After a lengthy discussion of the plans for a subdivision of a 4.6 acre lot at River Road, the Marion Planning Board decided at its regular meeting on Monday, May 7 to have the project representative, Gregory Morse, review the plans with Town Council and meet with the Marion Board of Health regarding the septic system setbacks.
Mr. Morse came before the Planning Board with the plans for the subdivision with the intent of obtaining four waivers, which would: reduce the lots’ right-of-way, create a drainage parcel on one of the proposed lots, relax the three percent grade at the intersection of River Road and Route 6, and reduce the setbacks for the septic systems on the proposed lots.
“We’re looking forward to moving forward with the development of the property into three lots,” Mr. Morse said. “[The owner] would like to divide [the 4.6 acre lot] into two definitive lots. Without the waivers, it may make this project unfeasible.”
The first waiver would reduce the right-of-way width from 50 feet to 40 feet.
“I don’t think granting that down from 50 feet to 40 feet is jeopardizing public safety,” Mr. Morse continued.
Board member Tom Magauran found the request reasonable, although he did have some reservations.
“Conceptually, I don’t have a problem with it,” he said. “It’s just that we’ll need to look at the conditions of what needs a variance. We’ll need to make sure you adequately present why you qualify for a waiver … This waiver sounds reasonable to me, but this waiver gets more technical than we deal with every day.”
The second waiver would place a drainage easement on one of the proposed subdivisions. The members of the Planning Board did not have any questions about the plans for this waiver, but agreed that the plans needed more detail.
Next, Mr. Morse asked for Planning Board approval to reduce the three percent grade for the landing from 100 feet to 50 feet.
“It makes it so that the wall isn’t so high,” Mr. Morse explained the importance, referencing the property line between the subdivisions and abutting properties.
Finally, Mr. Morse presented a case for using state regulations rather than local ones for the setbacks of the septic systems and drainage requirements.
“With this development,” Mr. Morse said, “we won’t add any water to River Road. We hope to collect the water in the cul-de-sac,” he explained.
The plans called for installing storm-water components on the proposed lots, running them into catch basins.
“You [the town of Marion] have a regulation of 100 feet for the setback from septic,” he said of the setbacks, “but we meet the state regulation of 50 feet. We would require a variance for that.”
Chairman Jay Ryder articulated the Planning Board’s concerns.
“We have an engineering issue and a legal issue with each of your four waivers,” he said. “The next step is to get back to you and say, ‘We can work with you,’ or ‘No, this cannot work, there is a legal issue.’”
Mr. Magauran explained that the Planning Board needs more information on the legalities of the subdivision since it isn’t a common procedure.
“We address subdivision issues once every three years or so,” he explained. “We haven’t seen one in a while.”
“What you’ve proposed here is a substantially less dense proposal from anything we’ve seen in the last six years, to give you perspective,” Mr. Magauran continued. “We want to help you achieve this. I don’t think you’re going to get a negative response from the board; there may be some legal hurdles.”
Chairman Ryder asked Mr. Morse to “get the ball rolling” by meeting with the Marion Board of Health regarding the setbacks for the septic system, and to send a brief memo to the Planning Board outlining the four waivers.
In the next order of business, the representative of Cumberland Farms, Thomas Moriarty, requested that the Planning Board grant a field change for the project. Mr. Moriarty began by explaining that the previous approval of the project by the Planning Board had granted a special permit. Conditions for the site plan approval required Cumberland Farms to replace 115 feet of drainage on Front Street, as well as to replace the sidewalk along Route 6 in front of Eastern Bank.
Mr. Moriarty added that the town of Marion recently found that Cumberland Farms must also install 12-inch pipe to replace the existing 10-inch pipe in the drainage system.
“Considering that down the road the town has a lot of work in changing the sidewalks to make them AD8 compliant, it made sense to have Cumberland Farms do the drainage work instead of doing what they were supposed to do,” Chairman Ryder said.
In other business, the Planning Board unanimously approved that no comments would be given to the ZBA regarding the properties of 294 Front Street and 12 Hartley Lane.
“This board feels that the ZBA is doing a good job doing what they do,” Chairman Ryder said.
The Planning Board’s last business was to discuss the recent offer made to the town to sell energy garnered from windmills located outside of Marion. Board Secretary Terri Santos said that she had received no word from those who had proposed the contract. All board members expressed skepticism of the contract, believing that it sounded like a good idea in theory but might not be practical.
“We know very little of who these fellows are who are offering these transactions to the town,” Clerk Ted North said. “I just hope that we understand [the contract] before this goes to town meeting.”
The board members hypothesized as to how the contract would affect Marion and the total cost for its supply of energy with subsidies potentially decreasing from turning to alternative energy sources.
The next regular meeting of the Marion Planning Board will be on Monday, May 21 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
By Anne Smith
