##VIDEO ID:0kIoezUVzfs## open the Tuesday January 28th regular planning board meeting in in public hearings uh we are being recorded and we might be going out live as well uh first up our administrative items the first one is instigator Enterprises in file number 20-2 sp- FF request to extend the special permit approval for flexible Frontage for the parcel described as Map 37 parcel 9 located between 323 and 337 pin hill road so do we have somebody here or we do we have Jonathan Buckman okay good evening I try to get on internet up there but we had a Micro Burst up in the Western Way area where I iar um and everything's G down intern I'm sitting in my office on my cell can you hear me yes yes okay good evening board Jonathan B B Construction Company um I'm in front of you tonight just to request a threeyear extension on the special permit that was granted in 2020 uh for Map 37 l 9 um I have uh signed a purchase and sales agreement on the property uh I'm going to be closing on February 19th on the property um and at the moment I'd like to just get uh permission from you with the current owner's approval which you have a letter uh that I sent in he has signed it uh to take over uh the permit you the board has uh approved it was uh actually expired in uh 223 2023 with the governor's uh um uh you know act she attended all special permits comprehensive permits for an additional two years so it's good until this April 30th and um when I came down to look at this property a friend of mine lives at 401 Pine Hill Road um I ended up coming across this property West Westport is a beautiful uh Town um I'm going to be purchasing this property to build a small on Farmhouse hopefully with a small bar for myself and my family um I'd like to just have this permit extended uh for 3 years until April 30th 220 by your board um I was not able to under the terms of our agreement with the sellers uh to do any due diligence um or get any contingencies uh to do any type of wetland delineation per tests uh meet with any Engineers do any of the engineering work so I landed up uh spending a couple days uh talking to Michael at the planning board thought your B health I did my own due diligence and uh have gone ahead and will be buying the property so by granting me and the current owner the extension um I'm going to be bringing back down there the Wetland engineering was did the previous plan uh red delineate everything because it was done in 219 her test was done I think in 215 uh they still good uh but I need to you know look at what has been done what you have granted and then um I will hire a local engineering company that works you know in Westport come back come back down in front of you once I know exactly what I can and can't do on the property uh based on this uh special permit and uh and then we can revisit you with an actual plan with solid engineering uh and all the information that you'll need to look at I'll have in front of you uh to you know get my uh project approved so that I can then move forward and uh build uh what is approved okay so you have a purchase and sale to to buy lot nine I do I've signed the purch sales uh they signed it I've got the uh dep positive hold on we close February 19th um and as I said we are going to be moving forward on it and I will have it under my ownership as of hopefully February uh 19th is the date that we have set to close based on a clean title and everything else M okay and you proposed to build in the designated building envelope there at the moment I'm going to look at what um you know there is so so let me back up a little bit there are obviously Wetlands on the property um you know it's it's a more of a complicated lot because of the wetlands uh you got Marsh uh there is a buildable area on it I've back and look at all the previous uh buy right what some prev P the seller on from had the right to build three houses down there in a subdivision without going for the special permit I'm just looking to do the house for myself uh with a small Bond small house small Bond um to you know go into the best location outside the flood zone uh you know within the 100t buff about 25 ft away we'll meet all your con conservation requirements and um I I spoke to the head of your Conservation Commission as well we'll end coming in doing need um and then as I say I will be presenting to you you know if I'm going to make any changes to this current approval uh I will come back in front of you once I have a solid plan and have been able to do my you know engineering work and figure out where the place to put the the house is the best place to get the views and the use of the property as well as um you know the location we can put it okay uh and the access to where you're going to build is going to be the same as indicated on this plan or or not you know at the moment you know lot uh you know l n um has its own Frontage of 100 ft is an existing Park that goes in I walked two weekends ago it's very dense lot of thorn lot of trees lot of everything could only get down the right side uh that's where they showing the access right now um I'm planning on using that I haven't sat down with engineering company down there I know there is a right of way which I don't know if that's an alternative access point because they are other houses on the other side of it um I'm not going to more than likely use that I I can't give you a definitive on it but at the moment I'm planning on coming through my own property right from where the 100 fo frage is down the same entrance um I'd obviously like to clean up some of the brush and Thorn uh put in natural vegetation for myself and the naor um to do that I am a builder developer up in the western area I've built Mar Vineyard for myself I buil project all over the state um and I just want to make it put to the current look it's a beautiful Farm area um and I want to you know it will look like it's me there for it's going to be a uh a house that will be more than likely below the road level where it is now in that footprint because I think that is the footprint based on what I've seen from the plans but until I delineate the wetlands again come through and see where I can build outside that flood zone which is a Zone AE um you kind of limit it to where you can put the house where they put the house was probably the location to put it um without being able to have come down and done any you know engineering work or used you know the Wetland engineer that this previously um I wasn't able to I can't tell you if it's somewhere else but for now by approving the same you know plan that you've done before you're just going to extend what's approv for 3 years and then I will come back in front of you with my plan and show you what I'm going to do once I can figure out what the best location is uh to put the house but the way it looks right now the very narrow in 100 ft you know when you build a house and with the you know the views and whatever you need um the location that they've showed the footprint is most probably the best place to put it based on the topography it's a sloping lot will be below the road you probably won't see it in the location that you've already approved and for us that would be the best is it's private uh it will be a good entrance coming in we'll keep it all natural make it look like it's been there nobody will even see it uh in that location that you've approved th we then get the use of the property all the way down you to the water okay uh Michael or di I think Dia's going to give this one a shot um sir as uh Mr Buckman explained the extension's been requested because the current owner didn't begin construction and because the permit expires on April 20th 2025 and so the current ear has signed on to the agreement and CA um planning St recommends um approving extension okay uh is there some special reason you need a three-year extension well well at the moment um I'm not planning to build for another year to year and a half because the Architects that I use all back up with work for the next 9 to 12 months I've got to come down I'm going to be out of the country in South Africa through March I've got to get down there um if you don't perke now in the winter I'm going to try and perke in the spring summer again even though preapproved perks that are there depending if they the same location or not and it's going to take some time to together and I'm not in a rush to build the house uh but it will definitely be within the next you know 2 to 3 years is what I'm planning to do uh I'm in the middle of a very big project up in the town of West it's an affordable housing project that I'm building I've being involved for about six years on that uh and I'd like to just get that done uh here and uh and then I'll end up concentrating and coming on down uh to build this uh small house and bar for myself okay want a motion Mr please yes um Mr chair I move to approve the request for a three-year extension of the special permit for flexible Frontage for instigator Enterprises Inc the extension will change the permit expiration date from April 20th of 2025 to April 20th of 2028 I'll second that okay all those in favor I Mr chairman I I have a a comment I just want to make sure that you understand that that you're when we extended the special permit you you are purchasing with the special permit conditions as they exist now absolutely and as I said to you um I'm sure I have the right to come back into you if I can show you a better plan uh something else I can that I might come up with that we might you change or not change I don't know um I will come back in front of you for your permission and obviously work with you uh and if it's better for you know the town of Westport your board um and the neighbors um I'll end up uh you know we'll present it to you and and and get your review on it okay uh all those approved yeah vot okay all right next thank you for your time thank you next is 1180 American Legion Highway file number 24-33 s- liid we need to endorse the decision for Sight plan and low impact development approvals for a 39,200 square foot storage facility at the parcel described as map 28 lot 30 2 32f H and O the board made a motion to approve this and the last planning board meeting we just need to get your signatures on the amended uh amended decision [Music] okay next is Burks v twin or five twin file number 24-7 s sp- Ma J we need to close out and release consultant review funds plus interest applicant has requested to withdraw the application without this this will need to wait until 6:45 for the scheduled public hearing um at that time we'll have the board vote to accept or deny the request to withdraw the application without prejudice and then um close out and release the consultant review funds but that I'll have to wait till a little bit later in the meeting a part of a public hearing not the not the request to close and and release the consultant review funds that that would come after the public hearing there is a public hearing today for this proposal at 6:45 I don't see it I don't see that on the agenda the agenda was revised and yeah earlier in the week it's not I don't see it on either but it was it's on the one that went to the where she's going to get you a revised agenda okay okay so we'll put that off next is Coastal hearing file number 19-15 Spa Endor form o for full release of shity so similar similar story this was the board did make a motion to um partially wait this is for for Coastal healing yes so the the motion in the last meeting was for the board to fully release its shity for this project plus interest right so we just need your signature on the form next is Meadow Brook Farms phase three file number 13- o2c endorse form o partial release of 30 similar story The the vote the board voted on this at their the last meeting there's some asilt work that needs to be updated as well as for the Landscaping to establish into this development um so the partial release is from a shity of $110,000 $110 $226 to $8,700 for the remaining work associated with landscaping and the Asel plan so we just need your signature on that form as well okay next is the 615 public hearing for Francis Estates file number 24-37 C- sb- liid the applicant is proposing to construct a nine lot definitive residential subdivision requiring site plan and approval and low impact development approval on the partial described as map 68 lot 7 between 50 and 58 charlot White Road good evening uh my name is Tom Morris with d Consulting Engineers um so we came in front of you with a preliminary design