Welcome everyone to um the ZVA meeting on September 18th, right? September 18th. Yep. 2025 at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall on the city of Springfield Court Square.
I'm going to read a chair statement. It's very important. Um this meeting is being recorded by the zoning board of appeals. If any other persons present are doing the same, you must notify me, the chairperson, at this time. Is anyone else recording the meeting?
Anybody else? It's okay if you do. You just have to tell me. I might I might record here and there. Okay. In accordance with Mass General Laws chapter 3A subsection 20G, quote, "No
person shall address a meeting of a public body without permission of the chair, and all persons shall at the request of the chair be silent. No person shall disrupt the proceedings of a meeting of a public body. If after clear warning from the chair, a person continues to disrupt the proceedings,
the chair may order the person to withdraw from the meeting. However, if the person does not withdraw, the chair may authorize a constable or other officer to remove the person from the meeting. Uh, call roll call. So, the members here are Charles Roberts,
Eric Frame, Jim W, Peter, Debbie, Joe, Mark, David Singer. Okay. Tonight, we have one public hearing. I'm going to ask the new clerk uh to read the uh the the notice of the public hearing. This all signed.
Did anyone have I have it right here? Thank you. It's all signed. You checked it. Application of Noble Home LLC for profit located at 106 to 110 Still and Farm
Lane, assessor's map R3, lot 14, which is located in the urban residential RA and rural residential RC zoning districts for special permit pursuant to sections 200-6.1C, 200-7.2,
200-8.3, and 200-8.4 4 of the zoning ordinance in order to allow the construction of a 34 unit multif family development at this location. Before I let the applicant speak, I want
to just do a little tutorial to zoning before. Um, so the zoning board of Greenfield, like every other zoning board, or well, the zoning board of Greenfield is what we call a quasi judicial board. We make decisions about zoning matters in the city of
Greenfield. So what's before us is an application for three things. One is for or well at least three things. One is for a site plan review. The application you as you know they're asking to be given permission to build homes up the
extension of Stone Farm Lane. So there's a site plan that they're going to present to us that we have a right to review and and determine whether we'll accept it or not. There's an issue. There's a special permit issue uh in Greenfield. Uh,
everyone has uh who owns land has as a matter of right the right to build at least three units on their property. And when the units exceed three units, that's called multifamily. And under our ordinance, if you want to uh put more than three units on your property, you need to come to the zoning board and ask
permission to do that by way of a special permit. And there are criteria in the ordinance that discuss what we what we need to consider. The third thing that's before us is something that's a little more esoteric,
which is that the applicant already has more than three units on their property. How many are there now? Four, six, sorry, two. So, there are four units, which means they already have more than three. So, technically, they're what we would say
they're grandfathered. So they're allowed to some degree to have four units on that property because those four units were placed on the property before the zoning was changed to only allow three. They also have another issue which is
that in order to have a multifamily in Greenfield, you need 100 ft of frontage. They only have 50 ft of frontage. So, what they're asking us is whether or not they're allowed to take this nonconformity and expand it from four units to right
now, I believe, 22 units and and and and get over the hurdle that they don't have the 100 ft. So, they're saying, well, we had four units there when it required 50 ft. So, we're asking if we could put 22 units on the property and extend this
already nonconformity that we were lucky enough to have. And the test for that is if the board of appeals finds that such extension, alteration or change
will not be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing non-conforming use. So, right now the non-conforming use is four units. Okay. So, that's the test. I'll read it again because it's important. It's important for a number of reasons, but it's important for you to understand
because when you get your time to speak, the board is really looking for you to provide us with information, facts, evidence of why you think it will be more substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing
non-conforming use. So, that's the focus of our board. We have to determine whether we believe based on what they say and what you say. If we were going to allow this to happen, we would have to determine that the change, the extension will not be substantially more
detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing non-conforming use or the existing four units. Okay, everybody understand that? Thank you. All right. So, that will help, I hope, in your discussions. Um, and just realize that
we're lay people and I'm I'm not going to time people, but I'm going to ask you that you sus. Make your point. We We'd love to hear from everybody, but make your point. And if you continue to go on, and I think you've said it before, I don't think it's relevant. I'll ask you
to please wind it up. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. You just explain three too. Did you want to No, you don't want to talk about No, I don't want to do it now. Nope. Thank you. If you if you have 8.3 and you want to pass it around, that's fine. But I won't
I'll discuss when we get to the public hearing part. I'm happy to bring it up. But I just wanted the people to understand that it's 6.1 that's really the it's that's the hardcore of of ask here. Um
Okay. But thank you for So I I don't want people to interrupt this if I can if you can help it unless it's an emergency. Thanks. Okay. the applicant, your name, address, what you're here for, what you're doing, how you're doing it, where you're doing it, and what you're doing, right?
Um, so should I just uh Well, first your name. Oh, okay. And who represent? Um, name is Noah Brunberg. Yes. I'm the owner of Noble Home, a design build company based in Shelurn Falls. Um, my address, I live in
Nine Gardener Avenue, Sheldon Falls. Massachusetts. You represent a lei. Are you the lei? I am the lei. Noble is the lei. Yeah, noble home is the lei. And and the company's address is whole company's address is PO Box 476
Sheldon Falls. Okay. Thank you. All right. Go ahead. I'm here to ask for zoning relief to build uh multi multif family structures uh which includes 22 units of housing on
a non-conforming lot consisting of 32 acres roughly uh at the end of Stone Farm Lane. The property itself is owned by a Valley Community Land Trust and I'm a lease holder of about 7.7 acres of that
property. Uh, Mr. Chairman, uh, excuse me. Yes, Mr. Chair, we're we've exceeded we not convincing now. We've got more people coming. Yeah. Wait, is somebody
locked in here? You're welcome to stand outside. It's not the chair. It's another request. If you could speak a little louder, we good. Go ahead.
Um, thank you, Peter. So, I'm here tonight to ask for zoning relief to to build these 22 units. Um, and as the chairman was pointing out, uh, I have a couple requests, uh, zoning
requests. Um, uh, the main one is to extend the existing residential use on a non-conforming lot. Um the other is a special permit to build multi- housing uh multif family housing in the RA
district because that's what's required. Yeah. Okay. So I will present what we have here. So you're going to sh screen share your screen. I will. Yes. think we can get this to work. You have to be on Zoom to do that.
Well, he's actually connected to this screen here, so I'm hoping I can just make that happen. Share work for a second. Here you go. desktop. I need to do Yeah. Desktop
HDMI device. Where did I I don't know if you need to allow it on your side. Um Oh, I don't know. I don't see any notification. I'm saying
key. Yeah, it says it says plug device HDMI cable in or connect. Yeah, I'll try it again maybe. It is HDMI, right? Yes. Oh, there we go.
Nice. Okay. Speak. So, um, so I'll start with the site. Um, the site shown in green is personally 32 acres at the end of Stone Farm Lane.
Um it's a a vicinity it's part of downtown. Um it's about 2 miles from uh the retail district from Main Street. So there's
access in a variety of uh modes of transportation. Um they can be access obviously by car bike route. There is are walking paths through the poet poet seat bridge uh which can get toward main street and
there's also uh bus routes um and I'll go into a little bit more of the traffic issues later. A little closer up of the 32 acres is just so shows the surrounding um neighborhood.
the uh the houses to the north mostly were built in I guess in the 50s um 50s and 60s. Um and to the south of the property is uh first light turn uh I
guess it's still called first light which owns the property between uh this property and the Connecticut River. So currently there's access through this property with trails and first light allows the public on their property. So
people can access uh the river at will. This is just a boundary uh survey. Um what this shows is the the blue line is the the boundary of the complete property. These interior lines show
three lease holes. The shaded green is the my lease hold which is about 7.7 acres and the rest of the property is leased by uh Valley Housing Co-op. Um I'll mention here that so there's
three stakeholders in this property. Um the property owner is Valley Community Land Trust. Uh they are um one of the mission of the land trust is to own property and make it available for
affordable or attainable housing. Um they own about 200 acres through uh various towns in Franklin County and they're based in Colrain. Uh the second entity is my company Noble Home again leasing about 7.7 acres and
Valley Housing Co-op is leasing the remainder of the property and um the reason for bringing them into this conversation is that we're uh this property will be built in two
phases. So my project is is a phase one which includes the 22 units that I've been speaking about. Valley Housing Co-op has plans in the works for developing uh 12 more up to 12 more housing units on their leaseold. And the reason why
that's important to discuss now is um because they are going to be sharing the civil infrastructure that we'll be building. So it um and it also affects the special permits in terms of asking for the extending the residential use.
Um actually that's the reason if if they have zoning relief for their project, they'll be bringing that to you in the future. Um but uh yeah, I I have a question. Anyone from Valley
Housing Co-op come with you today? I Oh, yes. There's a few representatives here. Can I I just I don't mean to interrupt. I want to interrupt you a lot, but All right. So, the land is owned by an entity who
leases who's leased it to you and uh Valley Housing. Yes. Who leases the 1.102 acres? That's the current structure. That's also Valley Housing Co-op. So they they have they're leasing two pars two lease holds.
So the 12 additional units include those four units. Um no. So there's the So in addition to the four units, there's 22 + 12. I think so. That's what you're hoping for. That's is that right? And
the terms of the ground lease, do they allow you to um access your property over stone farm money? Yes. Well, we'll be working on But currently, do you have that that do you have that legal brain? Uh, not currently.
Our leases are going to be changed once um we go through this process. You mentioned the civil infrastructure. Does that take into account the 14 additional houses? So, that's whatever water, sewer, power that's included in your proposed.
Yes. So to to tag on to that, so what you're saying is that your project needs that project. No, it doesn't. Um, so they're it's the other way around though. They're at this point in time, their
project requires my project, right? So I'll be building civil infrastructure. They because I want to just make it clear. I like to get this out on the table right now that we do not have an application from Valley Housing Cooperative before us. Correct.
It's fine that you mention them and it's fine that of course we need to understand but um so you could mention them but if they're not it's it's it's not relevant except at the extent that it's part of your project but we're not making a decision
about those units. You understand that? Yes. But there was a question Dave I think by the public when I read some of this is do they have enough capacity in the design of their project to handle water sewer when they go to build that the second being when valley comes they
but they this project has to have enough capacity to handle and there there was I read in some of the public correspondence there's a concern about that the other I guess I would to answer you're engineering your project so that
12 more units can take on the capacity of what you're going to put in there for your 22 units. That's right. Okay. Thank you. So, a little bit more about the the property itself. Uh so it's it's 32
aside from the the existing duplexes uh and the driveway. It's 32 acres of quote raw land. Um but the history of this land uh well it was bad forever of course but um back in the 19 I think uh
40s and 50s it was heavily uh gravel. It was mining for sand and gravel. Uh so if you look at aerial photographs from the 50s, much of the site was cleared and if you bought the land now, there's valleys
and pits and piles of sand. Um most of the vegetation was cleared. So the current vegetation now is uh and as this plan shows from a biological survey, what's in green is areas of uh non-native vegetation
and a lot of primarily invasives and then the the reddish areas are areas of dense notweed and bramble. So, it's also it's part of the uh part of the goals of this project is
to bring not only bring housing to this property, but also bring it back into ecological health and bring back biodiversity uh which is pretty much missing from here. This is just an existing uh grading
plan. Um, there's nothing new shown here. It shows Oops, I'm sorry. Can you Can you begin to point out for us and the public, generally speaking, where the 22 units will be? Yes, it's going to be in this quadrant here
north of the existing duplexes. So, these two are the existing duplexes. This is the exist existing gravel parking and the existing driveway. This is an existing um
access lane that First Light and Eversource use. And where will the new parking lot go? Uh right in in here. So, there's going to be new parking here and new buildings and and there's a wetland area below.
This is there's wetlands here and wetlands down here and a certified vernal pool over here. But the closest wetland to what you're doing now is right in the middle. And this is the 100 foot buffer.
And what we're doing um takes a little corner right within the 100 foot buffer. So and all of this has been obviously reviewed by the conservation commission and we have all the
and they made determination. Yes. Right. So interrupt you. So RA you have lines that show the designation of the zones, right? Yes. Right. That's important again for people to see especially the board
that RA is your phase but RC is the valley phase. Right. That's say yes. Okay. Yep. Got it. So yeah phase one. So, I'd like to point out as I'm sure the zoning board knows is uh this RA
zone actually in in the overall zoning map um much of didn't mean to draw on that. Much of Greenfield is is an RA zone and then High Street is here and there's a section of commercial
right residential commercial along and then interestingly I'm sorry. Okay. Interestingly, on the other side is another section of RA and I believe that was created in order to
create this existing neighborhood. Right? So, the fact that we have an RA district and urban residential is created for high density residential use.
here. So, now to the the non-conforming lot. Um, again, the non-conforming the only reason this lot is not conforming is due to the lack of frontage. So, frontage on Stone Farm Lane is right here. It's
currently 50 feet and 100 feet is required. I would say that the fact that I'm in an RA zone. Um, actually I'll I'll back up a moment.
So, in terms of density, um, you can see here there's a variety of of lots, each with a single family home. And what I'm building is 22 units. Uh, and if you include the parking, which you'll see later on, it's less than
three acres total. And I have I'm leasing 7.7 acres. Go to the next slide. So, this shows a little bit more of the density layout. So, as you can see here, the the
complete 32 acres with the footprint of buildings we're putting on compared to the footprint of the buildings in to the north. It's clear that what we're doing is a much lower density uh than the existing neighborhood and also what's
allowed in zoning district in general. And the reason why u and that's intentional because we want to keep the land we want to keep the land as natural as possible and keep the public trails and
so forth which I'll go into more but the red the red dots here actually signify uh existing trails um and we plan on ma maintaining those and improving them and valley housing is
working on getting easements with the to create easements for those trails. So they are there in perpetuity. Excuse me. Is that road that's being developed does that go into the RC district? It does it. Yes, it does. It's right
here. The question was is the road in the RC district? And the answer is yes. At least the bottom fills the southern part, right? So, we plan on keeping much of the land as natural as possible and increasing
the ecological viability. Um, also in terms of wildlife corridors, I estimated a approximate corridor here with this lighter shade. And there's a pinch point here of about 600 ft here.
