them upon request at the village Building Department.