for this um what happened with this was previously approved um I believe is a 12 lot open space uh subdivision correct um and the current owner now wants to change it to Conventional um so we redesigned it originally for 10 Lots which is what we could fit in but then we came back um and changed it to nine because we wanted to stay underneath the inclusionary housing uh threshold so we have a nine lot conventional subdivision um there are if you want to go to the next sheet please there's a sizable Wetland system on the east side um which ends up going to a culvert which crosses Main Road um we're keeping all of our work outside the 25t buffer as required um you see kind of the peninsula that sticks into the Wetland uh we're going to be sticking in some drainage uh in that area um if you go two sheets ahe you can see the layout here um we have three basin on the lot uh one up front right off Charlotte white um which is an infiltration Basin with an overflow that goes to the back uh detention basin and then all the way on the south there's another infiltration Basin which takes flow from the cuac um and that handles all of that flow it doesn't overflow to the other Basin we have recently gotten uh review comments from MBL there are several things which we have to revise already uh we haven't started any work on that but we wanted to discuss that with you tonight um possible options of how to move forward with this and see if you had any additional comments on anything you'd like to see changed we do have additional comments um and a couple of things and the planners are going to go through a whole list of things that they require uh and so this is an amendment to the open space residential development approval or is this a new subdivision it's a new subdivision it's completely different design than what was done before then do you have to extinguish the old subdivision I'm not sure if the permit is the permit still active because it's been several years I believe since it was approved I think it was by right I'm not sure if it was I right at that time or not but uh the the other question is that that subdivision was registered at the registry of deeds and uh you're not referencing any of those existing lot lines yeah that was one of one of mbl's um comments so we can absolutely add those to the existing right and then with it's a question that I don't know the answer to but maybe you could help us figure it out because it was registered at the registry of deeds as an open space residential development with 12 Lots it was also uh subject to inclusionary housing for one lot I believe and since that is registered it seems that's legal I don't know if that carries forward if you then later change the number of lots does that get you out of the requirement to have one open one inclusionary housing lot um I would have to look into that I don't know the answer nor do we but it it seems like something that needs to be resolved right um and it is important for Westport to add to their inclusionary housing to add to their affordable housing inventory uh we're just finishing up [Music] our housing production plan and um we sorely need those kinds of houses especially uh with the price of of lots and houses today so those are two issues uh is the road exactly the same as the other other plan no it's generally in the same shape um but is not exactly the same so you couldn't do this as anrs because it's not the same road correct so it wasn't it's not a public road so you can't do the anr off of it uh you you can do anrs off of a private mode but it doesn't exist so it exists on paper still or it hasn't been changed and so the the last big question I have is do you have to file an amendment to the old subdivision to do this since it's already been registered for the registry of deeds or are you free to just come in with a new subdivision that for gets the old one I just don't know the answer to that either okay um I believe is are you asking that as far as the registry would be concerned or no as we're concerned okay because uh if if we have a significant change to a subdivision there's a process to go through to do that not just file a new subdivision correct okay so that you file uh a major change uh for on the subdivision that exists um and because this is an open space subdivision our first one in town and I'm sorry to see it go uh I don't know the answer to this question is it the same as a regular subdivision and would it be something that you have to file an amendment to that subdivision or is it you just file that you're going to forget that subdivision I just have no idea okay so I think it it calls calls for some legal work to figure that out sure so the planners have a whole list of I'll start with the staff findings and then move on to some of the Consulting Engineers findings actually I'll start with the uh the Consulting Engineers findings just so I follow it the report numerically one the existing path of Charlotte White Road on the Eastern side of the site's Frontage is not shown on the plans and should be added two the existing conditions plan should list the partiel owner indeed information within the plan view three the vertical data should be noted on the existing conditions plan four no Benchmark information is provided on the plans five the wetlands boundary shown is from an order of resource delineation issued by the Westport Conservation Commission in 2007 therefore the Wetland delineation is no longer valid and the wetlands boundary should be delineated by a qualified botanist for review and approval by the Westport Conservation Commission six the plan scale noted in the title block of the lading plan is incorrect and should be updated to 60 scale seven snow storage location should be shown on the plans eight the turnaround outside and inside roadway dimensions and pavement width should be labeled on the plans the proposed Cape Cod burm should be labeled on the plans MBL recommends extending the Cape Cod burm along Charlotte White Road on the Eastern side of the proposed roadway intersection to the limits of the existing Cape Cod burm and the Charlotte White Road nine the connection of the existing path to the cemetery and the new proposed roadway should be designed any paths to be removed and vegetated should be indicated on the plans 10 the portion of the existing stone wall along Charlotte White Road that is required to be removed for the proposed roadway entrance should be labeled on the plans 11 the grading and drainage PL should show drainage structure and pipe labels either in the plan view or on a table 12 all proposed Wells must be at least 10 ft from proposed property lines it appears the location of the well on lot one may need to be adjusted 13 manhold dmh2 does not appear to be constructible as shown a larger diameter structure may be required to allow for all three pipes to enter at the same elevation typically a minimum of a half foot of sidewall between the outside of the pipes is needed for the structure to be considered structurally sound 14 manhole dmh 8 also does not appear on to be constructible as shown a larger diameter structure may be required due to the size of the pipes and their invert elevations 15 for manholes dmh 6 and dmh 7 The Rim elevations of the manholes do not match the site grading please update the rim elevations to match the existing grades 16 many drainage structures appear to be below the groundwater elevations such as manhole dh7 based on the test pit log 21-d the design of the drainage structure should include measures for anti flation if needed 17 all double catch basins shall be labeled as such on the grading and drainage plan and roadway profile plan 18 all pipe slopes should be labeled on the roadway profile plan 19 all proposed gradings should be shown on the plan of the roadway profile plan 20 several vertical curves need to be added to the roadway profile between stations 6 plus 50 and 10+ 0 the vertical curves shall be labeled on the profile 21 the elevation table for the infiltration basins on the Basin cross-section detail list incorrect values for Basin 2 Spillway and burm elevation these should be updated to match hydrocad in the grading and drainage plan 22 the spillway detail for Basin 2 lists incorrect values for the Basin bottom and width of the Overflow Spillway these should be updated to match hydrocad and the grading and drainage plan 23 a proposed cross section detail the vegetated soil should be added to the plans the crosssection should include the proposed seed mixture to utilize in the soil 24 Street lines per subdivision by law section 4 a1i are required to have a rounded curve at the corner having a radius of not less than 25 ft a waiver should be requested from this section of the regulations as there is no radius provided on the western western side of the proposed Road at the intersection with Charlotte White Road um just note that charlot white charlot white Road um just note that waivers are to the discretion of the the planning board um exclusively 25 subdivision section vc1 F fences should be proposed around the infiltration basins and detention Basin Gates should be included for access to the m to the basins for maintenance 26 subdivision Section 5 D9 catch Basin should provide adequate disposal of the surface water the gutter Inlet sizing calcul ations provided in the storm water report catch Basin CB4 a cb- 7A and cb8 do not accept all flows from the 25-year storm the catch basins should be sized to handle flows from the 25e storm event with no overflow 27 subdivision Section 5 D12 the proposed vegetated soale on lot 9 should be located at least 10 ft from a budding property line Basin should be located at least 50 ft away from Ab budding property lines this includes all components of the Basin such as the 15t BM around the top of the basins infiltration basins 1 and two should be revised accordingly 28 there are no test pits in the detention Basin footprint while this Basin is not being used for infiltration test pets are required to confirm the groundwater elevation so the basing can be designed not can be designed not to intercept groundwater proposed cut of over 5 ft is shown in portions of the Basin and the test pits performed at the site indicated shallow groundwater staff recommends that the applicant perform witness test the applicant perform the witness test pits with the Consulting engineer um in the detention Basin location to confirm groundwater elevation and soil texture 29 the test pits performed in the infiltration basins are from 2007 more recent 2023 test pits performed for septic system on lot one indicate Sandy LOM soils near the 2007 test pits utilized for infiltration Basin 1 which had lomy sand soils since the test pits in the Basin are over 17 years old the Consulting engineer recommends that the applicant perform witness test pits in the basins to confirm groundwater elevation and soil texture to confirm infiltration rates 30 infiltration Basin one has a plus or minus four slope on the bottom of the Basin infiltration Basin floors are to be designed as flat as possible to promote infiltration the maximum logitudinal slope allowed for the Basin floor is 1% per the Massachusetts storm water handbook in volume 2 chapter 2 31 storm water will be surcharged back into catch Basin cb3 and CB4 before spilling over the 4 Bay burm into infiltration Basin 1 32 the pre post development drainage plan should show the map soil boundaries cover types utilized and label the time of concentration flow paths 33 an inlet catchment map should be provided showing the Watershed areas of each Inlet structure and their flow paths that correspond to the great Inlet and pipe sizing calculations provided in the storm water report 34 the storm water report notes that all flow will receive a 44% pre-treat M through a combination of deep sump hooded catch basins and sediment for bays and 80% total total suspended solids removal through the infiltration SL detention basins this is true for the flows to the two infiltration basins however detention basins do not receive total suspended solids removal credit 35 since the not all runoff from impervious areas is directed to infiltration basins capture area adjust M calculations need to be provided documenting that a minimum of 65% of impervious areas are directed to the infiltration Basin and that they recharge the adjusted minimum recharge volume 36 draw down calculations should be submitted documenting that the infiltration basins completely drain within 72 hours 37 the Consulting engineer recommends adding