And we we won't be lessening that amount uh for wildlife corridor. Keep maintaining the natural preserves. U in the zoning bylaw, it asks um
applicants to look at alternative plans, how else the property could be used. And this is an example of one alternative plan um which would be more in line with the subdivision law creating a
subdivision subdivision road for instance here and then a series of building lots. Um, this happens to be a rendition of a plan that was approved by the zoning board in 2006,
uh, fully permitted for 14 building lots, each with duplex houses, septic systems, um, and a large subdivision road and a loop that actually came off of Stone Farm Lane and onto Valley View Drive.
Um, I thought, well, this is a viable plan, but it's not. it doesn't match the values of Noble Home, Valley Community Land Trust, or Valley Housing Co-op. We really wanted to keep the land as natural as possible and uh cluster the
housing together. And again, if you look at this property compared to or sorry, um, you compare this plan with the alternate plan and you can clearly see that we're utilizing much less of the property and
able to keep it in a more natural state. I'll move on to some architectural drawings. This is our our local site plan. So this dotted dot here, this line is my lease hole
and these are the two existing duplexes. So right about here is where the grade starts to starts to steepen up toward the neighborhood to the north. Um
so my plan consists of two buildings. The building to the south here consists of 18 units. Uh the building to the north consists of four units. We are clustering uh the parking here and then
some uh more temporary parking here and with areas for delivery uh trash pickup, mailboxes, bike racks. This plan also shows our uh lighting plan. All the dots with the L's
are lighting, which we can certainly go into at some point if you're interested. This is our landscape plan. Um, all of our new landscape landscaping will include Franklin County uh native
plants, a mixture of wild flowers, shrubs, and small trees. to the north to the north of the main building. We plan on it's a fairly steep trade, so we do plan on some terracing
with some large boulder walls uh with uh native plantings there. Uh in the future, they could be easily be dug up if um new owners want to do some vegetable gardening or other types of gardening. that's going to have some
great south facing uh views there. A little bit about the buildings themselves. Uh for both buildings, the the units are clustered together. They're technically multif family housing. Um but it's not a
traditional apartment building. There's no interior hallways, no front door. Each unit has its own entry to the outside, either via a patio at grade or a deck or a rooftop. Um, all grade units
um accessibility is mandated by the architectural uh access board of Massachusetts. So, all grade units need to be wheelchair accessible. Um and we will have a number of fully
uh ADA compliant uh units as well. Oh, actually the cup. So this is a Hey. Okay. Okay. Yes. a question on the site on the design. There's there's a pump sewage pump station. Yes. Where is that?
Oh, I I'll I'll do some civil engine drawing. I'll show that. Yeah. Uh just quickly on the floor plan. So, this is the level A, which is the ground floor from the south side. U there's uh
six units. There's a common area greenhouse unit and a a common area for uh just a common space which includes laundry u services. There's bike racks. The mail cluster is
here. Trash and recycling will be here which will be a independent um service to collect trash and recycling as well as delivery parking.
Building code mandates all kinds of things like uh EV chargers and uh lighting and so forth. Again, we can get into we'll have one there'll be signage on the property. Uh most of the signage
will be directional signage, you know, for emergency personnel, where to go, where to find what units, um that sort of thing. The really the one entry sign will be right here along this pathway, which will be integrated into a a a
retaining wall. Level B, which is the second floor, um is also a grade level floor accessed from above. So these first grade units are actually burned into the hillside and these egresses here are like uh
window wells. So again uh it this minimizes the the the height of the building and how much they're sticking out of the hillside. Really trying to blend this into the hillside as much as possible. So then
the the second floor is accessed from above and those are also grade units accessed from this pathway. Um each unit has its own entry and there's also stairways that lead
back down to the first level. So there's very various ways to uh inhabit inhabit the building. Level C is the third level and these are you might say like rooftop units. So
they're access from this northern path with a egress stair up to a rooftop a habitable rooftop and then each unit has an access via the rooftop. Can a vehicle get down in northern path? um
emergency vehicle, an ambulance or it's not really made for emergency vehicles. I mean, they could in an emergency, but it's not it's not technically we're not calling it uh where would the emergency vehicle go? It would they would go down here and I'll show
how how would somebody get from from the rooftop to that ambulance? It it would be through the stairway. So, they go down to that path down the stairway and down here. Oh, you only have one way off that rooftop. Oh, no. There's a secondary address on
this side. Yeah. And uh by the uh believe the fire code is you need to have uh less than a 250 foot access to any unit from emergency
vehicle. Oh, and it's fully sprinkler buildings as well. uh level D. So the this northern building is um is up the hill a little bit. It's a little higher grade than these
buildings. Um so level D is the first level of that unit and level E is the second floor of this. It's not as high as these. and see those. So,
can you can you agree? Oh, yeah. So, generally speaking, the one you just spoke about is on the left. Uh, yes. Well, this right the small building to the north is this building and this is the the main building. So, those are the two structures.
Yes, the two structures. Uh, this is um the existing duplexes are are down here. So our driveway or the the walkway is here. So this is the first level. This is the second level which is accessed from the path on
the north. Um and then there's a stairway up to this rooftop which accesses these units. So as you go up the hill, the buildings aren't really getting taller. We have a an average grade
of this line here is our average grade for the building. and we're 32 feet to the the uppermost point of the roof. The second building is just two stories and again burned into the hillside. So
from behind the buildings it's really a one-story building visually that is what are the dimensions of the building um you know all 170
the total uh the footprint buildings is about 11,000 square feet. The parking lot to the furthest walk to um I do have a plan that shows the
here there's a dotted line here. This is a a 250 foot line from here all the way around to
here. And then from this point, it's 250 ft all the way up here on the roof all the way to this last unit here. Um, so I guess you'd say, and it's a maximum
of 250 ft. Are the walkways relatively level though someone's walking with a wheelchair? Yes. The only the only place that's not Yeah. is this section here is a steep grade. But from the parking lots, this is all wheelchair accessible all to
these units. And from here, this is all wheelchair accessible to this that unit here. U the upper building is not wheelchair accessible. No elevators.
No. The site section illustrates how much we're really trying to build into the hill itself. So again, these are the existing duplexes here. This is our main entry to the first floor. This is the second floor.
And then um These these are rooftop here, but they're not actually accessed from because I guess where this sight section is cut, you really you do have to go up a set of stairs to reach um this rooftop. So,
it's a little uh yeah, it's cut in a funny place. And this is the second building beyond, but it does show fairly grade. Um, and these are buildings on Avenue. How far
away are those buildings? Um, good question. Yeah, I mean, we're at least 100 feet to the our property line. I think these are more. We can look on um back on the floor
plans. And these are just some uh views of what buildings look like. So again, this main view is looking from the southwest. So this would be uh this is actually parking area for the
duplexes here. This is our trash and recycling area. Uh beyond is is our parking area. And this is the walkway, southern walkway to these ground floor units here. And this is the this is the path where it gets steep up the hill and
wraps around to the center floor above. This view here shows from the main parking area. This is the northern path. Again, it goes between the two buildings. Second floor of the main
building access from this path. And here you'd walk down the path here and across to access the first floor. And up again in this path would require going up um a few steps to reach the
northern building. This is some traffic uh data that we uh acquired partly online and we also did our own traffic counts on a number several days. Um some of the existing
traffic on high street see where what's the source? Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm gonna get to you guys. Well, the number for Stone Farm Lane, the
average daily traffic of 300, that's from Furcog um showing 300 average trips per day. That was counted in 2006. That's the latest. Please, please, please keep it to yourself.
Um, 2024 from Mass DOT, the French King Highway uh shows 4,097 average uh daily trips. That's going north and south.
On our uh traffic counts, uh we did traffic counts in peak AM traffic. Uh, so we did a few. It's 8:30 to 9:30, 8:00 to 9:00. Um, and we picked the highest numbers that we came up with. Leaving
Stone Farm Lane was a total of of 13 trips, 13 cars. And here's a closeup of that. It's nine cars uh turning left to go south toward Greenfield and seven cars turning right uh to head north
street. And on High Street itself, 321 cars heading toward Greenfield toward downtown, I should say, and 268 cars heading north. Yeah, that's that's
the peak A of traffic. I don't have I mean, I have this chart in in my narrative. Uh I could go over some of the other what uh what we expect our traffic to add right and we used
standard um institute of traffic engineering um information based on their chart is well it's not on my Got it. Oh, no. Oh, it didn't. Yeah, I
don't Something happened. It's that little here. Didn't messed up. Anyway, got the number here though. Um, the daily trips. Can we silent? Can we Excuse me.
Who's Lisa? She part of your team. They're correct. No, I understand, but I don't want people doing that. So, I don't know if I can stop them from posting chats. Folks online, please, you'll get your chance to speak. That would be a great time to do that. Thank you.
Um, based on a chart from the Institute of Traffic Engineers, um, their daily trips per dwelling unit for a mid-rise multif family is 5.44 uh trips per day.
And then the peak hour trips per dwelling is 36 in the AM and 34 in the PM. So that's per dwelling. What does that what does that mean? So that means um
we're adding this is where sorry I'm just this is where um the information I'm doing for traffic is based on 34 units and not just my 22 units. So um I'm
doing some traffic information on the total potential future build out of this property. What what does that what did you learn from that? So we add we are adding on a daily basis 185 trips on Stone Farm Lane if both
projects were built. if both projects were built and maxed out. Um, and consequently, the peak AM hour, we'd be adding 12 trips for that hour if you had if we had 30 34,
right? based on the Institute of Traffic Engineers uh accept acceptable standards and the level of service, we're still within an uh a level of service on Stone Farm Lane. And the fact that we're adding 185
trips to High Street still keeps High Street at a level a service. um which is which is basically a ratio of what the road volume can handle
uh to what traffic we anticipate and I've got those numbers are all in the narrative that I wrote up how that's calculated will anything need to be done to the existing stone sorry
you can speak up just a little bit. Is there is there going to need to be anything done to the existing stone length up where your property or your project starts? Yes, we're going to be upgrading the existing driveway to town standards and
uh appropriate for emergency vehicles and so forth, which brings us to the some of the civil drawings here. So, these are some grading uh grading plans for the new driveway. And I believe we're going to
20 ft wide. Um I'm not totally information. That's where the information is. Yes, we're proposing a 20 foot wide gravel uh road of faith.
From where to where? From the beginning of our property here all the way to all the way to the to the new culde-sac that we're building here through this parking at back.
So this cold sack is also the turnaround for emergency vehicles and it's designed with the for the u fire department standards and so forth that we were given.
We've also changed the grading quite a bit. Right now the existing driveway is first of all it's a much it's a steeper curve here. So, we're making this curve quite a bit more gentle and stretching out the grade. Right now, it's it's
quite steep here and then flattens out pretty quickly. And we're building this curve up and making it more of a continuous grade. Um, it's still a little bit steeper than we'd like, but
we don't have much choice in the matter. That's you got an elevation here and you've got an elevation down here and you just got to make that as uh easy a sweep as possible. Will the civil infrastructure be under that coming in?
What the roadway that you're building is the water sewer under the road or is off the It's going to be actually in this part. It's going to be a swale and it's going to be collected and then piped into the storm water management system services. Yeah, the services coming in
water. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Under the road that you built. Exactly. It'll be along the road, right? Along the road, not under. Right. Can you show where they So, um where where will you connect to the current city water and sewer?
I think Yeah. Oops. Okay. Is it on this plan? So, this shows um this will be our water line here. It's going up the hill to show here.
This is it. This is the water line. Um right up to this water line here, the end of u not sunrise. Valley View Drive. Thank you. The end of Valley View Drive. The sewer. We're going We're having a
pump station. You can go over your own property to get into that public way. That's across your property up to the public. Exactly. The public way. I see. Here. Yep. Um and the the first lots of housing are
actually here. And where's the sewer line? The sewer line. So, there's going to be a pump station. I think this I think this may be it here. And then it's going to go along our roadway up Stone Farm
Lane to Stone Farm Lane and Sunrise Avenue where there's a man. Has that pump station been built or designed or It's been schematically designed. Hasn't been detailed yet, but there's been discussions with DOT and so forth. We're
waiting to see our results, confirming it here before going through the process of detailing, but it's uh Is there a generator that goes along with that? Is that powered by a generator when power goes out? Um
it may or also or I mean there's a large capacity to hold several several days worth of stuff just like a a regular a residential system. you have a 1500-gallon tank or if you have a like
with a septic system that's pumped, you have a 1500 gallon septic tank, but also a thousand gallon tank for the pump station itself, the holding tank. So, so you all this is in all of it is in the
Okay, the set go. What's the size of the water line? That's It's going to be a six inch line. I think is what we're proposing. And that's that's the 6 in line is what's existing
drive and that's adequate for the whole project and the other 12 units. Yeah, I believe so. Look at my notes here for some of the simple the DPW responded and also will take care of fire protection.
Um well we had informal discussions with them. We haven't had a any kind of determination of that. Is that part of proposing a sprint system? Yes. Yes. And that's required by
building code state building. I'm worried about the size of your paths going up and around in the winter time 250 ft. You got to get a wheelchair or a stretcher uphill downhill in the winter time if they're not sanded to get somebody out of there. They wide enough
to get an ambulance through. You're asking an awful lot nowadays. Our age and populations get much heavier. Sure. So I get back to the local site plan. So there is no really I mean obviously
there are some stairs but if you're if an emergency vehicle is parked here this is all wheelchair accessible along this path to all these second floor units. And if they were to park here,
this is all wheelfair accessible along here. So the only accessibility issue getting to units would be these u third floor units here and the four units up here which would would require some stairs.
I'm assuming once this is built there's some kind of property manager that's going to keep snow out clean. to transport getting people in out of there. Exactly. There will be um the plan for this is these will all be condo units.
So there will be a condo association which will in turn take over the leaseold. Condo association will uh will be you know keep up the maintenance and so forth landscaping and that sort
of thing. The other major component which has been reviewed by the conservation commission is the all the storm water management. Um so the system here is actually rather simple. Um first of all we're we're we're taking on
a lot of water here. As you know this is a a pretty steep hill. Um there's a lot of water on the hills creating new buildings, new parking area, but also there's about 200,000 square
feet of land north of us. All that water is coming down to this property right now. It's full of pollutants. Whatever whatever is being sprayed on the lawns, it's coming down heading toward the river and into the Vernon pool. My
proposal is catching all that water and treating it before it goes back into the ground. So, as my civil engineer says, we're making up for past sins here by collecting rain water from our neighbors,
bringing it down through this channel down the hill. Oops. To an existing gravel pit right here. And this gravel pit is going to take all that water and everything
take all the water, clean it, deposit it back into the ground. Um the only time there will be any um overflow is potentially the 100redyear storm. Um and any overflow will be caught again by
another catch basin here before it leaves and heads to the vernal pool. That's the natural grade is if water was to leave this pit, it would head to the vernal pool and downhill.
