Wednesday, 2/16/00
Wanted to share some info from last night’s Conservation Board (CB) meeting
with you:
Jane Luce was there to introduce
Bonnie Majestic, a landscape architect. Bonnie will be working with the CB (and
I believe the Planning Board and Town Board) particularly as The Drumlins Apt.
project and Wal-Mart progress, almost simultaneously.
She mentioned:
Wetlands
MRB has not yet applied for the Nationwide Permit necessary to disturb the
<1/3 of an acre wetland area. According to Bonnie, as of 2/14/00, there are
much more stringent restrictions now involved in obtaining a permit.
Grading
Based on the current plans there would be a total "clear cut" of
the property, totally deforesting the acreage. She was very concerned about the
extensive slopes and how buildings were placed on "pads". She
mentioned that several units facing Burlington would not really even have enough
footage out the back to put a grill or lawn chair, before the slope dropped off!
She was surprised that some buildings didn’t face the wetlands, for that
natural view. She didn’t feel there had been careful use of combining
driveways, resulting in a LOT of asphalt (as we’d shown on the "colored
in" maps). She also was not happy about so many retaining walls... just to
hold up the earth!
She felt the architectural style of the buildings had dictated the steep
slopes and very extensive grading, as did the density of 20 buildings. If there
were fewer buildings and smaller buildings and driveways were shared, there
wouldn’t need to be such severe grading, resulting in such steep slopes.
Landscaping
She mentioned the plans call for 100 – 3" caliper trees (14’-16’)
to be planted throughout the 36+ acres. On their proposal, there are about 730
items listed. 100 trees is 14% of their landscaping plan…. (The Town Code
calls for Buffers: "A ten-foot-wide landscaped area shall be provided along
all property lines…. This landscaped area shall be densely planted with a
mixture of shrubs and trees. All of these shall be no less than six feet high,
to create an opaque screen.") I’m not sure where this opaque screen is
located….
Storm water runoff
Concern was also raised about storm waters flowing into the wetlands and the
retention pond. She recommends the builder use "forebaey"
construction. This would mean that waters would go into an initial smaller
retaining pond, sediment, etc. would settle and then clearer/cleaner waters
would flow into the wetlands and real retention pond. It’s more expensive than
just having the water run directly in.
I asked Jane Luce about the Environmental Impact declaration for The
Drumlins. She said, "It had had a negative declaration in 1985/6." I
mentioned there'd been many changes during the past 14 years. The declaration
would probably be made at the 3/28/00 Public Hearing when the Planning Board is
declared the Lead Agent.
That’s the update for now.... Marsha Senges