the owner/ responsible party's email and phone number to the operations and maintenance plan 38 the operation and maintenance plan should include measures for removing sediment from the sediment for bays and should be updated as the for bays are proposed to be rip wrap per the Basin cross-section details on the plan set should also include measures for the maintenance of the 4 Bay Gravel burms and rip wrap spillways and 39 the elicit discharge compliance statement provided and the storm water report needs to be signed by the applicant um and then on to staff findings 40 and this is per sub subdivision section 3B 3B final plans must be stamped by a registered engineer and or registered surveyor and registered engineer in the state of Massachusetts 41 Section 3 B 3 C names of a Butters must be added to a plan sheet 42 3B 3D the proposed street name shall be added to the proposed plan sheet 43 this section 3B 3E width of Main Road must be added to a plan sheet 44 Section 3 b3j monuments for proposed Lots must be added to the lotting plan 45 section 5D the applicant must delineate the extent of Stonewall to be removed from the site the applicant must also include a curb cut from the proposed road to the driveway for Cemetery access the applicant shall provide the planning board e easement information to access the cemetery which shall also be added to the plan notes indicating rights of access 46 subdivision section 4 a1i the western side of the road intersection with charlot white Road must include a 25 ft turn radius 47 section 4E the proposal requires an order of conditions from the Conservation Commission modifications resulting from their review such as relocation of drainage areas will require modification before the planning board 48 Section 5 B7 um staff recommends denial of the request to sidewalks sidewalks provide a safe recreational facility for residents of all ages and abilities particularly those with Mobility impairments the commission on disability also recommended denial of this waiver should this waiver um if this ra waiver request is denied sidewalks in the grass buffer area must be added to the plan set should the waiver be approved the waiver must be added to or it is included on the the first the first page of the plan but it if it's approved it has to stay on that that plan that plan sheet 49 section vcd1 the Consulting Engineers report states that detention basins do not receive credit for total suspended solids removal or TSS the TSS removal rate must be recalculated and modifications made if 44% removal as required in the subdivision by law is not achieved 50 section vd12 the sale on lot 9 must be at least 10 ft away from the adjacent property both infiltration basins are within 50 ft of abing property lines 51 section VI 3A two cross-sections are shown for a um concrete and fiberglass fire tank the concrete tank cross-section shall be removed as fiberglass is required 52 and this is from the site plan the planning board site plan r rul and regulations regulation 2.2.3 B6 total area of wetland resource area must be added to the existing conditions plan sheet so the total square footage 53 section 20.6 point1 C Street Frontage landscape buffer the applicant must include a landscape buffer at least 20 ft in width along charlot White Road the buffer area shall be planted with ground cover low shrubs 3T maximum height and high branching 6 to 8 ft above ground shade trees planted at least every 35 ft along the roadway plants shall be chosen planted and maintained so as not to block the line of sight of drivers entering and exiting the site or at Road intersections 54 site plan section 20.6 point1 e a note shall be added to the plan stating that deciduous trees shall be at least 3 in in caliper as measured 6 in above the root ball at time of planting deciduous trees used for screening shall be expected to reach a height of 20 ft within 10 years of planting evergreen trees shall be evergreen trees used for screening shall be a minimum of 8 feet in height at the time of planting 55 subdivision site plan rules and regulations 20.11 the applicant shall contact the massachus EPA to determine the applicability of the ni's permit and provide the epa's response to the planning board um and I also have some comments from our technical Review Committee which is the interdepartmental reviews we do with the fire department Conservation Commission and so on um the fire department expressed no concerns with the proposed development the Board of Health stated that perk tests have been completed but the application has yet to submit septic plans um the commission on disability as I noted recommend that the planning board deny the sidewalk waiver request and the Conservation Commission stated that the applicant will be required to file an order of conditions for the proposed activity in the buffer zone um the the Wetland line was determined and approved for the prior development however that will need to be updated for this submission um he stated that the nipes permit is required and um to include public access to the old C on the current property or whatever level of access is is um defined in the easement to the cemetery and that's all from the Consulting engineer and from staff okay um I'm going to have comments from the board in a minute but I think we could uh deal with the waiver request um first um it is my opinion that we should not accept this waiver or Grant this waiver since we have uh changed our regulations at the request of the U uh disabilities committee and uh so all Lots all subdivisions of five Lots or more are required to have that's fine and it just makes sense so U I would entertain a motion Mo second all those in favor I I um so comments from the board before I open it up to the public you should you get a long list of things you got to fix but um you really need to pay particular attention to the drainage and Stor here I I was part of the original review and we spent a lot of time um talking about outfall locations and and the groundwater levels and a lot of this and and a lot of the stuff that you're designing around is information that was more than 10 years or so AG go um you know the the lot that's on Main Street used to be part of the subdivision is now cut out um you want to be very careful with the outfall from that Basin not to direct water right into someone's backyard and um you know so that you want to think carefully about all of that because this this whole site now is is draining down towards um Main Street or across to the the existing homes on shot White so um besides the big punch list of things you get to do when you look at the drainage look at it very carefully because we we will look at it carefully yeah so to speak to that quickly before we move ahead um we are making sure to reduce both rate and volume of runoff leaving the site um versus existing conditions so we should be making an improvement from from any water that is getting to those abutters or anyone down on Main Street um and just how the function of the covert across Main Street works now too um should just should excuse me should eleviate if there's any problems now should help that um we we want to make sure that that's so yes um and then just to speak about some of the more major dra AG issues brought up by MBL the detention basein not getting the TSS removal that's something we've we've run into a few times recently um and what we're going to do with the revision is change that to a pocket Wetland a constructed storm water Wetland um which will have a permanent pool of water and Wetland species planted inside of it um it's actually one of the highest treatment units you can put and um so it's generally what we've done with towns is put that in and they're they're very happy with it um and it acts in terms of the the rate it works the same as a detention Basin where it's just slowing down the water but it gives you a higher treatment level um and that will solve that TSS problem um another one of the major ones would be the setback from the infiltration Basin specifically the one um up near shilot White to the property line so how we designed it um and how we believe that the the board has viewed this in the past especially with um the Stacy Lane subdivision that we did a few years ago uh was a similar setback we kept the working area of the be the inside BM down to the bottom 50 feet from the property line and that was acceptable for the Stacy Lane subdivision and the the regulation does not state that it has to include the burm um obviously it's up to your discretion I understand that but that's how it's been done before and how we understand it is that we would be in compliance with this because the firm is not considered part of the the working Basin and that's where the setback is too that also is not defined that's kind of a a working definition that we've run with um and that has been approved before oh the the test bits in the infiltration basins being older um we certainly can do more test pits it's not a problem um but I would like to point out that the the infiltration rates that we're using are consistent for the infiltration Basin in the back we're using 1.02 in per hour which is consistent with a Sandy loan which is what was found in the older and newer test bits in that location um the one up near shalot White Road we have the old test bits stating that they are lomy Sands U which uses a 2.41 Ines per hour infiltration rate and we have on lot one the septic test fits that we did were Sandy lone um however they did get a 10 minute and 20 minute perk rate um and if you I know this isn't Apples to Apples because storm water says not to use a perk test for your infiltration Basin but the one point the 2.41 Ines per hour that's used in that front Basin if you change the units 2 minutes per inch it's um 25 so it's still slower than what we're getting for any of the perk rates um and then when they point out that 65% of the imperious area must go to the infiltration bmps we checked that um that was something we missed we are below that 65% but I've already looked at a solution and we're we're going to be able to capture some more area from the road to get above that 65% number and we have more than enough recharge volume when we do a an adjustment area that's that's the major items all the rest of them are fairly minor to take care of and we will take care of them y um I haven't uh been on the planning board as long as my colleagues here I don't know how long maybe 8 n 10 years I'm not sure um but I I've never heard as uh many uh findings by I don't know a factor four um and uh Mr dlor mentioned word careful you know that I think we're going to give you some time to absorb all this and come back and uh he advised uh taking some care with all all of these uh uh Corrections and uh I think that's really good advice um and I second that um uh this you know our charge is we know there's going to be uh growth and change and Westport our charge is to see that that growth and change uh protects what is uh the character of Westport Charlotte white was an important person in the history of Westport a woman of color who uh was a midwife it's important never to forget her or to get her name wrong and it's main road Main Street and and this Cemetery you know where people are buried shouldn't be erased well it's erased here in the plan so when you erase things it's like you don't care we're providing a cemetery eement we're calling it out of the cemetery eement we're not erasing anything I'm just looking at the plan where it's doesn't doesn't say it so I'm um you it's a dense neighborhood with neighbors and so if uh worried when when I don't see when I see one thing erased to other things get erased that's what I worry about and I come back to the word careful if you pay attention to detail it means you pay attention you pay attention to one detail and I get confident that you pay attention to every detail pay attention to every detail then I get confident that uh you think about things that are going to impact neighbors you don't pay attention to detail then I lose confidence about things that impact neighbors that's that's my concern and so I just say that as a way of underlining the word careful that uh there are a lot of uh of uh Corrections and there may be many of them small easy to fix but they represent uh things that weren't done right the first time uh maybe in the quest of speed I don't know uh and so I just underline the advice of taking care understood I I just would like to point out again we have not left off the