If you're hooked to go on site, there's a reason why this land was mined for gravel. You could take a picture of water. If you dig a hole, put a picture of water, it's going to disappear as quickly as you could pour it in. And our engineer was went down here to
do some uh testing and he couldn't even test how fast the water went in because it wasn't even holding. So the amount of water that that this can take is enormous.
How many gallons? Good question. We have is it storm water? The sto so let let me let let's let's look at
just this this presentation that you're making. Sure. for the board's benefit. You made a representation that there's water that comes off of the existing uh subdivision. Yes. The first question that comes to
mind is are there um drains up there that capture the groundwater or is it or or that doesn't exist in the subdivision? Um I'm actually not quite sure. Okay. Yeah. So the water comes down. Do you have any you have any idea of how
much water generally comes down off of that that you're capturing and putting into this? Can't remember, but we do have it detailed in here maybe on the plants. We have a
general idea. Sorry. Well, we have peak. I might go find real quick. Just charge it. There's somebody called I'm not really up. Do you believe do you feel confident
that the engineer No, he's Excellent. You feel confident that this drain water and the pit that you created or the place you created there's enough there's enough uh space in that pit that take all the all the
ground you represent. Yes. Right. And the my engineer would have showed up tonight but he had another presentation that he had to be at. He can certainly be at subsequent. Yeah. There might be maybe we'll get into more detail.
Yeah. Another means the conservation commission review this issue. Oh, in detail. Yes. We had three conservation commission hearings. Yeah. So they said about the groundwater and the pits. They did and they approved
this. Yes. You're really only obligated to manage the impervious surface on your piece anyway. You're not obligated to manage what comes down the hill. That's right. From from budding properties or or from other pvious areas.
But they're doing it anyway, right? It it it I think it's that's what he's saying. That's what he's saying. Yeah. But it's it's not I don't think it's is the system size to manage that water or is it or is it just sort of a byproduct? It's
uh well we we knew we had the capacity to do it. So we said, "Yeah, because it was not a overreach on our part to make it happen because that pit could take pretty much as much water as you could because it percolates."
Yeah. You wouldn't even be able to measure perk. In fact, he's got to slow down her by um detailing the bottom of that pit so the water doesn't go too fast.
The grading along this northern edge seems really steep. What's you know what the what the grade is here where you're you're regrading back in here. I think right like right above that pathway. Yeah. Around here and then around the back of this this upper upper say 30%. So
30% grade. And so all the water that's coming down that steep grade is that going into piping that's laid into the ground in there. Yes. There's a it initially hits a swale a French drain or something. There's a Yeah, there's a there's a a swale that's
will be planted and then there's periodic drains that'll go into a pipe. Okay. Catch basins. So, I'm I'm curious about the the percolation that you're talking about in the proposed pit. Yeah. Um
you you can't even measure how quickly it percolates. Where's that water going from? Um, it's got to go somewhere. Which water that we're catching? The water that is going into that is coming off currently going down coming down the
hillside and along there. Is it going into the Connecticut River? Is it going into It depends on how significant the rain event is. I mean, if it's a light rain, the it'll the land will absorb it before it hits the river. Um but with the with the way the
existing grades are grading existing grading so this is the existing grading certainly if it's coming off Sunrise Avenue here it's a straight shot
it's very steep to the vernal pool so that's concerning because with the velocity water. It's not going to have time to soak into the ground so much where it's a little gentler slope here.
You know, it's a much slower. It's still steep, but a slower velocity. The ground more time to to soak up the water. So, there's less less of a chance of that water hitting the kinetic river. I'd say the vernal pool is probably most
at risk of for being overflowed and collecting pollutants. the floor. But so because it's further north the Burnham pool is and closer to Sunrise Avenue, you're not proposing to do anything to intercept it along that way.
Um we are let's see we're collecting water. If I may help you, aren't you collecting the water to protect the buildings from the water runoff primarily?
Yes. So there's no buildings over there. So yeah, right. That was that was But we do have See, so we are catching water that's coming down here because this is a this is an exposed swale. So we are
catching some of the water heading down. But you're right. If it's right in front of the infernal pool, potentially not. I mean, it seems like you're taking a really wide catchment area that would normally just flow down the side of the
uh of the of the hillside and channeling it all into one point. And so, and so all this water that normally kind of drains and spreads out over this whole area is being funned into one location. And is that a problem?
Um the excess Right. Well, I mean, all the water that's coming down here is getting caught in these catchment basins at the at the foot of the swale and then being brought and channeled around to that one location. So, instead of it just coming down and washing out over the entire embankment,
it's coming and just being all directed to that one location. Yeah. And that's uh I mean that's a function of building a hillside. So, anytime you build on a hillside, you want to either redirect the water or catch it. Um, a lot of times, certainly if you're building a single family home,
you're just going to build a swale and redirect redirect around and it's going to go where it's going to go. We didn't want to do that because of the river. We would be redirecting a lot of water for the river. you know, you're redirecting it to one location as opposed to like a
number of like rain gardens or, you know, natural structures like that. Instead of spreading it around, you're putting it all in one place. Well, that's Yeah. Can I question? I see sewage pump station here in the lowest end C3.2.
You would indicate there's some kind of storage tank and I don't see that on the site plan. Storage tank. Um, you were indicating that you didn't put need to put a generator in because whatever happened with an outage that extra sewage would go through that tank.
I don't see anything like that. Right. I don't believe there's a generator. I just can't imagine what right. Yeah. We're going to have to let the engineer way in some because I'm looking at this drawing. Is is the pump station
close to the RC district? I then I looking at your your development is on the RA land, right? Actually on Oh, it's it's okay. The pump station is actually here. I think I missed I think I pointed to
this spot earlier. Um because you indicated that road sweeps over into the RC area. Is that right? So this would be the RC It's in the RC district itself and the size of it is anticipating those
other 22 units. Yes. Not 22 34 to the You don't want to have an overflow condition out of the pump station. No. So I mean by cool I know but I'm just
saying you got to have a backup generator and you've got open day outage to run it pump station right that tank has to be sized or you put a standby generator. That's my point. Right. I know there's a law for that but
I don't see that here yet. Pointing that out. I'm confident it's worked out, but I'm sorry I don't have the answers, but of course there, you know, the board of health and because I looked at I looked at the comments from the DPW and they didn't address anything to that effect.
Okay. From their comments at this point. So, I've worked that out with them. Sure. Good. Any other simple questions? looking try to not answer.
I I have a question about if the pump station for the 22 units is in the RA zone, I'm sorry, is in the RC zone and the building for it that is generating it is in the RA zone. Does
that mean that the RC zone zoning applies if I'm asking that clearly? I don't know the answer. It doesn't seem to me that the system it's the it's the units being in the RA zone that would be more tied
in, but I don't know. That's a good question. I I don't know the answer off the top of my head. It's something to think about. Okay. Yeah, we we should consider that if the RCM that is is applied to the whole unit, then that would have a huge
gym. Isn't there something in the bylaws about if if you're um going on working with two zoning districts that you have a 100 foot additional buffer for your main zoning
district or something? I don't know what you call that. wrap it up to make sure as you mentioned I don't I don't think it's going to be a problem. Okay. I mean the units themselves face a questioning of density
but I don't think the pumping in there is itself part of the RA density question that arguably it could be I just yeah just because it's not the dwelling but um
I have I have loaded so are you done with your presentation? Uh yes, thank you. Yes, I want to guide you. I'll start please. Um I think it's important and it was mentioned by uh someone from the
Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Listen, if you if you want to talk, that's fine, but just walk outside. It's okay if you do it, but just do it outside. Thanks. Um
there is a list of criteria under our uh section 8.3 and while you went through things that might have picked up all the pieces I think it would be helpful if for all of us if you did it systemically going
through everything you could yourself summarize things that you've already said so that everybody could hear it and people want to comment on what you said that that would be helpful. So um the first thing is uh provision shall be
made for convenient and safe vehicular and pedestrian circulation within the site in relation to adjacent streets and property. So what you've represented is that Stone Farm Lane as it's now extended is your access right and you have a parking lot there
and you have pathways on the buildings that will provide foot traffic access. The service level of a date of adjacent street shall not be significantly reduced due to your added traffic or type of traffic in accordance with the most recent edition of the highway capacity manual. So it's your
representation that this additional number let's say the number is 185. Is it your representation that um that traffic will not uh will not affect traffic that already exists in some
significant way? Yeah, that's 19. The proposed use on overload the capacity of water sewer systems, storage, drainage, schools, solid waste disposal facilities, and other public facilities. Can you speak to that a little bit? Like some sort of a
presentation about the water and sewer systems and you know the what what you know if you know anything about how extending this will affect the the rest of the system. Anything you can share with us about that? Um, sure. We don't
we don't believe it's going to have a significant effect on the city services. Why don't you believe that? Um, well, we're only adding 34 units to um Well, I mean, that's an engineering
question that I So, you want a quick answer. I'm sorry. Do you want to make a list maybe of questions that the engineer might Exactly. I see. Yes. But uh I I would say that we did decide use the city services at least the sewer
system as a uh as opposed to septic systems which we could have done on this site but I think we felt just because of being close to the Connecticut River we'd rather not install septic systems they're known to
fail they're known to leech uh harmful nutrients that are not good for waterways. Uh so that was an important factor for us. Yeah. And it is an important factor in many ways. But because you're asking for a special permit, you have to
overcome these these criteria. If it was a matter of right, then you could just go directly to the DPW and they would answer your questions, right? We have to answer these questions. So we need an engineer to give us I think a little more detail about that. And if you have somebody that could talk
about traffic, that's fine, too. I'm not sure your presentation. Um, Mr. Chair, if there was a tech review meeting on June 6th with with various city departments, some of what he may thought may be addressed.
Oh, okay. So, great. But I'd like I just want to say Yeah, we'll read we can read that into the record public. Thanks. I just want to have it the presentation at least get to that place. Um so the the adequate methods of disposal of sewage refugees
or other waste generated by the youth. So the sewage is going to go out through this um sewage line that and it's going to have a pump. You don't know if the pump has a generator. It has a pump and the size of pump is defined for not only your number of units but for the
additional units. Correct. Correct. Uh you shall not increase erosion, flooding or sedimentation. you spoke about uh catching water. Um can you speak to how you know building into the side of the hill will will not um
increase erosion? Sure. U we've um before embarking on the project we had a geotech um study done. So we had borings of the site and a geotechnical report created uh with the intention of building
foundations here. So uh they had made they've made re recommendations on not only how to support the foundation for these buildings in this type of soil but also how these buildings will
uh you know prevent erosion and hold the hillside back. And in my narrative, I do have um just a a synopsis on their conclusion which I could read. It's even
Where's my construction? So a geotechnical study done by Yankee Engineering and Testing Incorporated submitted recommendations for the site and foundation work at the project. Um in its conclusion it says Yankee recommends a comprehensive foundation
approach utilizing ground improvement with rammed aggregate peers. RAPS are advised to reinforce the subsurface across the site, enhancing soil stability and providing a consistent foundational base for shallow foundations. This approach effectively
addresses the site's variable soil conditions, mitigating um mitigating liquefification and settlement risks while maintaining cost efficiency. Foundation drains are also recommended to manage perched water and minimize potential water related issues.
Um, again, that's just part of their conclusion. I do have the full report. If anybody would like to see that, has it been submitted to the city? Um, it has not. Would you do that? Sure. Um, I think he spoke to this, but maybe
this will give you a chance to speak. and the proposed project shall not create a significant adverse impact on the quality of the natural environment including wildlife, education, air surface and groundwater during or after construction. Can you speak to that please? Sure. Um
our plan um involves restoring the health of this property. Um it has been gravel mined to the point where uh most of the vegetation was stripped at some point in time and the
opportunistic invasive species have taken over. There's very few uh native plants and trees in this area. And in fact um in in-depth discussions with the conservation commission, it was clear
that any of the vegetation we're removing was would be an asset to this property and we do have uh you know a value to bring back native uh native resources. All of our new plantings are going to be Franklin
County uh native plants, whether they're shrubs, trees, uh other types of perennials. We do anticipate keeping uh trails available um and also keeping the the
rest of the property that we're not utilizing for human habitation, keeping them in a wild biodiverse state. All right. So, here's LA. The design of the project shall minimize earth removal, volume of cut and fill, grade
changes, and the removal of existing trees and vegetation. Now, you're going to be right up against the the what what exists today. Um what is your plan in terms of um you know, removal of trees
and vegetations and that vegetation there and everywhere else on the property? What's what's the plan on that? Um, Valley Housing Co-op does have uh an approved invasive species management plan. Um, and I I don't know
all the details about that at the moment, but that is something that uh all three stakeholders on the property are going to be actively pursuing. Okay. What about the cutting down of trees behind between you and the other
properties? What do you what we're going to leave? Uh we're going to leave as much as possible. Um we're only going to take down what we need for construction. So how about above north of construction, right? We're going to leave that as is.
So there there's maintaining the top. So this point basically right about here well here will be left as natural. So this is the existing woodland that will all remain
and then we'll re be replacing this with a series of series of small trees perennials bushes and so forth. So about north of this line will remain as is which is a thick
it's a young growth trees in anywhere from six to I suppose there's some 12 in couple 14inch trees there but none of your lands is any of your landscaping uh consist of planting more trees in
that area? Um, not at the moment. Yeah. What will be the visibility of the new buildings from houses that abut on the north? Well, in the summer, none at all, but
those are all deciduous trees there. Um, in the winter time through the trees, they'll be able to see a little bit of the roof lines, but it's minimal. But yeah, they'll see some.
Have you done a cut and fill analysis? Looks like you're digging out a lot here for like this upper building especially as if is is that is that all that earth being reaed on site? Are you trucking it away or a lot of it's going to be reused? It's appropriate to use for the driveway as a base. Um it's all sand and
gravel as it is. Okay. So I think that was also determined in the U geotech report. It said that they're going to try and use as much clean fill as they can and
then appropriately remove the anything that was contaminated. And can be used also for the brand aggregate Peters which is our foundation space for getting that material.
So these are concrete peers that are getting rammed in gravel pack gravel in layers and then you build a foundation on top of those. So those act as support for
an alternative approach to foundation. No, I mean, well, it's so you can do a slab on grade rather than down. No, you don't need the poor footers or anything like that. They are the first
peeve. It sounds pretty cool. It's drainable. It's Can you show the map again? the natur the the grading plan. Uh yeah.
