DEERFIELD — Following months of hearings, the Planning Board has approved the site plan for the proposed new location of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Regional Dog Shelter.

The approval, which contains a litany of conditions, clears the first of three major hurdles for the Friends of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Regional Dog Shelter. The proposal calls for a roughly 7,000-square-foot building with indoor and outdoor kennels, larger dog runs and parking for staff, volunteers and visitors off the cul-de-sac at the end of Plain Road East.

Picking up discussions from the April meeting on Monday, Tighe & Bond Senior Engineer Tim Grace said Berkshire Design Group made sufficient changes to the project in response to the peer review. While there were no major changes requested, there were minor “stormwater management issues.”

“They’ve satisfied all of our comments to date,” Grace said.

Next, on Thursday, the project will again come before the Zoning Board of Appeals at 6:30 p.m., where the Friends will seek two special permits, one to operate the shelter and another to exempt it from zoning bylaw 3710, which prohibits uses that cause noise “perceptible without instruments more than 200 feet from the boundaries of the originating premises if in a non-residential district.”

John McLaughlin, an attorney representing Plain Road East and Mill Village Road residents Kamala Bouche, Nicole Duprey and Linda Shea, tried Monday to argue that noise concerns are under the Planning Board’s purview, not the ZBA. McLaughlin argued that zoning bylaw 3710 falls under section 5450, the site plan review bylaw, which in turn states an application must meet “all applicable provisions of this zoning bylaw.”

“It’s a strong bylaw, it’s very strong for neighbors, much stronger than I’ve seen in other cities and towns,” McLaughlin said of bylaw 3710, which also notes that an exemption can be given if there are “no objectionable conditions” created by the use. “Objectionable is not that high a bar. … You should try and shape this project in a way so there’s not going to be objectionable sounds.”

In the special permit application for the noise exemption, the Friends group states the building and its outdoor dog areas are sited in a way to “minimize noise” — which neighborhood residents have disputed. The Friends group also states the ambient noise of the neighborhood, which abuts Interstate 91, is about 65 decibels, while a dog barking 275 feet away would be about 51 decibels.

“That is less than the highway noise that exists today, meaning the existing highway noise more than likely will drown out the dog barking during the day, when there is the most amount of truck traffic on 91,” reads the application, which notes Berkshire Design Group staff are not audio engineers. “This decibel number does not take into consideration the shielding from the building, trees and the existing soil berm between the shelter and most of the neighbors’ houses. This will all help mask, block and/or dissipate the noise.”

After receiving advice from Town Counsel Matthew Provencher, though, Planning Board members opted to move onto laying out conditions for the project, as sound was already considered in prior hearings and the ZBA will further consider it.

“We have addressed all the other issues,” Planning Board Chair Denise Mason said.

The site plan review approval comes with 12 pages of conditions, including a stipulation prohibiting construction crews from parking or idling vehicles on Routes 5 and 10 and Plain Road East. A surety bond must also be submitted to the town and any work at night or on Sundays must be approved by the Selectboard or town administration.

Additionally, dogs must be inside after 7 p.m., which was a compromise between the Planning Board’s original 6 p.m. condition and the applicant’s request to extend it to 8 p.m.

Residents also requested a scientific sound study, but the Planning Board deferred to the ZBA.

“It’s not under our purview,” Mason said. “That’s a question for the ZBA.”

The dog shelter will come before the ZBA on Thursday, May 15, at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall and on Zoom. Documents related to the project, including the site plan, special permit applications and peer review, can be found on the calendar on the town website under the Planning Board and ZBA agenda items.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.