cemetery from the plans maybe the sheet you're looking at doesn't say Cemetery but if you look here on the lotting sheet we're calling it out specifically as a Cemetary eement okay and we're maintaining the existing access um the trail that goes through there good thank you okay uh so just before I I open it up to the public I just want to um I was here for the first go around and one of the big big big issues was is this going to affect my property in I'm in a butter and for instance one of the one of the drainage easements and catch basins is very close to other houses and I remember it's probably some of the same people in the room that were there eight years ago whenever it was uh that Express very vocal concern that those things are pretty close to their house and pretty close to their septic systems so when you have those kind of catch Bas uh when they infiltrate are they going to raise the water table in the neighboring property no and so we need to make sure that they don't yeah so we we're meeting all state and local setback distances between everything um including all the abutters septic systems which we have from files from the Board of Health we have all those locations um and I believe if you go to the grading sheet you can see I can't see what number it is but the one that's closest to the front infiltration Basin we have the septic there in the back what sheet is your gra sheet sorry up down down one more right here so if you go to the infiltration Basin near the front uh near shilot White Road at number 50 we have the septic in the back um we made sure that we have the setback distance to that from the infiltration Basin as well as the the well on the front left of the property um that's why you see that curve in the Basin BM uh to make sure we are 100 feet away from that where we're infiltrating any water um and then as far as any impact you would see on the ground there all of that water is either handled directly in the Basin through infiltration or Outlet it to the um what will be the faket Wetland uh closer to the W so there's not going to be any runoff aside from what comes off the outside slope of that Basin Which is far less than what's going there now um we show that in the drainage report that we have a a decent sized area that comes down and goes toward shalot white and uh that number 50 there's almost like a little bit of a swail on the property line there so there's a decent amount of runoff that comes there now and that's all being inter accepted by the road and the drainage system and brought out to the Wetland as opposed to directly to the road and the butter so can you point out on the plan there where the uh constructed Wetland will go yep if you just go down to that Basin that's in the Wetland almost like in between the pockets this one yeah that's ultimately where the water is coming for most of the development um and then it's Outlet it there on the right right side the East Side uh you can see the very thick line um that's the outfall location um that enters that Wetland system which would kind of come Southeast toward the Culvert on Main Road and that's the location of an existing Pond no it's just a small Upland Peninsula that goes through shows on this this map just above that there's a pond right right there that that's a natural pond there yes yeah that's what I asked yes I'm sorry I thought you meant the location where the Basin is no so is that pond elevation higher or lower than it's it's higher it's higher than the Basin okay so I'd like to open a to the public anybody have any questions comments yes sir yeah my name is Rick Shan and a 96 sh white uh I want to make sure that the cemetery is going to be well taken care of because the first ster of that destroyed some of them the tomb now where they placed or not does anybody it wasn't on my radar I don't know if it was it's before anybody here except for me was around on the planning board um I remember it was written up in the paper and um the Attorney General finally didn't do anything but of course not of course not but I don't know I I don't know I can ask uh Betty Slade who does know uh can I ask the gentleman that just just I don't know if he knows but what's your plans on this Cemetery so the plans on the cemetery are to leave it as is um I believe I actually had heard I forgot about that but I think I had heard that with it was with a previous owner that there was some um destruction destruction on um that's obviously a terrible thing um I could talk to the client and see if he might want to offer up some sort of restoration but that's not a decision I can make yeah he did thank you thank you anybody else there is for your information uh an active group in West Point that does restoration of historic cemeteries and we' Bey put you or the client in touch with them yeah that would be great or she is interested yeah yeah Joe robero 100 charani Way Road uh I'm the but directly to the West um I'm just wondering how putting six or seven houses within 600 ft of mine is going affect my we um that what kind of buffer am I going to get cuz right now it's all wooded that's why he bought the lot that's why he moved to Westport can you can you point out where you live uh in the bottom bottom left hand corner there down here yeah so I mean that's I don't know how the aqueducts work around there I just want to know that I have water I you know I would have the same yeah I can kind of speak to that um do you have any other questions first I do uh what kind of buffone like going I have sure all right so the questions go to me oh yeah the other concern was you know what kind of buff it's all wooded that's why I need that you know um a lot of neighbors don't know me I try not to make noise I try not to I just try to keep myself from my little corner how do how do you access your house uh right next to long driveway here it kind it comes out and around right correct it's a long driveway it is that's why that's why and my other concern is during rainstorms uh charlot White Road is a disaster because the catch BAC all fill up the way this land is pitched all to charlot charot White who's going to be responsible for that Wallace in construction cuz I don't think that us as taxpayers should you know have to pay somebody the El you know to go are start cleaning up head spaces abely to answer that question they have to file a nip permit which is a national somebody help me I don't know it's through EPA it's through EPA and they have to put silt fing and everything everywhere and they have to uh submit a plan to the EPA for what they're going to do um it's something that hopefully good construction people do all the time but and where you live does it run onto their property from your property or does it run on your property from there this is kind of a high point this is high yeah it's pretty much level my my property kind of goes down towards charot White uh it I don't think there's right yeah I don't think there's anything that goes yeah it's it's a kind of a here um and actually right here at the property line you've got a ridge that comes this way and goes that way so I don't see any roads near you the only thing I see that you're going to see is that house that's on the west side of the cuac um and I don't know how close your driveway is to the property line but so it comes I mean this isn't his driveway is not Serv in so it could be off a little bit um but it's probably 20 ft off the property line the driveway and you've got a little bit of a tree buffer there and then what we're providing for a tree line outside of that is probably 40 to 50 ft um before any clearing um and then for the wells um you shouldn't have any problem with your well drying up if that's your concern um because you're on the high point um and the water the groundwater is going to be flowing away from you in every direction so if so if they're pulling water from here it shouldn't dewater you at all um you fig me being on a high point I'd be the first one to lose water well you're probably drilled deep enough that that's not a concern but the the groundwater is not flowing toward you from this development um it's going to be flowing that way toward the larger Wetland so we're Downstream I understand that right yeah my my concern is my well that's what I'm that's what I'm we is your well oh off the top of my head I think it's 350 3 you never know underneath well that's the thing you know shouldn't isn't really a guarantee you know should have could have would have but it looks like there's plenty of water there I mean so yeah the groundw is high so fairly typical for most of the yeah I understand the concern everybody has the same concern all over Westport but I I can't say it won't but I don't see how it was but I appreciate it thank you thank you anybody else okay so um you want a motion Mr chair yes we need to how long you got a lot of things to do how long how often do you meet twice a month twice a month okay um I'd say certainly skip the next one and we're going to have to get this February 25th March 11th March 25th I think if we go three meetings out it'll give us time to do our revision and have it back to um MBL and hopefully get a response from them before the meeting March 11th is that or March 25th so we need two weeks before you you know to submit it to mdl and have them do their work has to be about two weeks ahead of the meeting M so yeah let's go let's go with the February 25th is that what you said feary February that's only four weeks that only gives you two weeks to uh prepare the plans understood yeah that shouldn't be a problem no I mean I'm not saying these aren't major issues but taking care of them isn't a huge problem but I would like to know what you guys think about the um the setback on the infiltration basins to the property line because that would affect if we need to move the basins or not so if I understand understand your your idea is that the setback should be to the water and not to the BM to the edge of the yeah not the outside of the BM um because that's just an access way it's not really where the basin's working so it should be to where the water touches the BM inside um no inside the crust of the Basin yeah so the top inside so that would be a foot lower in elevation than where the water is going to get to a foot higher yes yeah yeah sorry hopefully it foot high what is what do the planners think I that's okay with me I'd ask our Consulting engineer if they had any concerns about impact to adjacent properties but if they were okay with it okay and I know that the board's weighed that direction in in the past and the the bylaw doesn't have a well- defined standard so there's area to work with in there okay so we'll wait to have him tell us if it's going to impact the neighbor mhm so um obviously you can get his opinion it's fine but I'd like to say say that the important things that would impact in a butter are the setbacks to a well or a septic system um and those things are defined as the working area um of the Basin we're needing those setbacks the existence of a burn just a built up BM tored in a butter would have no effect I mean and especially since it's not going we're not having the tow of slope directly at the property line so it's not like that's even directly shedding water onto there they're lot so if the if the uh infiltration Basin fills up in a really really big storm m is it going to go onto the neighbor's property no there's an overflow that would bring it back to that what will be the pocket wetland okay I don't really don't have a problem with it but I just like uh Michael or de to I don't have a problem with it either but I think it doesn't doesn't hurt to check what he thinks and he can you can talk to him in a day or two sure so I I'm thinking we still should do March 11th even though you think the end of February is okay because I think 50 things there's going to be something unpredicted that comes up that's going to require a back and forth sure and rather than saying oh we need to wait a week or continue it again it's just better to build in a little I agree because it also takes up somebody else's time so if you if you you know five days before the meeting say I need a continuance yeah so we can't fill it with anybody else n what time 6:15 6:15 6:3 yeah so I would move Mr chair that we continue the public hearing for Francis estate Estates to March 11 615 second all those in favor I I okay thank you thank you uh we have a 6:30 public hearing which is a little late uh for inheritance Lane file number 24 23- 023c