So Valley View Drive um you you don't plan on having any access from your uh project to that street. Is that correct? Correct. All right. Uh so you're done with the presentation, right? Yes. Any other questions?
Question on item seven. It says the proposed project shall not have a significant adverse fiscal impact. Who owns the pump station as after it gets put in? Is it turned over to the city and they maintain it or No, it'll remain private. Remains yours. Yes. To to to take care
of and maintain. Okay. That's right. What was the question, Peter? Well, the pump station that's being pulled in, I mean, I worked on some pump station. They take over ownership of it. this one here. They're saying as of they're going to own it and the city has no expense of taking care of that.
Yeah, I have I have a couple of concerns about that myself, but that was that was a recommendation by DPW. I'm just going to watch who's trying to figure out. No, I understand that. Yes, I'm just asking that question here. Is that your question? Any other questions?
Anybody else? Okay, so I'm going to stop then the presentation and have 8 o'clock. Good. Um, do people need a break? Do people on the board need a break or can we break before we public comment?
Before public comment would be fine, but even the clerk to read in the comments of the Oh, no, no, no. I can go that long. Yeah. What we do is first we read now. So, the presentation's been done. We've asked the questions of the applicant. Now, there are things that we've received in
writing or reports that we've received from the city that you might want to you might be interested in hearing about and the public who's watching and we'll read those into the record and then we're going to take a little break and then when you come back you'll get your chance to speak. Okay.
Now, I was not joking earlier when I said this was my first go around with this, so bear with me. Um, I have the letter dated from June 28th, 2024 from the planning development department as well as one dated June 25th, 2025. As
far as I know, I don't have any anything else from other departments. I I'd like you to read those first while everybody's kind of freshed on the What this is, this is the response from the city. So there's a team meeting on this project when it first comes the application comes in and this is the
response from all the different departments within the city. So yeah, he'll just now from in from his written report, right? And bear with me that both of them are about two or three pages. You all right? So this first one is from June 28th from 2024. Um it was addressed
to Noble Home attention Noah. Uh to whom it may concern this letter serves as a summary of the issues discussed at our June 26th, 2024 tech review group meeting regarding the proposed multif family development off of Stone Farm Lane. The project proponents
presentations. The following project proponents were presented were present. Excuse me. Noah Grunberg um Noble Home, Adam Benjamin, Noble Home, and Nevin and Ben Goldberg of Valley Housing Co-op. The following city staff was present.
Eric Tor, director of planning and development. Mark Snow, inspector of buildings. Eric Allen Tor, engineering superintendent. Glenn Robinson, assistant engineering superintendent. Dave Smith, fire prevention officer and
Mitchell VI, conserv conservation agent. The following is the project's proponents presentation. Mr. Grunberg, am I pronouncing that correctly? Yes, you got it. Okay. Presented the proposed project to the group. He stated that there are three parties involved in this project.
The Valley Community Land Trust. They do leaseolds. They would own both the dwelling units and property. Valley Housing Co-op. They will purchase the existing homes at 106 to 108 Stone Farm Lane Noble Home. They would lease 7
acres of land for multif family development from the Valley Community Land Trust, which would be phase one of the project. He stated that in 2005, a project was approved by the city, but never moved forward for construction to the housing market at that time. The previous
development proposed 14 new lots with both single and two family units. The closing date for the purchase of the property is July 10th, 2024. Phase one of the project would be done by Noble Home, which would be a condominium multif family development consisting of
one 24 unit building. Each unit would have direct access to the outside. There would be no common hallway areas for the building. The majority of the units would be single-le units with flat flat roof for potential. But I'm going
to say flat roof. It says rude here, but for potential roof decks or other amenities. There would be a common greenhouse area for the residents. They're looking into passive heating and hot water for the units. Phase two of the project would be done by Valley Housing Co-op, which may be a single
family/2 family housing development. He said that they may request a waiver for any sidewalk requirements as well as keeping a gravel road. He stated that they are looking into the use of gray water to reduce the load on city infrastructure. The timeline for the project would be design and permitting
fall summer/fall of 2024, infrastructure improvement summer of 2025, construction fall of 2025. Mr. Grumb stated that the neighbors have expressed concerns about a second exit from Stone Farm Lane and the portion that was closed.
City staff responded that the road is closed and is now in private ownership. Department comments. Department of Planning and Development, Stone Farm Lane, Assessor's Map RO3, lot 14, urban residential area, urban residential RA
zoning district. The above reference parcel is located within the urban residential RA zoning district. Properties to the north and west are also zoned as RA. Properties to the east and south are zoned as rural residential RC use. The existing use of the property
is a land use code 109 which is multiple houses on one lot to two family dwellings. The proposed use category is multif family dwelling which is a use allowed by special permit with site plan review and approval from the zoning board of appeals within the RA district.
The ZBA meets on the second Thursday of every month in the second floor meeting room at city hall located at 14 square Port Square in Greenville. ZBA meetings are Zoom hybrid meetings. Phase two of the project proposes a mix of single and two family homes which would require the creation of a
subdivision road and and lot development and would require subdivision approval from the planning board. The planning board meets on the first Thursday of every month in the second floor meeting room at city hall located at 14 square. Section 200-7.1
Open space/cluster developments of the zoning ordinance allows a mix of multif family and single f and single and two family frontage. The minimum road frontage requirement for multif family dwelling lots is within within the RA district is
100 ft. Parcel RO3-14 has road frontage on both Stone Farm Lane and Valley View Drive, but both are less than 100 continuous feet, making parcel RO3-14 a legal non-conforming lot. Access Access to the project is being
proposed from Stone Farm Lane. The access drive needs to be a minimum of 20 ft in width per fire code and zoning regulations. Parking off street parking requirement for both single family dwellings and multif family dwellings is one space per
dwelling unit. Parking spaces must be 9 ft by 18 ft. Dimensional requirements and setbacks. All setback and other dimensional requirements appear to be met with the exception of the required road frontage. There is an open space requirement of 40% within the RA
district which cannot include wetland areas under the mass wetland protection act or slopes greater than 15%. Applicable sections of the zoning or ordinance section 200-4.4 C3 uses allowed by special permit within
the urban residential district. Sections 200-6.1C non-conforming uses section 20-7.2 multif family dwellings sections 200-8.3 special permits section 200-8.4 for site
plan review permitting. Since parcel parcel R3-14 is a legal non-conforming lot due to the lack of the required road frontage, a special permanent application to the ZDA would be under section 200-6.1C as the primary section of the zoning
ordinance of phase one of the project conservation. Mr. V informed the project proponents that this parcel does contain priority and established habitat under the National Heritage Endangered Species Program. He stated that wetland delineations are good for three years
under Greenfield local wetlands ordinance. All streams all streams have a 200 foot riverfront area. So they should ensure that all streams are identified for the project. If the proposed project only impacts buffer areas, a determination of echo
applicability RDA could be submitted to the conservation commission. If additional resource areas are discovered, then a notice of NOI may be required. Department of Public Works. Mr. Far stated there is an existing 6-in water
line that runs down Valley View Drive that could be tapped into for the proposed project. The 6-in water line should be adequate for a sprinkler system. Sewer is available off of Sunrise Avenue, but would likely require a pump station due to the grades. Otherwise, individual septic systems
would be required. The DPW DPW recommends a loop system for water service and not a dead-end line. One or two additional fire hydrants may be required for the development. DPW regulations require a single meter system. Since the development is
proposed to be a condominium situation, a waiver of this requirement to allow individual meters may be allowed. There's an existing 3/4 inch water line for the existing units at 106 to 108 Stone Farm Lane that goes into that goes to Sunrise A. The DPW recommends tying
these units into the new system. The project proposes to keep drainage on site with the use of rain gardens and BMPs which is acceptable to the DPW. He stated that if a turnaround is provided at the building for trash trucks, then trash pickup could occur at the
building. Otherwise, pick pickup would have to occur occur at the drive entrance. Mr. Tuar handed out a copy of the record the record drawing for the property and water service cards for 106108 Stone Farm Lane. He also handed out a
copy of the DPW's policy on water meters. The following permits from the DPW would be required. Escavation and trench permitting 250 water connection permit 1500 sewer connection permits 10,000 if connecting to city sewer
building department. Mr. Snow stated that if individual septic systems will be done and he recommends that the project proponents contact the health department sooner rather than later. He stated that Massachusetts will be adopting the 10th edition of the state building code which uses the 2021
international building code. there is a six-month concurrency period that will end December 31st, 2024. He stated that Greenfield is a stretch energy code community. He recommends that flow testing for fire hydrants be done as soon as possible. He stated that a
turnaround will be required for emergency vehicle access. He stated that a minimum at minimum a threeR sprinkler system would be required for the multif family development if the building is under four levels. The proponent, the project proponent
asked if a single egress is possible for the units that are at ground level with direct access to the outside. Mr. Snow responded that it may be permissible, but that further analysis would have to be done for final determination. Mr. Snow inquired on access to the back of the building and stated that an open
perimeter around the building may be required. He inquired on the construction type. The project proponents responded, "Heavy timber construction." Mr. Snow stated that chapter 5 of the building state building code under height and area has a formula
for open perimeter. He stated that he would hand them a copy of the building department's checklist after the meeting. Health department. There were no comments from the health department. Fire department. Captain Smith stated the project will fall under the 527 CMR12021
and pointed out section 18.1.1.4 of the code relative to access drives. He stated the act of drive must be 20 feet in width with a turnaround. The fire department will need access to the site by way of an ox box. He handed out the turning radi uh radi requirements
for the fire department. A second way in and out of the proposed development may be required. He stated that he did a recent inspection of 106 to 108 Stone Farm Lane and that these units do have fire protection. Captain Smith inquired on the potential use of gray water for
the project. The project proponents responded they would use the gray water for landscaping purposes to reduce the impact on city infrastructure licensings. There was no l comments from the licensing commission. Please be aware that the above comments
were made in regards to your proposal discussed at the meeting. If you change your plan in any way, the above comments may change and you need to contact all town departments to inform them of the changes made. Um, and then just if you have any questions to reach out to Eric Torog and he signed it with first copies
to everybody who attended the meeting. I'll show you all that detail. Okay. And this is an updated memo from June 25th of 2025. Um, recommendations or the review comments of the proposed 34 unit multif
family development at 106 to 18 lane. Recommendations. If the board is inclined to approve the application, then the Department of Planning and Development recommends the following conditions of approval. One, this approval is for phase one of the project to be built out by uh Noble Home LLC. An
applicant will need to come before the board for approval on phase two of the project to be built out by Valley Housing Cooperative. Zoning District, um it references the same property. The above reference parcels located within both the urban residential and rural
residential zoning districts. Properties to the north are zoned as RA. Properties to the east, west, and south are zoned as RC. Non-conforming lot use. The minimum road frontage requirement for multif family dwelling lots within the RA district is 100 ft. Parcel RO3-14 has
road frontage on both Stone Farm Lane and Valley View Drive, but both are less than 100 continuous feet, making parcel RO3-14, a legal non-conforming lot. The current land use code for the property is 109, multiple houses on one parcel, for
example, a single and a two family on one parcel. The proposed use of multif family dwelling 24 units and under is a use allowed by special permit with site plan review and approval from the zoning board of appeals within the RE and RC zoning districts. The proposed use
multif family dwelling 25 units and above is a use allowed by special permit with site plan review and approval from the zoning board of appeals within the RA and R3 zoning districts. Phasing. The proposed project at 106110 Stone Farm Lane is a two-phase project
with a total buildout of 34 units of multif family housing. Phase one, Noble Home LLC is a lease holder of about 7.7 acres of the total 32 acre parcel. Noble Homes is proposed to build 22 dwelling units split between a building with 18
units and a building with four units. 10 out of the 22 units are proposed to be accessible units, which is 45% of all units. Phase 2 Valley Housing Cooperative VHC is a lease holder of about 25.5 acres. BHC proposes to use
about 2 acres of this select section of the parcel for development, leaving the rest of the land as open space and wooded. BHC is proposing to build 12 unit to build 12 dwelling units. Access Access to the project is being proposed from Stone Farm Lane. The access drive
needs to be a minimum of 20 ft in width per fire code and zoning regulations. The plan calls for a 20 foot wide access drive. Conservation Commission review the conservation commission issued an order of conditions on September 9th, 2025.
Traffic impact statement. Based on the submitted traffic impact statement, proposed multif family development will have a minimal impact on the surrounding street network. Parking phase one. The zoning ordinance requires one off- streetet parking space per dwelling unit. The applicant is proposing 22
dwelling units which require 22 off- streetet parking spaces. The submitted site plan shows a total of 24 off- streetet parking spaces, two of which are ADA spaces. The dimensions of the nonADA spaces are 19 by 20 which meets the minimum requirements of the zoning
ordinance. Requested waivers phase one. For phase one of the proposed multif family development, the applicant is requesting three waivers from the requirements of the zoning ordinance. They are as follows. Waiver of section 200-6.5D 2 interior landscaping of parking lots.
Waiver of section 200-6.11d3D maximum length of a common driveway and waiver of a 200 of 200-6.7 A1C maximum height of an entrance sign. Dimensional requirement setbacks phase
one. All dimensional requirements of the zoning ordinance appear to be met with the exception of the required road frontage and the requested waiverss. Utilities phase one. The applicant is proposing to connect the municipal water main located on Valley View Drive for
potable water use and fire suppression. The applicant is proposing to connect to the municipal sanitary sewer on Sunset Avenue for the proposed development. Lighting phase one. The applicant has submitted details of the proposed lighting for the development. Note light fixture is is proposed to be greater
than 15 feet in height. All proposed lighting is shielded downcast lighting. Signage phase one. Signs in a residential, semi-residentidential, and health districts. B. Indication sign for occupants of multif family dwellings unit shall be grouped together on one
sign which shall not exceed six square feet in area. Such signs may be located at primary entrance to a building and shall not exceed four feet in height if resta if freestanding. One entrance sign identifying the name of a subdivision, multif family or condominium development not to exceed 12
square feet in area and 4t in height and shall be set back at least 3 ft from the public right of way. The applicant is proposing an entrance sign at 5t in height and so is asking for a waiver of the maximum four height requirement for entrance signs. That's all the municipal.
That's all the municipal. No. Yeah. Pretty good. I was setting it right. Yeah. I don't you [Music]
just for a second. world. You know what I mean? Now it's on your phone. numberwhere for the next three months like 10,000 numbers here. Well, this
makes sense. Come on, heaven. Just way beyond. He's got another presentation. I think it's on Zoom. He's good. You know, he's down on he's down on LBI right now. He's down there
for the month. I'm heading down there next week for a week. I'm going to be less down there. hang out. Thank you. No, you're off. Yes, it is the accuracy kind of helps keep
advantage of that. Not that I want to restrict people in we can slide these down a little more so everybody get them back early. Yeah. walk around the block.
He won't go past. Some people had to go to work. [Music] Yeah. So with file mass here in industry that was not this much. Yeah, I knew Mark. He was on the town guy.
Oh god. Where is he now? You know did he? Yeah, he was real. He's kept the scouts going to camp before he went south. He does an hour right now.
They have scones from New Hampshire and all that. I know that these are existing conditions wasn't very expensive today.
Oh, it's the water line's going down. Well, Stone Lane is here. This is byadn the water's coming located. This is the end of the street.
Yeah. A little bit. Yeah. Green. [Music] Well, I don't know. FL 16 [Music]
walked up. He could walk up. There it is. I mean, they went downstairs. So this describes the topic. He wants actually. I wouldn't go in the back. I just open the door knock
through there. I don't know. Looks like there's an here for the water. I don't know. I don't know about that. I I didn't like that. right here actually right here. Well, I think I think they're getting
their their water from from here. Right. This is where it's coming from. From the end of from the end of not sunrise to the end of here. And uh it looks like it looks like their property does it like that. So this is their property line. Yes.
So they're getting it from right here. I know there's one over here. Thank you. How many How about you? How many letters do you have? Three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine, 10. And then there is a um 11 and um and then there's uh tw I guess technically 12. There's a petition here which mostly it's mostly signatures. Can we let the people that are here
speak first before the others? That's what I was thinking. Yes, I would agree. Okay. So, um there's only so much that we can listen to and then our brains kind of start to peter out and you don't want us to do that. So, we're going to
go to 10. So, I'm going to let people speak till 10. If you don't get your chance to speak, that's fine because we're gonna have another meeting. Okay? And at that meeting, the engineer is going to come and make a presentation. Then maybe you'll hear more things which will cause you to ask more questions or
whatever. But you'll get to speak. Everyone will get to speak. But I I we can't have the meetings go past 10 because it's just not it's not healthy for us and I don't think we want us to we won't be listening as carefully as we should. Okay. All right. So, um these written letters
I'll you know I'll try to make these available online. uh so that you all can we see what you send individually, but I don't think you get to see what everybody else sends. That's why we read them into the record so you can hear what everybody has to say. But we we'll have them read into the record before we
deliberate. Okay. So, let's I'm just going to go right to the list and let people speak. As I said, um um someone I know and respect uh has asked uh the chairs of committees not to
be so strict in timing people. But that also means that you have some responsibility as well. So when you speak, you can speak for more than two seconds, but just be concise. And if I think you're going a little off trail, I'll just ask you to come back up. Okay.
All right. So, Lynn Waldrin, that you Thank you. That's me. All right. And state again your name and address. No. Lyn Waldrin, 71 Solar Way. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Um I'm I'm kind of coming at this from a slightly different angle. I pulled up
the Valley Community Land Trust mission. Um and they talk about uh providing affordable access um and limited equity ownership. So, I I heard you mention condos. So, I
I was wondering the plan to make is is the plan to make these units affordable and in what way are they going to be income qualified? Do they have to like make less than 8%?
Um I I I'm wondering if you could speak to your your vision. We may not have the the details. Um but I can tell you as a tr trustee for 10 years at the wisdom myself for village um and having built many budgets um affordable condos are an
enormous challenge because of of this pumping station if the condo association owns that that expense is huge and and putting money in reserves for something like that is is a huge challenge. So, you may
not know yet what that's going to take, but we'll see. It's a It's a big concern. Do you mind if we leave that question rest and have him answer it, but make sure he answers it and go on to the next person? Yes, please. Okay. Thank you. So, you hear what you understand? No, I'm happy to.
All right. You want to speak up? I will, but I want to get everything. So, you know, make sure then that he I don't forget. Okay. Andy leaf. I just please just so everybody can hear everybody can hear you and your name and
address please. Andrew Leaf. I live at 18 Sunrise Avenue. I'm speaking as a member of the Sunrise Neighborhoods Coalition. I'm going to have to read this. Go for it. Go ahead. The applicant claims that its proposed
project quote will be consistent with the purposes and intent of Greenfield zoning ordinance. We find that to be questioned, especially in the light of the overall scope of projected development plans for
the area. Specifically, the stated purposes of our town's ordinance are quote lessen congestion in the streets to prevent overcrowding of land to
conserve the value of land and buildings including conservation of natural resources and prevention of blight and pollution of the environment and to encourage the most appropriate use of land.
The scale and character of the planned developments strike us clearly at odds with these aims. Congestion of Stone Farm Lane would be significantly increased.
The affected area would be in in total over overcrowded. Both the value of our properties and the natural resources of the area would be negatively affected in our view.
For this and many related reasons, a number of which clearly call for further investigation by qualified experts. Such proposed developments would entail not only damage to our particular neighborhood, but an undermining of the
intended zoning protections of our city generally, and that should be of serious concern to our community as a whole. If this is allowed to happen on Stone Farm Lane, it can also happen elsewhere
in Greenfield. Thank you. Thank you, Beth Lorenz. Beth Loren, number 39, Sunrise, a member of the Sunrise Coalition. While in my neighborhood since 1986, I'm not a newbie. I started a newbie, now I'm an
oldie. I have seen sewer main fails, water lines fails, and asphalt unnecessarily changed, chip sail fails. The homes were built around 1964, so the age creates its own deterioration over time, as my body tells me today.
The cluster housing of 22 dwellings of stone farm housing would increase our homes by over 50%. Making it a significant adverse impact on adjacent properties. The neighborhood the city. The overall project of 50 or more
dwelling units is not compatible with existing neighborhood. The multifamily is out of character with the small single family homes and you would adversely impact the infrastructure that is needed to pair. The development should be treated actually in my mind as a major development project if only to
ensure the water and sewer does not have significant adverse impact. Especially if there's multiple owners, they have to create new leases and new leases between each other as changed in the construction project. It is why we need an engineering study completed by
independent expert experts along with our own city engineer review based on a number of dwelling units presented. How much sewage is going to be generated? What shared agreement has been executed for the care and maintenance of a pumping station? And who bears the
responsibility of it when it fails? The documents are not written. They're not identified and they're not executed. What is the backup plan and calculation of additional stress on age infrastructure currently in place that has failed and failed recently that would be impacted with new connections?
Who pays for the challenges to the neighboring streets and connections? The city. What are the specifications for the pumping station critical in my mind that an impartial city engineer has been shown, approved and commented on that demonstrates its viability in
maintaining service leveling that avail is available to the neighboring home. We are servicing Sunrise Stone Farm Lane, Valley View, High Street, Esther Avenue, and Turner Road home. The proposed should be demonstrated that
it shall not overload the capacity of sho sewer or water storm systems or the storm drainage or the solid waste facilities or other public facilities. Can you honestly say you have enough evidence for Thank you, Beth. Skip Desovich.
Skip Deskovich, 23 Turners Falls Road. So, I think it'll be really detrimental to the neighborhood. You're adding twice as much homes, the sewage, as anybody checked discharge side of the sewer line going through the neighbor's backyards
that it's 60 70 years old. The 6-in water man that you're talking about on the corner of Valley Sunrise Avenue, that's pretty compromised. They dug that up a couple months ago to replace the valve that busted at looking in there. That pipe is just closed right
up. So I don't if you had a flow test already done and it meets the fire department, I'm amazed. But that 3/4 inch line that you say that's on Sunrise Avenue going down to the existing houses is not 3/4.
It's 2 in and it's breaking all the time. Oh. Oh, I'm plumbing contractor. I've been doing I think we recognized the name. And he's also a certified plumbing
inspector for state of Massachusetts. Perfect. I'm proud to say. So, I guess that's my questions. I mean, the existing sewer through everybody's backyard, which should be inspected,
and the water line Thank you. You're listening. Kobe L. Thank you, Dave. Introduce yourself again. Even though I know you. My name is Kobe L 38 Sunrise and I am too
speaking for the Sunrise Neighborhood Coalition. Uh we're a sturdy group and we've been deep in deep in this situation for months and months. Each month is a little different. I came here to speak about something slightly different than I'm going to say today
but similar and uh I came with a traffic issue in mind that's important but I'm going to shift gears to make what I think is also equally important. I was part of the assessment of the numbers of car traffic during the Walmart years which many of
you would remember. Um uh it meant we ran through numbers and traffic studies and and deep issues uh to nail down the amount of uh activity that was going to take
place between the current um roads that are sit beneath our road into Stone Farm Stone Farm Lane environment that we're talking about. Those roads are High Street, Silver Street, French King Road, Wildwood A, and the Turner's Falls Road
that runs over uh the hill and down to the east. We track traffic from the activity expected at the above road race roadways uh still sitting there doing the same thing past stop and shop and up to and including the Suzui property that
many of you remember that didn't quite finish off the Walmart idea. um but is now uh revised because the um the city has uh reinvigorated those properties
just up the road as commercial. It means that the amount of traffic going through these areas that were discussed and I know about inside out and lived in and on are definitely uh possibly on a comeback that could involve a lot more
traffic in that area. The area in Stone Farm is being doubled as been mentioned which is important. That's a lot for a small community. Uh which is now being bordered at real close quarters with some of the uh better houses in our
neighborhood. Uh all of which are pretty damn good. Noah's traffic report was done by Noah's people. I think you said that my friend. and by in a completely different environment that is now uh suggested it will be coming back the
commercial return if you will. Um I have read the developers new project narrative is just released uh for this day. It's 25 pages. There's more to it than that, but in doing so, it showed me that not much of the story they tell is
backed by independent review of the multiple issues that make up the full scope of the development. They can say anything they want. It's thirdparty uh review that's so important. So we ask you to please get independent reviews of
these traffic issues as well and equally important of all the serious plans for development that these reviews require prior to any development of this scope. It's supposed to be the largest uh development um activity in 20 years in
Greenfield if you wonder how big of a deal it is. Whatever they want to say about how small their world wants to be. So, uh, everybody deserves a fair shake, everybody. And we would like to be part of that idea. So, thank you all and, uh,
thanks for listening. Thank you, Patty Cromac. Hi, I'm Patty Cromac. I live at 11 Sunrise AB and I've been there 39 years. I'm also a member of Sunrise Neighborhood Coalition. I believe
extending and altering and changing the use of the land under discussion for additional housing on Stove Farm Lane will sub will be a substantial detrimental impact to my neighborhood which will permanently change the character for generations. Some of the
proposed generations will cause increased erosion of the soil. The changes I'm referring to include significant modifications to the vegetation, removal of trees, and change in grade that will cause increased storm water runoff. People who live on Valley
View now already are hearing and understand the erosion. Valley View was created out of 91. When the offramp was created, all of that fill went over there. So if you walk on that road um or you're doing any work there, you can
walk and you're walking in between boulders. So there's a lot of erosion over there that needs to be paid attention to. The pin before the board says due to the steep and woodland nature of the site, the additional plantings around the parking area will
require steep cuts and a removal of significant amount of trees for the purpose of planting trees. The narrative states, "It minimizes the volume of cut and tree removal at the same time. It indicates the need for significant amounts of removal, which isn't. The
clearing will leave just over 100 ft of woodland between the development and the nearest residential uh yard. Well, let's think about that. This room is about 25 ft, maybe 30. Multiply that times three, you're going to see this development.
The clearing will be I'm sorry. Um is our view from p is our view from private gardens now going to be the rooftops of noble homes? This will cause significant impact to our neighborhood and certainly affect our property
values. Why will the certified veral pool only have 40 a 40ft buffer with low vegetation as protection? Is that going to really take care of it? Is the property poorly selected for this
project in general? How far away is the river again? Who in forest management that is not affiliated with this project has reviewed it for protecting the natural resources. Once those are gone, we're not going to be able to bring them back.
If what is before you does not have enough evidence to approve it, that would be a reason for a no vote. Thank you. trying to take notes. Um, Cindy Cindy Peas. Hi there. I'm Cindy Peas Sunrise Avenue.
Been there for 25 years in raising my family in that home at this time. I'm a member of the Sunrise Neighborhood Coalition, a local Girl Scout for another 25 girls that have walked the trails on the mountain side near this
entire development for the last six years yearly. On those walks, those girls have noticed in the last year how much they've already changed in the distance, looking out from poetry tower down in the direction of this development. They've walked down Sunrise
out to the end and have looked through the trees and can see all the changes. These are kids in kindergarten, first, second, third, and fourth grade that notice how much has already changed since this land has changed hands. to tell us that you can't see the
development is not true. One of the things that they've also noticed is the change in habitat. We would like independent vertebrae specialists to examine the wild habitat
in this priority habitat habitat site. No testimony has been heard or reviewed by anybody. The stakeholders have done all the surveys of this land for their benefit only. We expressed our concern for the wildlife corridor along the Connecticut
River Riverbank area and the impact on animal breeding. It is a part of the ZBA review criteria as it involves a major dwelling unit project that will have an adverse impact on the quality of the natural environment including wildlife. We also believe that the storm water
report for Stone Farm Lane needs to be an independently peer reviewed to determine if the system as designed will handle the volume of increased erosion, flooding or sediment that will occur on the site and into the Connecticut River.
This is too important to lead to a lay person review for their benefit. the revised narrative that came out that we had access to for two days to be able to review the documents not executed and required for this project, including on
page 14 of their documents. The section entitled future proposed agreements and easements elude to a series of shared agreements and easements that are not in existence. They have not been written
and proved no guarantee to be completed. They are all in their minds speculative. There are things such as a shared use of the driveway. At the at the conservation commission, they
mobile home their engineer conservation commission. The driveway was not going to be changed. We just heard that they're widening it to 20 ft, which is a town requirement, but the conservation commission already said it did not. They told the conservation commission it did
not have to be changed and they had already had plenty of wide trucks down there and they fit so it wasn't a problem and nothing needed to be changed on the driveway. So there's definite things that have come across just for that one thing. The next shared use of the water and sewer systems again it
needs to be tested. They have constantly dug in the road outside of my home to fix the pipes, not only right at the main intersection where they want to tap into, but across other spots. Also, an easement for Eversource, National Grid,
and First Light to access the utilities. That's always been there. I've been there 25 years. I've watched the Eversource trucks put in rail ties to get to where they need to go along that roadway because it's too wet for them to get through. Then they took out Liberty
road ties to get through their rightway because they don't leave it there and inhibit the land. Every single time they have to go down there, they have to manipulate that roadway to get through their own area to their access blocks. Use of the land for storm management.