modification mod request to modify the definitive subdivision at inheritance Lane to wave the subdivision bylaw requirement for underground utilities the applicant is proposing overhead Electric parcel involved in the modification is described as for inheritance Lan map 43 parcel 3-5 good evening board my name is Jacob Dean here representing the dean family on behalf of this uh important matter here uh collectively between my uncle my father my cousin and myself we own just under 15 Acres off of Old Pine Hill Road and it cuts all the way through to a buck pin hill road it's been in our family about four generations um recently we worked with some local engineering firms and divided up the land so us next Generation could build a house and start a family on the the land that we grew up on um we titled that well due to uh Frontage requirements in Westport in order to access our Lots in the back we had to install and pass with you guys a private laneway which we uh entitled inheritance Lane and passed by the board June 13th of 2023 um since then we worked closely with westport's third party engineering form s SW Cole uh we got the laneway constructed we've got our grass swes in our attention Basin in our our wears in our overflows are all in and stable um we've met all the requirements and we've gotten SW Cole to sign off on what has been done um we do have a shity still held with you guys for the remaining work which is essentially just the electric um with that being said we came to you guys for a lot releas so I could start to build my house um my house lot was released by the planning board and I have started to construct my single family home um I do want to state that in no form are we developers we all have skin in the game and we're just trying to create our family compound um originally way we had it drawn up was underground um like I said we're not developers so you know it sounded good um we started a timeline and I tried to work the best I could with eversource and local construction companies trying to line up everything you know in an orderly manner but like you know sometimes timelines don't go the way you want um we were able to get a construction company down there relatively soon to construct and uh and perform all of this which they did a great job and Derek was impressed on but one thing was ever Source in the electric it was really hard getting a hold of them getting the respond emails frankly um and getting them to come out um we finally did get a hold of some people and through talking with people above ground utilities and the amount of workers that ever Source has on cruise for above ground utilities is far more immense than underground um so we got a whole ever source and they proposed us an above ground um utilities option which is it's here you guys a couple copies so essentially no lot lines change all the setbacks are the same um the reason being also like I said earlier due to the timeline and not getting a source down there right away our Construction Company got the roadway in got the swes the BMS everything's constructed um so at this point my house is up I need electric down there to keep going and Winter's coming so we really don't want to go underground mainly because we don't want to have to redo what we already did um I don't know if you guys got the packet of pictures that I sent in with this yeah we do but you know the grass is all in it took a long time for it to be established and mode and you know final grading is all done and we're also concerned with the uh undermining of the existing asphalt driveways there 200t plus or minus of asphalt 18 wide driveway that's in the eement so it's going to be hard to get the utilities underground without along with a couple real mature oak trees which we're all from Westport we love our oak trees so you know a couple mature Oaks would have to go down in order to do this trenching not to mention we' be digging up our swes and some of our road roadway spillways and retention retention stuff so um usually with underground utilities it's not the utility company that does it it's usually a outside company that comes in and puts all the conduit and and then they pull the wire and then ever Source or National Grid comes and energizes it um I've been through that myself with what I developed can I yeah I know getting a hold of utility to try to come and do anything is incredible I had a telephone pole right right in the middle of the road I made and uh it it took 18 months for them to come out and move it um from the from the photographs uh it was basically looking at the roadway and everything I thank you for those I don't know what you got for trees but we all have a lot of oak trees and Gypsy moss and dead oak trees and dead Limbs and they tend to take the wires down when they fall and I don't know what people here think it's not that big a deal it's not that far uh so it's which lot are you building house on so I'm building my house on lot s which is the single family blowing all the way theage I got it and I'm not sure this but I think it's just for the two houses at the end the one in the front could go either way could it not cuz there actually only going to be only we're only pulling two house Lots off that the variant would only be subjecting to house Lots the lots that were wooded was a wooded lot that we had to install the laneway to create Frontage for me and my cousin's lot so we're essentially asking for a variance to put in poles for the two house Lots in the back so for house lot eight how you going to get electric to that cuz the pole stops at your house there not there's nothing that a wood lock from there I am okay it's been set an open space goes all the way down all the way to p behind the old figaros it's about seven seven acres roughly we took the 15 acres and kind of split in half left 15 for open space last wetlands and took the other seven and divided them equally amongst the lots and this house lot that's on the other side of your road how do they get electricity the first pole U puts in would be on his property I mean this one here the one right on road yeah okay and there's this thing yes this this house lot here is my uncle's house lot yeah and you get I have my own in the middle of my property comes right off the street comes right off the street okay then I go underground to my house what is what is the what do what do the planners think so I'll step in with this one so the the planning board has been prioritizing undergrounding Utilities in the past um and it is something that's called out in the town's Municipal vulnerability plan that utilities are one of the town's main vulnerabilities and uh extreme weather events so installation of overhead utilities even though it's a small segment you know um the the planning board more generally would like to to see utilities undergrounded and so that you know again it's a small impact but also can set precedent for other requests that come before the board um it also have a greater visual impact on the vicinity um having the overhead wires that could be a concern for some of Butters um and then in in the letter that was submitted although there is some additional soil disturbance that could be caused by the the trenching work they also have an operations and maintenance plan that the planning board had approved that should help address some of those erosion issues so I think you know that it's a small request but also you know the the board has been prioritizing it so you know I don't I don't know how you all want to to weigh that I don't know Mr chairman from from for my part since I I agree with everything that you said and and and it's something that that we're we're mindful of that you know all the outreaches and storms you know losing the wires and all that um I I think I personally would vote to allow this to have overhead wires and and I do that not not because what we're what we're trying to do is not important but um essentially if you lost the power you the only ones who suffer this is a this is a stub that serves only you and the family and the abuts I may comment on that are all family um off of Pine Hill Road there's three house lots that could all see this project which is my father my uncle no I I know exactly where you live I went and looked at this before you approved this before so you know I I I think in in this instance um given the the nice job you did in the road I I would say you know get get the polls in and finish your house than great M Mr chair I I think I'm looking at these sideways pictures in front of my head uh getting dizzy uh um and and the two comments I guess one Mr chair you said that one of the purposes is the issue of vulnerability and trees falling and it it looks that most of this driveway does not have the trees that would cause um uh these overhead wires to be vulnerable to trees now I may be wrong about that uh but uh if you put overhead wires and then you go plant trees uh that would grow up over the wires then you're going to reach what you sew and we'll have no sympathy when the trees fall into the wires uh the um and the regulation is says that we can grant waivers for uh two two lots or less and while this is technically I think four Lots you're really running this for two lots as I see it lot five I think could have a house in it um but doesn't appear to right now it's a open wooded lot at this time yeah it doesn't have any intentions anytime soon now at some point you may do this I love the name inheritance land by the way appreciate that well it was inherited by sure there was a family dinner that came up with that one pretty cool uh but you're really doing it to serve too so like uh Mr dalor I don't have a problem graning uh this this way but the road looks really nice when you said it was assall I was surprised but it's a nice surface okay I would entertain a motion uh Mr chair I uh uh move to Grant the applicant's request for a waiver as di related in section uh bg1 of the planning board's rules and regulations governing the subdivision of land to allow the installation of above ground electric PS second all those in favor I I thank you board thank you very much for your time good job enjoy your compound you guys are welcome anytime thanks thank you planners report no we got the 645 here oh that's right I forgot about that one okay next up is the 645 public hearing for 146 State Road Burks v twin file number 24-17 sp- major the applicant is proposing to construct a 1250t garage addition to a 698 squ foot structure to be used for motorcycle restoration and and required parking in six required parking spaces with access drives the parcel involved in The Proposal is described as map 3 parcel 40-40 a the applicant is requesting to withdraw the application without prejudice uh Mr chair uh I'm prepared to make three motions if you want go ahead uh the first motion is I move to release the inspection funds of $2,275 plus interest for plat three lot 40 and 40a of berky twin second all those in favor I I uh second motion Mr chair uh I move to close the public hearing for be Burke second all those in favor I I and the third motion Mr chair is I move to Grant the applicant's request uh to per to permit the withdrawal without prejudice for the burb twin application for site plan approval major modification second all those in favor I I okay no public hear planner's report first thing I have is a meeting to talk about a meeting that we had at um stth for the climate resilience plan that the climate resilience committee is working on preparing and we met with them to discuss was a follow-up to an agenda item that we had discussed with the planning board which is getting some assistance from UMD to work on the climate resilience plan so what they would be doing is doing building on what has already been veloped doing some more data assembly pulling together some nice graphs and infographics and stuff like that pulling that into a nicely polished document um and that's what UMass outh would be doing and they seem pretty receptive to that idea um we also talked with them about how the climate resilience plan needs to have a lot more public engagement associated with it and so we had Flo the idea of working with serid to help out with the public engagement for that document and um I've reached out to Danica bellnap over at serid um uh she's the head of their environmental division they seemed interested in helping out with that so it seems like we have a little bit of synergy between UMass Dartmouth helping the climate resilience committee out with the actual content of the plan um and then with sered to help with the public engagement and then in order to get some of the funds in place at least with serid um I think we'll end up applying for an MVP Grant which is actually the next item on the planners report I'll hold off on talking about that in a minute um but where the funds are coming from with the UMass Dartmouth program um they have a bunch of funds through the the mayor's blue economy initiative and they're looking on ways to support municipalities in the climate resilience space and knowing the work that Westport has developed and and done at at a Grassroots level um which I think is pretty impressive that it's um taken on the shape that it has that they want to support they want to back the climate resilience committee um so well I'll say they wanted tentatively back we didn't like sign on a doted line or anything but um still working on some of the some of the the details of how this will actually all work and coordinate um between the different parties but it was a good it was a good start um to getting their their help with developing the plan John was there uh Jeff Kon was there the um chair of the climate resilience committee um Outreach engagement subcommittee and Di was there there as well so John I don't know if you have anything else um I had originally reached out to Mike Goodman a dean there and he had brought in Jeff Canton and nap toi I can't remember ne ne nefi nefi um and there's also they've got uh a someone from sass as well so it's a team of four professors um and they have a very large Blue economy Grant several million dollars uh as Michael said to work with communities but because Westport is really outside of the city of New the only Community uh that's been developing a resilience uh plan we've said hey work with us you're ad is Old Westport Road uh you know you should work with us and uh so I think that uh uh uh the second meeting then included Jeff and Michael and and Dia and they are enthused about this and we've said if you do this uh with us uh then uh it'll be a good example and other other communities uh in UMass D service area uh once you finish doing with us will say hey we want some too and that will help spread this around Massachusetts uh and they get that and uh we pretty much had a handshape but it's going to be formalized and I think that would uh result in a public announce probably in the not too distant uh future with leaders from the town of Westport uh the university and sered and maybe uh Bost bank because I think thanks to Jeff and and Michael we've got some funding from them as well and I think the format would probably be a um a report from the climate resilience uh committee that Jeff Canton is uh the editor of uh that would uh be a kind of U aimed at the general public uh uh you know this thck uh and then a really deep dive at issues for policy nerds uh that is a thisi kind of thing thing uh that would be done by professors and students at UMass dment that you might think of almost as a really thick appendix uh that gets very deep into a lot of the issues in Westport uh that would be a companion uh volume that you put these two things together and would be I think uh a really good uh set of documents and uh that would be produced over the next year and a half or thereabouts uh so uh I think this is very exciting this partnership with uh UMD and the town of Westport in in producing this I think there's genuine excitement on behalf of of the university to engage with us in that I think it provides us uh with some real talent uh and uh I think it's going to increase the quality and quantity of information out and uh while I'm at it I would say that I also having watched nonstop uh news on Los Angeles and people talking about uh you know that are those fires you know driven by climate change I went to talk to our uh Fire Chief and I said I'm not an expert in this you know could that happen here and he said uh yes it could because I said you know what I heard about Los Angeles was uh the reason La fires are climate driven is you had a lot of rain with which caused a lot of brush to grow then you had 8 months of drought and then you had uh uh storms and lightning and Santa Ana winds I said that sounds like us last summer right wet spring lot of drought winds so I said uh Chief would you think about putting a tiger team together of your firefighters about uh uh what if if this could happen here are there things the town could do are there things homeowners could do uh to mitigate against this to you know things like uh putting a gravel around your house and he said uh that he was at a uh facility in in Dartmouth uh a store that had the same thing I had this kind of plastic siding that's very attractive low maintenance but it's also fuel on the siding and then it had he had mulch around the house Fuel and because it was a coffee shop kind of thing there was nothing but cigarette butts he said he couldn't believe uh you know that this is he couldn't believe this the shop was still standing so I think uh I said well if you could get your guys to write a three or four page description that's a a new committee for our climate resilience and uh at any rate I he I know he's working with you on the public safety and infrastructure on on that so um anyway that was a great meeting that the three of us had with uh various Representatives at UMass dep and I'm very grateful that the university wants to take an interest in helping us out that's that's very good work pulling that together it's something we really need yeah I think it's also good to get serent involved yes because absolutely the three we serpent has just started a first ever environmental committee oh and so they're they're going to try to do things that are regionalizations of whatever needs to be done instead of just going to each individual town and saying okay what can I do for you and to that extent they're coming up with uh uh an idea for regionalization of uh Ms what is it called ms4 yeah it's our federal Municipal storm sewer permit right which which drives us crazy to do we don't have the funding and we we have um Mass Maritime and we use contract with kleinfelder right now um that could change but they've been good to work with in the past but yeah we don't have a town engineer so it becomes a I mean in Serpent's client except for B River New Bedford and Ado have nothing also I mean it I think it's it's it's great so anyway so bring it into Item B on the planners report Jeff Dia and I talked with Courtney Roa after that meeting actually it was that same afternoon um about submitting a Grant to the municipal vulnerability prepared or excuse me submitting a municipal vulnerability preparedness action Grant to fund the public engagement piece of developing that plan and we had described everything John had stated and I had stated and she was really excited about the idea and was impressed that we're coordinating things with you know uh with with the university and she thought it would be a really unique kind of uh document that a lot of other communities could could kind of take and run with it and make it their own um so I think we'll be submitting that uh once the applications come open I think some it's late spring um and then then the other one that we had talked to her about which was something I I submitted an expression of interest um last year which was looking at the flooding storm water and infrastructure issues at the head of Westport which is something that we've talked about in the past um when we had submitted the application to the National Coastal resilience fund um which we didn't end up get getting funding for um that was one area where we were going to use the funds was to look at the um flooding and storm water issues at the head of Westport and I think in the past year there's been this Confluence of a couple different conversations I've had with people I think gives lends itself to look at the area a little bit more holistically so I've had some discussions with some resident groups about their concerns with the speeding on Old County Road with basically the hill of Old County Road being um uh being a slalom of sorts and people will get clocked um going far above the posted speed limit through there so there's some traffic calming needs um and then the town also owns a fair amount of land on both side well it's the landing commission but the town by extension owns a fair amount of land on both sides of the river and it's not used for anything um currently except for the there's the kayak launch on the side next to the the river Alliance so there's a I think there's a really good opportunity to take the storm water piece the storm water and flooding piece combine it with the traffic hming and look at the turning into turning the town own land into a Community Asset where people could go and learn about climate resilience or storm water is you know Green Storm water infrastructure um those kinds of things so I Flo that with the um with sered and they're really interested in and partnering on that and um Courtney was excited about that idea as well so um unlike like last year I think there's a little bit more little bit more momentum to get a grant application submitted if we do submit one for that it would be through um through the through the MVP action Grant as well as the I think if we're going to look at some of the land use with how to use the landing commission land and also managing some of the the traffic issues and if you're going to create a public space you'll need some sort of um more formal parking treatment in the area then I think that would lend itself to a One-Stop Community planning application so those are a couple things that are maybe on on the horizon what there's also the cport grant there's the seport grant as well yeah cuz they already paid for some of the fixing of that yeah the bulkhead yeah now does the Cort just fund planning activities because we could use it to actually they they financed the construction yeah yeah I was going to say they we could use them to actually move forward with the construction right yeah and you know I think you could get a fairly large Grant from them if it it's I don't know who's in charge of it now it liutenant Governor well it used to be the lieuten Still Still yeah she was right down at so the ston throw she's local okay all right next is an update on the shared use Trail at uh we're calling it the wapa connector um so here is we right now we're we're looking at two different concepts for the shared use Trail um one is one concept is to run along the banks of Southwood tppa Pond um so you see here it's going to terminate as we've discussed at Old Bedford Road um these plans need to be updated based on my meeting with the consultant last week we do need to show that we're going to have some treatment for the intersection um to get across to Old Bedford Road but um that'll be added eventually um but the first concept is to run the bike path along southw up a pond it'll go behind the commercial buildings um along the rail right of way and then behind that uh utility structure and then it'll terminate at the current Terminus of the kashan River Rail Trail this is I think the and then the alternative is to run it on Route Six there's some profiles of it but the it would terminate in a similar spot instead of going behind this commercial structure it would run in front of the commercial structure so is this body of water south or north this is South South north side of South um and would Route Around the utility structure and then continue to the kashan River Rail Trail basically the same plan um the one that goes along the banks of the South wupa is the I think is the preferred treatment although we did want to have an Alternatives analysis wouldn't we take this to mass doot um it is on the tip so we're going to be talking to um sered and and do next month at the Joint Transportation Planning Group to continue to advance St enough to support that uh it will probably need some boardway Boardwalk treatment um we need to do further engineering assessments to determine the rails still there the rails are still there in fact in some places it's it's it's almost hanging over the embankment um so i' suspect that a boardwalk treatment is going to be required um obviously it's going to be the more expensive option but the running it along Route Six is not exactly so when you're going east where do you do you cross Route Six the crossing right now is conceptualized at Old Bedford Road that may change but this