Part of the plan is snow removal. Who holds them accountable for the stone removal if it changes hands from Noble Homes to the Tom Association to who? Who watches that snow plow push sto the snow into piles and
then not make sure it's in the right spot. What they told the conservation commission was it wouldn't be a problem. Holding people accountable for things as simple as snow removal in a water area is questionable. Trail easement for
public use is another point which in previous meetings at the conservation commission they're talking about this and we were straight up told by people from this group that to stay off of their land. It's members only. We're not members.
Stay off of their land. We're not walking on their land. But they made it clear that they don't want us on it even on their on the trailways. So, I'm not sure where they're going back to saying that they're going to make it accessible for others while they told us to stay off their land. The ZVA should have a
clear understanding of how ownership between the three associations will transition throughout the project to pro provide transparency on who is responsible for any mitigation that is required with specific information about the condo association responsible after
the home has put all the money into their pocket and is long gone. If the developer has not supplied necessary information, then it should be denied as it stands. Further evidence might make the polls better. But please don't assume that it will. The developer's job
is to present it between the roadway that won't be wide enough for the kids to walk on, but they want to put in a playground and make this a community area. It doesn't make much sense that my kids now can't play on the existing road because the impact of the traffic since
this land has changed hands. The amount of traffic that has come down this road has made it unsafe for the existing residents. Never mind adding more. Thank you. Annie McCarthy.
Hi, Annie McCarthy. I live at Two Stone Lane. Um, I'm also a member of the Sunrise Neighborhood Coalition and like many of us, I also believe that this project will have a substantial
detrimental impact on my neighborhood, my home, and the city of Greenfield. Uh, an independent fiscal impact statement should be prepared to examine the potential costs to the city versus the tax revenues that are expected. So
simply put, will my taxes increase, my water and sewer fees, and will my the value of my home be adversely impacted by this multifamily um close by development? Um do we know if
the land use code the project in the future will be tax exempt or not? What are the projected values of the homes and assessed values as understood by the peer review study? What is the projected fire and police
response or potential cost to the city? Who's who's performed a study on the overall fiscal revenue from the project and the cost of services? What kind of adjustments to cost of fire and city
services? It it seems like there there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Thank you. Thanks, Lisa. Gibb Gilbo, is that the right address? Gilbo, I should know police chief.
Lisa Gilbo address. My name is Lisa Gilbo and I live at 14 Sun. tonight only not only on behalf of myself but for our pirate postman community I've already submitted a
detailed opposition letter that I submitted um to the zone board and to a whole group of people which you guys acknowledge that you received um we um are here tonight regarding mobile
homes and valley housing um stealth lane development that by its own design does not conform to the require requirements of our azoning. This isn't a byite project. It's only allowed if and only
if it meets the standards outlined under our zoning code and we submit that this proposal does not. Under the criteria for approval, a special permit can only be granted if the proposed development does not
adversely impact um adjacent properties. The character of the neighborhood, its infrastructure and its environment it development does. Moreover, this project is has minimal
transparency and virtually no meaningful community input. Even though the developer has has suggested otherwise, it's not true and it's not fair. Um, I can see why we weren't engaged because if we were, we would ask for a change in the scope of this project to better fit
with the ex existing community and zoning. Remember, zoning is just isn't just a technical process. It's a promise to residents that their voices and the character of their communities will be respected.
Um finally we are not opposed to development. We are opposed to the scale of this specific development its location and how it will impact this community and our daily lives the infrastructure the natural habitat and
wildlife area which we need to protect. If the city allows this project under the guise of a special permit despite despite their violation of this required criteria then it sends a clear message that zoning laws and resident voices are
irrelevant and this will set up precedence. I respectfully we urge you to uphold the intent of our zoning laws, deny the special permit or require a substantial reduction in the scale of this project
that truly respects the zoning, the land, the existing neighborhood and the law because it's the right thing to do. Thank you. Thank you. Um Mitchell B Mitchell
Bis Sunrise um I've been following this process since its inception and I find noble homes and the rest of the entities that are tied
with them to be very opaque. Uh there's been some disingenuousness throughout the whole process. I do commend you guys for allowing these people to speak freely tonight. They've literally been given this opportunity
almost. We hope that you reconsider mobile homes or uh valley could sustain. Is it single? Is it a single? Are they single and separate?
Will it be one one entity? Um where's the where's the property? I haven't seen them show up yet. I think there's a lot of variables that need to be addressed. Thank you.
Thank you. Al Norman of the board Al Norman 21 Cornell Street. Um I have a written statement I'm going to give you at the end but if I give it to now you'll be reading it not listening to so I will I will leave this Mr. Chairman
for the record a written statement. Um great. I wanted to begin with a a conceptual problem I'm having with this project, which is that you're being asked to to review less than half a project tonight. You have two entities here tonight. You have the president of
of Valley Housing Co-op is here, but they're apparently not ready to to introduce their plan. So, you're looking at they've got 20 25 plus acres. Noble Home has seven. So they're like three or four times larger in terms of the quantity of land they're consuming. But
from the point of view of a zoning board, I would think you'd want to be able to review the entire project to measure the entire impacts. And to do that in two parts is very strange. Uh you know, if you if you give approval to one, you say to the second one, well, the the numbers now don't allow you to
do what you're asking to do. It should be should be done not not as a segmented project. The state doesn't like to do that. uh the the NHSP people don't do that. They want to see the whole thing. Ironically, they they sent in a
determination letter without seeing a word a word from phase two. So, when when we when we pointed out there were two phases of this project, uh the uh the engineer at the time said, "Well, yes, that that's true. There there is a second phase, but we're not prepared to
talk about it." They should be prepared to talk about it. They should be here when they're all ready, when they got all their plans uh sewed up in here to say this is the two these are the two developers. You're only hearing half of the project. 78% of the total parcel is
not ready to talk. Um and I would ask you to ask these two developers to indicate I can't figure out how many total dwelling units there are in this project. I still haven't been able to figure out and I'll tell you why. Every time they submit something, it's got different numbers to it. If you go back
and look at what they told NHSP and the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, they gave them different numbers. They were talking about at that point 26 noble home units and the Valley Housing Co-op was quote 14 building multifamily
development. What does that mean? 14 building multifamily. Does that mean 14 buildings 14 units with four four house family units in it? 14 times four. I I don't know. I I would like you to get them to clarify what the number of
housing units. I haven't even heard it tonight even after the chairman asked for it. So, how many units are we really dealing with here? If they hit 50, it's a major development review. I think they're trying to stay under that for some obvious reasons, but ask them to clearly outline that answer.
Third point, this is not affordable housing. It's and and I hope this will get into the into the general uh uh you know media r range on this. This is not affordable housing. It's targeted to what the applicant calls quote the
middle the missing middle class. I'm not sure what they're missing, but they they these people make between 74,000 and $93,000 a year, which is only a very thin slice of the Greenfield's total housing uh units, 8%.
Um, so this these are people uh who have household incomes between 80 and 100% of area median income. A 3 to fourbedroom house at Noble Home is targeted at that's targeted to 100% of area median income is going to be priced at
$320,000. So this is let let's just make it clear this is not for poor people. All this discussion about Valley Housing Co-op getting access to $1.4 million possibly of housing bond money. Why are we
spending state money on people at that income level? just doesn't make any sense to me and I think it's something that should be considered by the zoning board just in terms of the appropriateness of of the project and its scale and character. Um, Valley Housing Co-op is a limited equity
cooperative housing corporation. It serves its stockholders and not is not focused on low-income households. Again, they don't plan to build low-income housing. They're calling it attain they're calling attainable housing instead of
affordable housing. Um this is a pre-existing non-conforming lot. Noble home wants to change its use with a special permit. It now has to show you that this substantial expansion for use for 26 dwelling units. By the way, 11,550
square ft of total housing. Did you see the slide that that showed the uh the the big the big house, I would call it? about it. It it it looks like a fortress. I I took a picture of it somewhere in my house if you you saw it. It's it's an enormous building. Uh
that's that's like 0.25 an acre of just building the fire the fire thing is very scary to me that they can't the fire the fire department said they can get access to the the the second level where uh Mr. Greenberg has made it clear that's not necessarily going to be the case. Um,
but this is this is a a large amount of housing on multifamily uh cooperative housing and quote you have to you have to believe that it will not substantially be more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing non-conforming use which is two two
duplexes with two units in it. So it won't be it won't be substantially different whether it's four units or 40 units. Seriously, that's simple. I I've already figured out with simple math that it's going to have an enormous impact.
Can you uh I'm gonna be done soon. D I I I listened to an hour and a half as you know. I'm be happy for you. I know. Thank you. The minimalist heard tonight was a minimalist traffic presentation with respect to Mr. Gber.
He's not a traffic engineer. These are not level A intersections. Any of you who have gone up to Stone Farm Lane and then tried to get back onto High Street will understand the frustration of a driver who has to wait beyond a level A
uh level of service. Not because of the traffic light uh you know at Silver Street. It's because there's nothing there. There's no intersection signalization at all there. There's a stop sign for me as I'm coming out of there. But I have to make sure that I can that that those people on the south
have stopped and those people on the north have stopped before I can go through. It is not a level a intersection. Please, I urge you have an independent traffic engineer actually do a traffic study of this project because going to the ITA manual, IT manual and
looking at a few numbers is not a traffic study and it wasn't done by someone who is a traffic engineer. The sanitary sewage pumping station is designed to pump sewage uphill to connect to city sewer. We need to know if the design of this system has the
adequate capacity to remove an unclear volume of sewage and what is the backup plan if a if a pumping failure occurs. I think the neighbors need to know that. That's pretty serious. It's nowhere in there. What happens in if there's a failsafe problem? The applicant has not
tried to address any of the other review criteria. many of the other criteria uh that the the conservation commission totally ignored wildlife habitat. So let's please not talk about wildlife habitat and wildlife corridors until you've seen a study of it. And I don't
mean a study by an engineer who has no wildlife expertise and he admitted that to the conservation commission but they accepted it but I don't think this this board should. Um, and I wanted to point out that under section 208.3H,
the ZBA can impose conditions, safeguards, and limitations on the project. Uh, I urge you to scale back the size of the number of dwelling units and condo units to make the project more compatible with the character and scale of the existing neighborhood. And let me just add a few notes that I David
couldn't possibly have added because until hearing the presentation tonight. Um, emergency access. Oh, what happens if the stairways are burning? What how do people get out of these units? It's just it's just amaze. It's like a rabbit throw. Some buildings are not
accessible, he said. Um, gravel roadway. I put a gravel roadway uh in once and within 3 years it was gone. The grass had grown right through it, even with plastic underneath. Gravel roadways, I don't understand that. Sure, they're better than impervious service, but
after a couple years they're going to they will be disappeared. Um, the applicant didn't know how much water comes from the existing neighborhoods, yet he's going to divert them. The vertal pool is most at risk of overflow, but that hasn't been dealt with. Um, and
the commission, the commission, for the record, the conservation commission received no invasive species plan. No one has approved. It wasn't approved by the conservation commission. They didn't even see it. Um, cutting of trees. How many trees, how many clear
cutting of trees is there going to be? Um, solar roofs. A second exit out of the development may be required, says the fire department in that letter that you heard earlier. So, yes, I'm very concerned about this project. And let me
explain, I'm not part of the coalition. My Greenfield is my backyard. Entire city of Greenfield is my backyard. And I think you all feel that way, too. That's why you're on this commission. So, thank you. uh for an extended time and for not
holding a stopwatch. Oh, he was the guy copying the bank right the first one to do it. All right. Do you want to get your letter and I'll Yes. I'm sorry. I have enough. I just want to make sure I uh Yeah, I have enough for the
Thank you so much. name and address. Um, you stand up. Um, my name's Adalie Petra. I live at one stone farming. Um my comments just been on one side of
this paper. So okay. Um the thing we're discussing today is whether the plan is substantially more detrimental than what is currently caused by the less than 50 feet
or the existing property that has the less than 50 ft less 100 ft. So the thing that I've been putting my argument around is this substantially more detrimental. A lot of the arguments we heard today so far have been around
the idea that currently the neighborhood um around Sunrise Avenue is this like idyllic great place and any change will look. I want to counter with the idea that what's currently going on is not ideal and that the changes we're
proposing um that Noble Home is proposing actually could be improvements. Um so some I have three points of what is not so great currently. Um there's that really steep road that goes down into the hiking trails. That's not great. I have slid
down that in my car in the wintertime. The plan proposes to kind of even that out and make it less steep. I think that would be an improvement. Uh you guys are also talking about some lack of infrastructure or outdated infrastructure. You mentioned these like 80-y old pipes, 100 pipes that are
needing to get repaired. That's not even part of the plan. That's just what is currently existing. And so like already the situation is not that great. And if we put in new infrastructure with updated technologies that weren't made almost 100 years ago, I think that that could be an improvement. I don't think
that that would make things worse. Um I even I'm talking to you guys. No, no, no. Please just talk. Okay, I'll listen and I won't respond. Okay. Um,
so the second thing that's not so great is that second thing that's not so great is that um currently the land was used for gravel mining and it's full of invasives. It's full of not weed. Um there's another tree that breaks really
easily. Uh again, a lot of the um plans that are attached to the noble home development include this mass wildlife approved plan. Also, the residents that um have already been an active part of
the community land trust have been improving the land. They've been identifying invasives, pulling them. They've made plans to uh replace those with natives which will take root and help with erosion. Another thing that you guys are really another thing that
you all might be concerned about. Um another thing that is not great at the moment, you mentioned this neighborhood of single family homes and that any change to the character of that neighborhood might not be so great. I would first argue that the character of that neighborhood has been changing over
time as those families the children of those families have been moving out. Maybe things maybe now those family homes are one to two resident homes. That's also changed that you may not have noticed. Um but also that really represents the housing crisis that is
currently existing in Greenfield. So as you said it's not just this neighborhood that's your backyard, but Greenfield Greenfield is your backyard. I'm someone who recently moved here. I graduated college. I got a I have a full-time job. I'm not trying to show off. I'm just
stating that to say that I've done all the things that I've taken all the opportunities that are available to me and I still cannot find affordable housing, affordable for me, housing in Greenfield. I have tried to move into an apartment that a friend owned when she
moved out. And when I looked at the listing, the predatory property owner doubled the price of that listing for no other reason than that they could because there is so much pressure on people trying to find housing. Um so I think that again this is a creates an
inhospitable environment in Greenville for people who are trying to invent who are trying to be um part of the workforce, part of your tax base um and part of the community. And again, increasing that tax base and creating more hospital housing for that tax base can improve um the amount of money that
the city has for some of these infrastructural improvements that you all are talking about, waste management, snow clearance, uh improvements to the roads, improvements to the traffic. I think that we can contribute positively to that. Um I do think housing developments can be disruptive just like
that 2006 plan that was previously approved that had so much um cutting down of trees. it had it didn't have as much um consideration for poll pollinators and like low lighting. Um so it can be destructive but I think that
Noble Homes plan is remarkable in the fact that it's very um it really prioritizes the values of preserving the nature, preserving the aesthetic and the um kind of the quality of feeling like you're in the woods, feeling like you're
in a place that's taken care of and that was designed very intentionally. I will also say that not only the nature is being preserved, but also the housing that's being created. Someone mentioned that it's a very dense building, but it's designed with a lot of community space in mind in order to encourage
persontoperson interaction and encourage a sense of community, which I think will be cool and it might even increase your property values. You guys are talking about change of property values as if it's implied that they will go down. Maybe all of these people will have really cool plans or projects that they're going to put in motion that people will want to be a part of. So I
just want to make the statement that if there's change it might not necessarily be negative and I think that the changes proposed by this plan are actually not substantially more detrimental but will improve the situation. Thank you which is very important.
Okay. Uh, I'm sorry. Sada. Hi. Sal resident of 110 stone. Um, hi everyone. My name's S. Uh, I'm a resident of 110 stone farm lane and a current residence. Um, yeah, I'm in one
of the currently existing duplexes on the property. It's been really lovely um to live in the neighborhood. Um, I'm a resident member of Valley Housing Cooperative and I'm a teacher. And I wonder in this room how many of us
have teachers in our lives. Those of us who do know that teachers do not make a lot of money. Um, I am strongly in support of the proposed development as it aims to, and I quote, encourage housing for persons
of all income levels. And that is a quote from 200-1 of Greenfield's code. The purpose of zoning chapter Noble Homes development of 22 units will bolster our ability as Valley Housing Co-op to construct additional affordable
housing for ourselves. And this will serve people like me, teachers, social workers, and other individuals whose economic ability for individual home ownership is grim. I hope that you'll consider approving this project. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Jamie Britain. Hello. I'm Jamie Britain. I live at 112 Maple Street. Um I'm here to support the proposed development. Massachusetts is in desperate need of new housing. Greenfield in the Pioneer
Valley is in desperate need of new housing. We've heard from a number of folks who've lived here in this community for decades, and I think we can all understand the awareness around having changed in an area where we live. The proposed housing is an opportunity
for others to join our community, to raise families in our community, and to enjoy Greenfield for decades to go. I've enjoyed seeing this plan. It looks like a good plan. It preserves the area's lovely trails. It has a minimal footprint and it seems to me that it's
being proposed by people who really want to do it right. I hope that this plan is approved so that Greenfield is doing its part to relieve the housing crisis and so others are allowed to have the opportunity to live and raise families here. Thank you. Thank you.
Sarah Brown. I'm Sarah Brown. I'm the president of Valley Housing Cooperatives, but it's non- hierarchical, so make that what you will. We just have to list that on the board of directors. Um, and I live at one stone bar. I started to say that at
first. Um, I'm in support of this project. I think that Noah has done an incredibly thoughtful job throughout this whole process. Um, and we have tried to involve the neighborhood. Um, we've had two public events last year. We've had two neighborhood forums also
just specifically for the neighbors. um and we've been not met with the same um openness to engage. In fact, I can't wave hello to certain neighbors and I have gotten harassing calls. So, that's where I'm
coming from. Just to put that out there, I would love to have a positive relationship with my neighbors and I think it's totally possible. Um and I just want to speak to the need for housing. I think that this room is not representative. People here are property
owners for the most part and maybe have been for decades and they're shielded from the realities of the housing crisis. I know many people who have been unable to find housing are leaving this area have moved seven times in the last three and a half years. Crazy things,
horrible rat molds, like just gross housing situations that I don't think people can truly wrap their head around. I'm chair of the unhoused committee. I there are people sleeping right now at Green River Park. That's just how it works because we don't have enough
housing. Our vacancy rate is 0.1%. Maybe the statistic doesn't really like land, but like that means that there's no slap in the housing market when people are trying to find housing. Greenfield needs housing. There's a housing um study plan that says we need 600 units in the next
decade. I mean, this is a small dent in that by comparison, but I do think that housing expands our tax base. That's just a fact. This is a really cool way of doing it because this is the land is owned by a nonprofit. Um, so that's capping the equity. Like when someone
goes to sell their home, they're just um buying and purchasing the home value but not the land value, which is really unique for community land trust. And so this is like a cool type of housing development that is mentioned in the um Greenfield housing plan as something
that Greenfield should be embracing. Um additionally, co-housing is mentioned in the sustainable master plan is something that from 10 years ago that Greenfield can and should be doing. We don't have co-housing here and shared common spaces and small efficient units meets the need of um smaller homes. Like right now
there's a tremendous under occupancy of larger single family homes. um and there's like single person and twoerson households. So even as our population is slightly declining um we are struggling because we don't have enough households. So for all these reasons I think that um
I support this project and I think that Greenfield can be a leader in doing something cool and exciting and um forward thinking and show that um land conservation and responsible land stewardship are not at odds with housing development. And I think that this
project embodies that and I think it will create a public community and the ripple effect of that will be process. So it's and thank you for volunteering really well. Thanks Emily Kester.
Hi my name is Emily Kester. I live at 87 Davis Street. I lived in Franklin County for 35 years. The first 32 of them I lived in Warwick and Northfield, rural parts of the the county. And three years
ago, I moved to Greenfield because I wanted access to more stores and restaurants and services. Um, I'm here to speak in favor of the project because I'd like to live there. It seems like the kind of community I'd like to live
in where it's the the housing is built um respectfully of the land where the it's built into into the hillside and I would still have access to trails which I really missed since I I live right downtown. Um now I
don't have access to to trails right now. And I I feel like this is um the future of the way housing needs to be. The way housing developments were built back in the 50s and 60s is not sustainable. Um and this um project the
way that I have heard about it and read about it seems to be a sustainable project and I encourage you to um support it. Thank you. Thank you. Um Devin Murray, Deon Murray, 110 Franklin Street. I'm
just going to do it with S Emily 100% um need housing. I'm a retor and I hope to be an owner of some housing and so for one day u yeah just for sake of time thanks all for your time.
Okay, that's the end of the list. Excuse me people. I know. Thanks David. Can I see your list for a minute? You're right. Did you want want to ask them if they they can raise their hands and we can just call on them? If people who are online wish to speak,
put a hand by your body. So, there's only one page of people as far as we know. 17. All right. I I have a screen that gives me information. You may have put your hand up sooner than somebody else, but I'm
going to go in the order that I see it. So, Michael Master Chitara. Uh, good evening. You can hear me, I assume. Yes. Can you put your face up so you really want to see my mug? Okay.
How's that? It's not because I want to hear, but I'm glad to see it. Thank you. Okay. Um, Michael Master Feto. I've lived in Greenfield for well since 1988. Michael, I'm sorry it's hard it's hard
to hear you. Can you speak a little louder? Thank you. Yeah, I've lived in Greenfield since uh the early 80s. Um, I don't live in that neighborhood. I actually live on the whole other side of town. However,
I believe that uh try turn. I You want me to turn my mic up? Yeah. A hard time hearing you. It's just hard to hear you. People want to hear you and it's hard to hear you. Okay, let me work on that. Um, how's that?
Can you hear me? Hello? You may have to yell. Okay, I will yell. Can you hear me? I'm about to lose power here, so I'll do I'll go fast if hopefully you can hear me. Okay. So, uh I think the
conservation commission has sherked their duty by not uh performing a a wildlife uh assessment, habitat assessment, and I'm hoping that the zoning board of appeals can. I have for
many years, I'm very familiar with that area. For many years, I have walked down that access road to go to my favorite not so secret uh catfish fishing hole on
the river. And there there are black bear, there are uh migratory birds, water foul. I've been within 30 feet of a bobcat
ma many small game uh koi dog and I really think that that needs to get taken care of and it needs to be assessed by an independent uh company
um and paid for by the developer. You don't need a a scientist to know that there is substantial wildlife there. And that is my concern. And I hope you heard that because I'm about to lose power. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Michael Reegover. Hi, I'm going to stay. Oh, my apologies. I I asked Michael to go on because he's the city councelor. You can stay uh just voice. Thank you. Okay. Um thank you. So
hard to hear you though. I don't know if it's our equipment or what, but try if you can if you know how to do it. Yep. Let me um increase the sensitivity of my microphone.
I've been trying multiple times. Can you hear me a little bit better now? First person that yells. Oh, it's gonna really blow our brains out, but go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. I hope you can hear me a little bit better now. Um, thank you.
So, my name is Ree. I live on Davis Street in Greenfield. I also grew up in Greenfield and have been in and out of the area for the last 35 years. Um, I am thrilled to see a development plan
for housing in Greenfield that prioritizes and invest in the current and long-term ecological stability and health of the forested land on Stone Farm Lane. Um, the grade embedded architectural design and planning for vegetation diversity and inclusion of a
non-obligatory water runoff management plan to reduce bank erosion are all good examples of this kind of prioritization. Additionally, the efficiency of the building footprints and the unit planning rejects sprawl in favor of more eco-conscious building practices. Um, there are two questions that I would
like to bring to the attention of the proponents of this plan. First, I would love to know if and how the walking trails, which were noted in the planning maps, will be marked and available to the general public, particularly how they will be effectively connected to existing footpaths that border the
property. Um, second, it was noted during the presentation tonight that several of the units will be fully accessible, but there are only two accessible parking spaces proposed in the planning maps. Given the need for accessible housing in Greenfield and the demographics of our population, that feels insufficient to me, and I would
ask that Noble Homes plan for additional accessible parking spaces. Um, but generally with the need for housing only increasing in our city, I would urge the ZBA to enable this project to move forward. as a city and as a community, we need to support planning that's designed to balance the needs of our
population, our local ecosystems, and our planet. And I think this project does a really nice job of working with all of those things within the parameters that they have available. Thanks. Thank you, Annie Lee.
Hi. Can everybody hear me? Oh, yeah. Great. Love to see it. Okay. Hi, I'm Anie. I'm a resident of Greenfield. I live at 23 Linda Aav. Um I love Greenfield. I love it so very much. I
see myself growing a family here and growing old here. Touchwood. I am deeply invested in seeing Greenfield thrive as a town and community. So, I'm really happy to see folks coming together from Noble Homes,
from Valley Community Land Trust to really make housing that is accessible and affordable for people who are coming to Greenfield and people who are growing old in Greenfield. I think it's exceptionally important. Um, a stated purpose of the zoning chapter is to
encourage housing for persons of all income levels. Greenfield needs more housing. There's just no way around that. And I really trust these folks to do this right, to do it right by the people who live there, the people who live in the wider Greenfield area, and
to do right by the land that's already there. And I know this because of how extremely thoughtful these people are in their interactions in Greenfield and in all of the projects that they do from redistro to being on various boards. These folks are deeply deeply involved
and really really committed to making this work ecologically and for all of the people involved. I just want to bring up one quick example that's really close to my heart um that I think illustrates the need for accessible and affordable housing here. A dear friend
of mine who is a farmer and an artist and you would encounter him at the farmers market if you're there. He is there every single weekend growing the food that feeds us, bringing that food to our farmers um to our farmers market so that we can get locally grown food. In the three and a half years that he's
lived here, he's had to move seven times and that's because of a lack of affordable housing. So, he's had to move just constantly. It's been so disruptive to his life and so sad and so challenging and he's had to leave the area because of a lack of affordable
housing. He agreed that it was okay that I share that with you all tonight. He lived with us for a few months. I feel very lucky to share a home with my spouse on Linda. But just that lack of affordable housing has been so disruptive in so many people's lives who
are coming here to be taxpayers, to be community members, to really help make Greenfield what it is and what it can be. Um, so I just really I want to live in a green field that supports all kinds of people to live here. firefighters, nurses, teachers, folks of all income
levels to be able to make up this beautiful diverse place that we live. And I really strongly believe that this group of people in Noble Homes and Valley Community Land Trust are the people to get it done. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you.
Rose, hi. Hi, Rose. Hello. Hi. Um, so my name is Rose Totser. I live at 15 Valley View Drive. Um, I am the last house or we are the last house
on the lefthand side of Valley View Drive and we'll be going from having zero neighbors on our left to a large condominium
um with 22 homes which maybe will have one to four people living in them. So, going from zero neighbors to 30, 40 neighbors. Um, when we moved in,
uh, we're a young couple. Um, we moved in in 2017 into this home. Um, and we have a seven-year-old, um, who was born here. And we um moved here to an end of a dead-end
street um because we thought it was a wonderful, beautiful location. No foot traffic. We could, you know, have our dog out, have our child out um side with little to no traffic, foot traffic, and no um
neighbors. And we are I'm sorry I didn't come prepared to speak so bear with me. Um we are a part of the Sunrise um neighborhood coalition. Um and I am concerned about the change
to the character of where I live um and to the um change of scale of where I live. I mean, I live in a a colonial home. Um, and
obviously what's going to be next to me is not going to be that. Um, Rose, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Okay. There are five other people waiting and the hour is growing late. So, if you could sum it up 10, so just not to cut
me off. Um, not cutting you off. I'm asking you to please finish. I haven't even spoken that long. It didn't feel like, but maybe I'm wrong. So, my main concerns are light pollution. Um because even though the lighting is um supposed to be downcast,
um I do I don't have any lights currently um near me. Um I'm worried about noise because there's 22 or 21 spaces, which I think is a vast underestimation of how many cars will probably be parking there. I just can
just imagine everybody's car alarms going off and clicking their um locks. And I wonder where the overflow of the cars will park because if there's 22 units and 21 spots or 22 spots, a lot of
homes will end up with more than one vehicle. Um I do think that calling it affordable housing is a misnomer. Um I don't want to be on the wrong side of affordable housing. I do think that affordable housing is important. Um, but
I don't think as advertised this is affordable. $350,000 for a,000 ft home per square foot is much more expensive than what I bought this that the home I'm in now. Um, I disagree that the land is filled with
mostly invasive. Um, I don't know who did that study, but I've hiked the area. There's plenty of native stuff around as well. Um yes, this I abudding this potential um
property I or development. We have a lot of wildlife that comes through our yard. Uh deer, a bear, um plenty of the normal stuff, coyotes, foxes, and things like that. And I do think that that might change. Um we've got a couple of those
things on video even. Um and Let's see. I do think that um this is a substantial expansion and that it saying that it won't impact our existing homes is
um a misnomer. And thank you for your time. I appreciate you all. Thank you. Peter Peter. Hi. Sorry. Finding the uh the mute button. Uh, can you hear me?