is just the first segment of the shared use Trail um that we're designing we're also applying to the mass trails to um design out the rest of the Cross Westport segment to Dartmouth so the rail really goes um it cross angle right crosses the road it crosses Route Six and and crosses the intersection of uh Old Bedford Road yep then continues on between the two it kind of follows this foot path right here if you can see the cursor yep no I don't see oh this where I just drew a blue box that's where the rail right of way follows um we've talked to the LEF France Corporation who is the current lassor of the RightWay from Mast doot rail division they're open to leasing out or modifying their lease for let's get back to to the section that runs behind their commercial structure so it's kind of split but it's right here and then the next one's right here they're open to exploring that they did say that they don't think a shared use path fits the um the O the intent the design image that they have for the frontage of their property um I think that's something we could discuss with them further um well it's it's not the front it's just the back it's well no no I was saying where the foot path is excuse me so this section right here yeah well running across where the the hotel is right but there's nothing there I mean it's it's just the Gully where the train tracks go through yeah I know that they have some concerns of liability um and that is something that we said could be addressed on the side where it runs behind that commercial structure we can put up fencing there um I suspect they will not want any fencing running across the front of their property so that's why the current concept is to continue up Old Bedford Road yeah but that'll come with a future iteration of of the project this is the F like the critical link that the South Coast Bikeway needs to continue through Westport um um so we wanted to at least get movement on this piece before we start designing out the rest the preferred one is on the other side of that building that goes along the right yeah on the back side yep I think there there's a rowing group that is right right where you have the printing whatever that is MHM okay so there'll be more updates to come on that um like I said we're going to theint Joint Transportation Planning Group to see which direction they might advise us to head in so have we made any progress on doing a master plan or how we going to do that I think well as we had you and I had discussed what we could apply for a One-Stop Grant to work with sered okay to administer the master planning process I think with all these different Grant programs we have in motion right now I don't have the capacity to lead a long range planning initiative like a master plan and I think we'll need some outside assistance to complete that I and I know that that's something they do with a lot of communities so they're they're well versed in it we've done it inhouse before yeah which was we have so many other things that are using up those same people that might have offered to help mhm they're being used in other ways yeah so and how about the housing production plan has everybody read that I think it's fantastic I read I really think it's good I just had a few small things that yeah they just need to explain what all this J means before you get into it yeah I mentioned I thought there should be a glossy at the front it is y yeah if you have any other smaller comments feel free to send them my way and I'm I I've given the affordable housing trust and the Housing Authority until um the beginning of next month well I guess until uh it would be after our next planning board meeting which is the 11th right so um there's still time for comments so one one of the things I would suggest that we consider including in it is a discussion of real estate taxes as a part of the affordability issue um and there is a way to reduce the real estate taxes for people with lower valued houses by using the residential tax exemption process where you give everybody who has a residence say a 25% discount on the assess value so it it lowers the assess value on everybody and then you have to refigure the tax rate and those with the lowest value uh properties um have a relatively speaking bigger percentage discount correct MH and so here's a copy of what I I found today and had naine printed she could print some more copies she still has it I think on my email but it this if you turn it over several communities are already doing this if you turn over the first sheet first so this it is legal to do in Massachusetts and several communities are already doing it uh with um and the the argument goes that somebody who has a million doll house uh their property taxes are probably 3 or 4% of their inome and if you have a $400,000 house and you're in Social Security it's probably over 50% of your maybe not over 50% but it's it could be 30% of your of your income and if you retrigger this it it it would make the guy with a million doll house pay a little bit more but the guy with a smaller house would pay a little bit less it's a great suggestion I'll I'll ask them to to give a little bit of an overview of the residential tax exemption as uh spelled out in in this document and other resources and we can incorporate that if you go to that website that made that there's it's 40 page document that tells you all the different other ways you can very nice can I ask on the housing production plan which again I I think is really excellent what is Shi subsidize housing inventory subsidize housing inventory which is the total total number of well it it took me about half an hour to find in there what that meant I mean it hit you right right on the first page and then it's on every single page and I say I I don't have like 50% of what's in this housing production plan because I don't know what Shi is yeah I I had the same problem that's the reason for my because there's other gobbley look in there too that planners know what the hell they're talking about but the rest of us don't yeah yeah Jim and I had discussed earlier how it needs a bit more plain language and I think some of the the color scheme needs to have a little bit more contrast yeah um there too many colors that are too close to one another especially for old people yeah you want a motion to adjourn Mr chair please we have minutes oh oh it said not ready no oh they're not ready okay never mind so can I go to adjournment Sure move to Second all those in favor I I Bren Pereira 26 Westport lak Drive uh if if the board wasn't aware that there's there's been recent activity at Westport Lakes Drive subdivision we are um a skid there with a brush uh type mower has been all over the road and caus like it seems like worse than what was there before um and the the road sides and in the uh the proposed retention areas my question to the board today is has there been an official determination regarding the original subdivision approval status as active or revoked have we heard from I I don't believe it it's not revoked I mean that the planning board would have to re formally resend it because otherwise that would be a denial of someone's process right I I so we figured that out since the last meeting yeah you you have figured that out so it it's not revoked it's not revoked without uh public meeting to determine the previous without a recision hearing I understand that so is there a plan to have a hearing in of that matter do you know what the status I know that there was some correspondents saying that they were going to go out there and but that's a big statement and I don't know what that means the the question I have the concern that I have is that because it's been so long and there's been so many expirations of of different documents and things throughout history um it's it only seems practical that um that the board would have to figure out or determine the status prior to allowing them to do anything in my opinion with the subdivision because there was no you I would suggest would the board agree that there is significant question regarding the original subdivision plan that needs to be determined on whether it is still valid or in revocation as was stated in the last meeting where there were some there's some documents from from way back uh that there potentially could have it could have revoked itself because of the way the document was drafted and I do understand that that document the subdivision plan was was a good number of years prior to actual construction but I would argue that if if they didn't continue with the extensions through the through through now then I would argue that that that document potentially would be would be valid and what it reads would would be in occurrence so so Michael if you could let us know I think we continued the recision hearing to a date certain we didn't open any anything we didn't open we we and the the board is very constrained in their ability to do a recision hearing because all of the most of the lots have sold been sold so they they've all been mortgaged right they would all have to consent to modify or resend the subdivision so so so what is happening we are now waiting for the Consulting engineer to go out and do a site assessment when we initially asked them to do a site assessment there was a fair amount of snowfall and they're going to wait until some of that snowfall melts before they can go out and assess the drainage basins um and the um we're waiting for a renewed restrictive covenant on the Lots associated with the Pine Ridge 40b um we gave them 45 days to submit to the board that document as well as um provide the the board a construction plan on Westport Lakes Drive um and that expires I think I don't know off the top of my head but it's like March 1st or something like that that they have to get back to the planning board do we have any shity on we do hold shity on the road yeah um and we also hold Covenant on some of the Lots at the very Northerly extent of Westport Lakes Drive that have not been construct where that section that has not been constructed yet I think having discussed it with the board in the past that the approach is to try to reach out to the the current developer to see if they'll going if they're amendable to cooperate before trying to see what kind of creative legal means there may be to bring them into compliance do you know what theur is it's I think $123,000 which is another thing that we had asked them for is um or that we're going to have the Consulting engineer do is give us a reassessment of what it would take to complete the road that charity was Tak taken out uh about 10 years ago um it's not going to be nearly enough to complete the roadway um and then we've also asked them that pending the um Consulting Engineers finding of what that shity should be increased to they they should they will also have to um increase that shity that we hold on for the roadway so have we determined uh whether or not the large lot that there 40b is going on and the two lots on either side of that whatever road that is Gul U Lane and that was was is g u Lane and it it's still subject well that's the one that we have asked them to come in and submit the restrictive covenant for because there is a restrictive covenant there is a restrictive covenant it did say um so they can't they can't they can't transfer the ownership of that right that's what we have communicated to them is that they can't transfer or develop that property because it's under Covenant right is it seems like there's issue with um with when when everybody speaks about previous past developers and current developers which I think I think the assumption is uh from from the planners that they're they're the same people and I've never said that they're the the same people okay so my my argument is that the the new developer postal Harvest um in the in the past meeting but the previous meeting there were letters sent out to blat LLC and it and it and it appears in that document that it it it indicates that bluecat LLC would be the responsible entity for finishing Westbard Lake subdivision bluecat LLC excuse me but blue cat LLC is the current owner of the subdivision Road as well as they would they are responsible for the infrastructure Associated for storm water management so they are currently the ones responsible for installation of that infrastructure that's why we hold the the restrictive covenants on their land as well as hold the shity um so they are responsible for the installation of it they contract it out to other folks I think that's fine but they're if you know if we're going to pursue any sort of formal legal action they would be the party that would be named in that process right so pardon my cuz this thing is just swimming around my head so when we got the shity was that blue cat I I don't know off the top of my head who who that was so that so so if I may if you may that seems to be the problem because blue cat and and and Coastal Harvest um at at that time um some of the managers of bluecat LLC were all also managers of the coastal Harvest LLC and and in 2015 through 2017 to which they came back to the town to try to get extensions to the to the original Covenant which had expired for for nearly 9 years which is my my wholehearted argument is that how does that go expire for so long and then all of a sudden they come back in 2015 try to sell it to somebody else which is still kind of sort of them and then try to reacquire the division which all of the previous applications the permits all of that is since expired all the wetlands permitting and and everything else is well the the original uh applicant was U American links or something like that still the same people would argue and I could show you documentation that shows that and there's there's much argument in the 40b uh process at the zba to whom um is responsible and who is not responsible responsible and they have they have gone to Great length to try to say that uh Coastal Harvest is the responsible uh entity and bluecat is not and if you if you would watch some of the zba meetings you would gather complete understanding on what they're trying to do as far as that process I understand that that's not the same as what what I'm here speaking about today as far as Westport Lake subdivision the issue is is that over time there been there's been so much time where where there were no certified as buils there the the the retention areas were not um certified and there was no performance guarantee on those retention areas that they are now currently back in there cutting up and and chopping up and my argument is that they shouldn't be doing that because none of the none of the original retention areas or any of the subdivision were was one certified finished completed nothing nothing nothing is is showed that the actual retention fonds that are there now currently that they're now chopping up are actually what's supposed to be there and a matter more more importantly that they were only touched one time in the last since 2008 so our our next step was to send out our Consulting engineer to investigate at what stage the thing is today uh and what would be required to put it into compliance and I think that should happen before our next meeting right it will I would say that it would need to happen before that 45 days is up which would be the the first meeting in March would be the next time um the next time the planning board meets after that 45 days which I think that would then be the appropriate time to report out on that um I will ensure that the Consulting engineer regardless of what kind of snow cover there is goes out to the site and does at least some sort of preliminary assessment because we do need answers on some of these questions yeah we do I mean it's it's no good to just surmise what's happening um as as I stated in the last meeting here um it would it would seem to me that in 2015 in 2017 when the Covenant was extended in my unprofessional opinion that would was done inappropriately because of the time that had passed on the on the original subdivision plan and now there's been nine more years where the the current Covenant has expired until now and it just seems like the town just just is just kind of rolling over to potential mistakes that occurred through the last 17 years and now they're just trying to make good on it and just let them comply where I would argue that they would they would be responsible to reapply for a subdivision plan and then Supply engineering and everything that goes along with the subdivision to conform with the new with the current standards according to the subdivision rules and regulations and until then they should not be allowed to haphazardly in my opinion just go in there with a brush cutter and just cut everything and now it's worse than it was before do you agree with that that they should they should come back with a plan to comply with today's regulations because they've never finished I don't know how the board could force them to come back in and amend the plan here here we as we had even even though you and a couple other people have houses there they're not in compliance they never were in compliance with our regulations mhm I I agree and so we need to talk with Town Council again and ask if we can do that because I to me that makes sense that if they're going to if they're going to fix it they should fix it to today's standard the Covenant extensions that the the the board is looking for currently through blue cat um is is that is that relating to the form o this partial Le belas of Municipal interest or is it or is the actual covenants that that are specific to um to the ones that were issued or ex or yet were issued in 2015 and 16 because the confusion for myself s is that they're two different things and they do they do the the form o the partial Le of Municipal uh interest it does talk about the current Lots or or parcel that is particular to the 40 to the 40b proposal however the Covenant doesn't doesn't appear to separate the two I'm under the understanding that they're two separate things or is there two separate documents well I think the formo was the release of Covenant I I don't have the forms in front of me I mean I think if we really want to get into an indepth conversation um this would have to be a formal agenda item but I think we are are addressing these issues um again through having uh the Consulting engineer go out there and I think we would ultimately like to try to work to try to collaborate with the not collaborate but to have the the um current developer cooperate with the town as opposed to you know forcing a subdivision Amendment and I think this has this process has been rightly brought up and I think um you know that there's been there's been a lag from the town um in pursuing any sort of relief for the people who live in that area so yeah so Town Council is pretty familiar with this because we've talked to him quite a bit about it could you ask him whether or not to to get to the point where we sign off and it's done that it's done now to to current regulations because it was never finished before I can ask them that please well it's not just an issue of the road though is it it it's where the Lots developed to uh what was required and agreed to so it's not just the the road and if they weren't uh what is our course of action well also the storm water controls that we have are are different today than they were 20 years ago right I'm not saying that it wouldn't be beneficial to have them apply at you know update things to standards I just don't know what the legal as an agenda item after our Consulting engineer reports back on whatever date you're saying he's going to report back then that gives time for Town Council to think about it but uh it uh it's an interesting question about um if a developer ignores what the requirements are if a developer does nothing over time uh what is our recourse do permits expire do violations left un uh policed you know there statute of you know what what are our what's our recourse the facts are different than developer didn't do anything I I don't I don't know when but sometimes there was a subdivision that approved this way whatever that was 20 years ago whatever that was and and they built something whether it's in compliance or not they they built something and they got release of lots and and they built a few sold a few lots and they built a few homes that's my understanding of the of of the way it's the situation is now then the question the question really comes can I think we can force them you know whether we seize as assurity or we you know we can we can force them to comply whatever the regulations were 20 years ago whatever whatever the conditions of that approval was we probably can enforce that the idea that we have new storm water standards and all that stuff can can we enforce that I I don't know and if we want to enforce that you know I think the question is could you know can can we actually resend the old subdivision now that it's partially built it was started all of the lapses and stops and starts and in perhaps errors of what prior Boards of extended things whatever that is what is what what is the liability to the town if the planning board undertook to resend the old subdivision and force them to file a new subdivision that's that's the real question what what does what does does does the planning board have the legal right to do that once the subdivision is sted yeah I believe they can resend it but um if as we found out with marot uh if they have uh if anybody has gotten a mortgage on any of the property then the mortgage holders have to agree and I can't imagine a mortgage holder for your house or somebody else's house say say okay there's no sub you know that that property has no access any longer if we resend the subdivision your home doesn't have access You've Lost Your Right to get to your house if we resend the subdivision and and you know I I don't I don't want to take that step lightly I know the road's there I know you drive on it I know all that but if if for instance you decided I want to sell my house then the buyers buyer's attorney is going to say listen there's no there's no legal right to get to that lot yeah so I think um what I would suggest is that uh we will by March 1st we have a meeting on March 1st or I I don't know the March this is a conversation we should have with Town Council yeah absolutely it that brings up another point I mean the Town Council currently was the planner at the time of the extension in 2015 16 and 17 and I would argue that that was done inappropriately and it seems like the Tom planner has has a very keen interest on this project because of that and it seems like I mean what is the what is the liation potential I think I you're talking about the Town Administrator Town Administrator I'm sorry the town administrat not not the town I'm I'm speaking so it's not the Town Council and it's not the town planner it's the Town Administrator yes who was the planner at that time and um so what I'm going to suggest is that so that we can have a robust discussion about this for one of our next meetings is to talk with Michael and get it on the agenda because it's really I'm allowing it tonight but it's inappropriate for the 48 hours to you know because we know about this they 48 hour thing so uh but please talk with Michael if you have papers that you'd like him to look at and compare with the formo and the and the release of shity or not release of shity release of the Lots um please make an appointment and go talk with him so that we can get all the stuff in front of us for an agenda item that we can talk about and perhaps even get Town counsel involved I would agree with that however I would I would I would State again that I would say that that somebody from the town should require them or or require them to not continue to do what they're doing until those things are ironed out because of my previous argument that nobody really knows what what was built because it was never certified there was no comp there was there was nothing there may there was an engineering um survey that went out by tiits at at at the time of I don't know just just prior to the the sale to postal Harvest and again still they didn't comply with what that document said and it's now been 9 years later I understand that revoking the subdivision is puts puts me in Peril however I would argue that the town would would would maintain some responsib ibility for not keeping up with the subdivision since its Inception up until now where it has slid through the slid on the to the pr for as long as it has so we're going to consult we're adjourned by the way because we moved and voted to adjourn we took this which is not on the agenda you've uh suggested this I think that's the sixth time You' suggested it our hearing is good um and we are going to consult with our Town Council uh which we've said several times and we're going to put this on an agenda so people know we're going to talk about this so I think we're turn we're turn thank okay thank you