Hi. Um, I'll keep it quick. I uh want to I'm uh Peter Hunt. I live at 108 Stone Farm Lane. Um I am in favor of the um housing development as described um for a number of the reasons that people have already described. I want to dispel a couple of um things that have been
mentioned that I just like I don't really feel are accurate. Um one of which uh you know I think um traffic coming out on the road on uh Stone Farm Lane. I've never had any trouble. Um I don't think any of the people that I've talked to have had any trouble. Um I don't necessar obviously like things
will probably change a bit, but um I think uh it's uh yeah coming out specifically from Stone Farm Lane and taking a left or a right um onto that road. I think um the the the trails that we have that are
there um Reese mentioned that it would be great to connect those more to public uh trails. I I I personally believe that it's the like I'm I'm part of the Valley Housing Co-op and I personally believe that it is the intention of the co-op and um VCLT and um by extension Noble
Homes um to make sure that those trails stay um in the state that they are, you know, semi-public um and the easement remains where people can use them and enjoy the nature. Um we love that our neighbors love the space and we love it too and we want to preserve it just as much and we want to continue to let people have access to it. Um so that
doesn't change. Um, and I think there's a clear uh sort of uh there's a tension between um the character that the neighborhood currently has with the housing crisis and the fact that if we were to develop in the way that the current neighborhood has been developed,
it wouldn't scale. It doesn't scale and it won't it can't scale anymore. And clearly we need we are in need of housing. Um and there's no reason why um this space uh should be any more exempt um from development. I think that the the density of it is good um for the um
ecology of the area and also give more people um to be part of community with and uh help you know restore this land that is really uh heavily affected by mining and um just being left uh to disarray. So um thank you for your consideration.
Thank you Deborah. in here. You got She is muted. I can unmute her. Can you hear me now? Sorry. All right. Um I'm just going to read what I wrote. Um I heard about this project and I felt absolutely dismayed. I'm a teacher. I had to leave the
meeting to do grading. Hence, I'm on my couch right now with my dogs. But I wanted to speak out. I don't think we should be building more housing so close to the fragile environment of the river. We need to guard against increased
pollution and protect the impact on nature. The fact that there has not been an independent wildlife study or a contemporary traffic study, I I just can't understand it. I can't understand how or why the previous boards that
considered this project would not insist on having that work done by independent entities. In fact, I cannot understand why the developer would come to this board without that information in hand. Not a 2006 traffic study, but a 2025
study. These studies need to be completed ethically and without the appearance of a potential contra conflict of interest from the developer. And it may be true that Greenfield needs more housing and we do need to welcome
new residents, but that doesn't address why this site and this plan should be passed by the board of appeals. In my opinion, if more housing is to be built, we should build on less environmentally critical sites and provide a greater
buffer zone between the river and new developments. Seems like a no-brainer to me. What is the impact on people who currently fish and hike in that area? What happens when you introduce so many more people to such a quiet area? Not
even sure how many people. What happens when you transform a dark area hospitable to nature into a brightly lit complex? Many people have moved to Greenfield for access to nature. We need to protect the river and return that
ecosystem to its rightful state without flooding that sensitive area with so many additional residents and potentially challenging critical infrastructure. I'm a huge believer in native plants, but planting native
plants does not equal taking care of the environment. $320,000 for a condo, not low income. Build more affordable housing in a less sensitive area, please. That's it. Thank you.
Thank you, Max. Hi, Max. Yeah. Can y'all hear me? Yes. Thank you. Hi, my name is Max Webb. I live at 140 Elm Street in Precinct 9 and I'm running for city councelor for precinct 9. I
have been following this for a while. I am also a native plant gardener around town. I work on a lot of gardens. I can absolutely say planting natives is a way to take care of the ecosystem. In fact, it's one of the best ways to to bring more pollinators which bring more
wildlife and more raptors and more birds of prey and keep the ecosystem going. I think it's worth pointing out that Stone Farm Lane was there before Valley View and Sunset A were even there as developments. So that developed land has
already been harmed and is not in good health. Like there are non-natives there because there are non-natives there. Just because you don't believe they're not there, they are there. Um the studies have been done. I find it so disrespectful that this avenue Sunrise
Avenue coalition keeps telling all of these scientists that are involved that they're not doing their job when they're in a field that doesn't pay them because they're passionate about these things. I also think 2 acres out of 36 is small
and it fits the need for housing that we desperately have and like I don't want to discount the change of scenery and the change of pace that accepted but I think in this time we need to consider that we're at a housing
shortage and we all have to make concessions. Um thank you for your time. Thank you, Nina Levenson. Leon, hi. Um, I just wanted to make a quick comment. I
am uh a renter in the area. I've rented here for 12 years. I am a member of Valley Housing Co-op. I've helped organize this project. Uh we've seen a lot of our friends move out of the area since we've begun organizing. there
isn't enough affordable housing in the area. Um, Greenfield itself has plans to increase its housing and needs to do so. Um, so I am in favor of this project. I
think the people who are involved are ecologically minded. They are paying attention to the needs of the ecosystem there. Um, and Greenfield is a is one of it's it's a place in the valley that still is affordable and that people are looking
to live in as more and more people are finding it hard to rent or own homes in other parts of the valley. Um, so I'm in support of this project. Thank you. S Shannbrook.
Hi, my name is Sal Shannabrook. I live across the river in Turner's Falls. I'm a member of Valley Housing Cooperative. Um I'm in support of this project. I wanted to give a little bit of background on the relationship between
um Noah Grunberg um Noble Home Valley Community Land Trust and the Housing Cooperative. So, the housing cooperative started as a group of renters in the area who wanted to have affordable housing that they could live in and feel safe um living in without the fear of being evicted or um
have to leave because of raising rents. As that's been said, that's happened um to many of us in the community and we're in a deep housing crisis. Noah um Grunberg was an early partner to us. He had a similar vision of wanting to build a a small home community, homes
that were affordable um maybe not capital A affordable in terms of income restrictions, but um available for people um at a at a price that um hopefully they could afford, you know, trying to meet the middle and also just trying to do as much as we can in the
limits of our current environment where affordable housing funding is not um so prevalent. So the goals of this project and working together were to um share a piece of land and work with a community land trust which shows I think some of
our commitment to working with the community and doing this not for our own self-interest but um for the goal of bettering the place that we live as others have said working with the community land trust caps the resale value of our homes um to their appraised value and that would be the same with
any condo units that would be sold. It is unfortunate that new construction is expensive and there's no getting around that. Um, but the values of this project are to try to make that as affordable as possible given those constraints. When we were looking for a site, we
wanted to have something that was close to town so that we could prioritize public transportation and letting people live there who are working in town and might not have a car. and also for the ecological impact of you know biking and using public transportation and not
having to drive a long way to work. So some folks have mentioned that this site is not not the best place for this um development and I just wanted to say that we have we looked um long and hard for different sites in the area and this was one of the few that met our criteria and that it was close to town and had
enough land to develop as well as um place for agriculture which was important to us. Um, I do want to acknowledge that it's hard coming into a neighborhood and have people who haven't been living there make large changes. And I empathize with some of the stress that we've
caused our um our new neighbors. And I and I apologize that we've, you know, caused you this hardship. And it's unfortunate I think that this has turned into a question of individual um slights like um the fact of hearing someone's car slam at night or you know um a
little more traffic on the road versus the needs of our larger community around housing affordability and um land stewardship. And I would hope that we'd be able to come together and have a solution that would work for all of us. We did have multiple hearings that we invited the neighborhood to that um a
good number of neighbors came and it was um helpful to hear their concerns and we're continue to be open to suggestions um and you know input from the neighbors on how to move forward. Um it seemed like quite quickly that the sentiment was just no. Um, and not that we want to
offer constructive suggestions, but just we're going to do whatever we can to try to um, stop this project from happening, which is unfortunate. Um, because obviously we would love we're going to be living there and we would love to be um, in good relationship with our I'm sorry to interrupt you, Saul. There's four people waiting. Could you
can you please, you know, just wrap it up as best you can? Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Excuse me. I'm seeing that people online are communicating with each other by what's it called? Messaging chat. Chat
and it's coming through. So So would you please stop doing it? Thank you. Robin Green, please. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Let's keep them short. We have uh I have to cut off people because we're
almost at 10 o'clock. So we can keep it short for the last four. That would be great. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. My name is Robin Green. I live at 138 Highland AV in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Um, I also work with Sarah Brown on the unhoused subcommittee and I'm an EMT for American Medical
Response responding primarily to 911s in the city of Greenfield. Uh, I'm tired of going to calls for homeless people who are sick because they are homeless. tired of going to people who have staff infections because they don't have access to showers or people who are getting hypothermic at night or don't
have access to water or things like this. I think more housing is more good. Even if one person gets off the street and into one of these units, I think that's a boon. So, I implore you to approve this permit. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thank you,
Allison Gage. Allison Gage, Bella Labi, if that's pronounced properly properly. Hi, my name is Stella Levi. I live at 111 Davis Street in Greenfield and I am
absolutely uh in favor of approving um this construction. As a renter here in Greenfield, I am absolutely terrified of being kicked out of my apartment at any moment and I think many many renters
here feel the same. and any kind of security in this front um and uh is so so valuable for everyone in the community and any type of new housing. It will push this market in a different direction and this is definitely the
direction that Greenfield needs to go into. Thank you. NC. Um, hi. Hello. Hello. My name is Yes. Nathaniel. Uh, to address the comments in the chat, I'm
sorry. I heard somebody disrespect the job that you were doing and I uh I guess that was out of line. I'm sorry. Um, no, it's fine. You're protecting me. That's fine. NC, what is your last name, sir? I'm sorry. Sorry. It's Nate Card. Um, I tried to
change um I live in uh it's a part of my story. I live in Turner Falls. I just moved out of Greenfield. I work 40 hours a week in Greenfield. Uh I spend half of my money in Greenfield. I moved out because I got
priced out by the market. And so this uh if you'll grant me two minutes of your time, I'd like to speak on that. Thank you. Good. Um, I have a master's degree in ecological landscape uh, planning and design. So, this is what I've gone to
school for. And not only have I gone to school for this, I work in this. I'm a resilience planner here in Greenfield. I'm here in Greenfield because I was drawn to the uh, incredible community that I've experienced in Greenfield. And so, I was extremely excited to get the
job that I did working here in Greenfield. Um, I I what I've heard tonight is a lot of care for community and a lot of care for the environment and those are great things and we need to at least recognize
that everybody is here because of those things. Um, I also hear a lot of fear of change and I I really empathize with that. Um, but in a we really need to recognize the moment where that we're in where this part of the country, this
part of Massachusetts is going to be a refuge for people fleeing the effects of climate change. It's so it's not just about like what's here happening here right now. We have to plan for this future where the climate is changing and people are going to have to move. We
need to have housing. I've reviewed the plans that are happening on this site. I agree that there is uh there is a fair call for um an outside review of the the engineering. I think it's it's good to
do your due diligence, but ultimately I think having more people in this uh part of the landscape can help steward this land back to a much more thriving condition than it really is right now. I've walked that land uh plenty when I
was living in Greenfield. I lived um on Valley View Drive. Uh thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Is Alison Gage wish to speak? Hi. Can you hear me? Yes. Great. Okay. Allison Gage, 32 Abbit
Street. Um it's late and I'm not going to say anything new, so I'll keep it very quick. I just wanted to uh speak in favor of this project. I sit on the city's open space task force and this is a great opportunity to increase our housing stock and reduce sprawl and I'd love to see this project move forward.
Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we have seven minutes. Anybody else up there want to speak? NC is trying to come in. NC already spoke. Okay, thank you everybody for speaking.
Anybody else here who hasn't spoken that wants to speak? Thank you. Okay. So, um, we need to make a motion to continue. Um,
oh, wait. Oh, good. Leave it on. I just don't want to blast the next guy. And if I don't do it now, I'll forget. So, um, you've all raised a lot of good points. Um, it's our intention to uh continue this until now we have a a
regular meeting on the second Thursday of the month. Um, I could continue it to that date, but if it starts to fill up, we don't like to hold up other people's ability to get permits, then we'll schedule a special meeting, which
usually was the week after. Uh, I'm gonna assume that Al is your contact person. So, I'll let him know that I need a contact box and I'll let you know. And I also want
to schedule a site visit which will be open to the public coming to the site and people the public's obviously welcome. I don't think I'm gonna I think I'd like it just be that we can all see what's going on and have them explain everything and not and then when we come
back for the next meeting there can be um comments about it. I would allow questions at the time if there if I deem them to be appropriate, but otherwise it's just for us to all see on the ground what's going on. You might have uh you might have thoughts about what it
looks like there, but maybe if we go there and see what's going on, it'll help us understand better what's happening. So um that's it for tonight. Make one suggestion David maybe we can take all the input somehow sift through
it and provide feedback to the proponent for them eventually to address it for for the applicant for the applicant. Yeah. I mean all all the all the commentary kind of we can consolidate it get it to them they can be working on it for the next president.
I I was planning on uh I was planning on having a discussion with the applicant anyway between now and then. Um if you're all free to go or you can wait till we finally end the meeting, but otherwise um you have anything you want to say? Uh I guess just a question on the on the
date. So, but obviously I want to make sure that you and I will connect one. Uh, give me one second. Maybe [Music] we have this one.
one up on a slide. But I can take whoever I can send it to. I'm just wrap this up. Do we have a motion to continue the meeting? Second. All right, sir. All in favor say I. I.
shows unanimous. I have a motion to journ. I make a motion me. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. Let the record show unanimous. Thank you. [Music]