An age-restricted housing development slated for the vacant lot beside Plumb Corner Mall is essentially at a standstill after some drainage issues from 30 years ago resurfaced during a Conservation Commission meeting last month, and as Rochester Planning Board Chairman Arnie Johnson pointed out on July 24, “You guys are kind of stuck for the time being.”
As Attorney Peter Paul described the situation during an informal discussion with the board, the property is going to need some work before the subdivision can be finalized and the 55+ housing development built.
“It may seem like we’ve been dragging our feet on this, but there’s been lots of work trying to find a solution,” Paul said. The problem: “lack of cooperation” from the owner of Plumb Corner Mall, as Paul put it.
A pre-existing drainage issue originates on that property, Paul said, and the developer and his engineer are trying to come up with a cost-effective way of dealing with it, but as Paul reported to the board, “…She’s basically said, ‘I’m not gonna be part of the planning and solution – go ahead and fix it – and by the way, I don’t want to pay for it.’
“We need her input in order to get this job done,” said Paul.
The plan, though, will have to satisfy both the Planning Board and the Conservation Commission in order to proceed. For the Conservation Commission, an un-discharged Order of Conditions from about 30 years ago is still out there, which the developer knew nothing about when he began his plan for the housing development.
“We need a Certificate of Compliance to get this project back on track,” said Paul. “My client is willing to go the extra mile … halfway to help out with the cost – and [developer] Mike LaCava has been very cooperative … but we need some input from the owner of Plumb Corner in order to … make peace with [the Conservation Commission].”
According to Paul, the property owner of the land slated for subdivision, Gibbs Bray, wants to get this problem solved, get the subdivision built, and get the drainage fixed.
“As engineers, we’re sort of at a stalemate here,” said John Churchill of JC Engineering. For now, he was simply looking for guidance from the Planning Board on how to solve the problem of stormwater discharge being directed into an isolated wetland on the property. That solution could include catch basins and retention ponds along with a couple waivers from the board. But without permission from the Plumb Corner property owner, nothing like that can happen.
There wasn’t much input Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon could give the engineer either, she said, at least not without first presenting the new proposal to the commission.
“We can’t give you any advice on this for two reasons,” said Johnson. First, he said, the board’s peer review engineer can’t review a plan for someone else’s property. Second, it’s not their property and there is no written authority giving the engineer permission to devise a plan.
“You might as well be saying you’re talking about doing some work at Ben’s house right now,” said Johnson referring to board member Ben Bailey. “I will say that the cover’s off the box. It doesn’t matter whether or not your project happens or doesn’t happen,” Johnson said. That drainage will have to be addressed. Furthermore, the board has no money in an escrow account to pay their peer review engineer to look at it, “So he can’t work on that drainage thing until the applicant comes in, which is the person who owns that property,” Johnson clarified.
“You can’t back up stormwater onto someone else’s property, which essentially is what it is…. That’s something that we can’t even entertain,” said Johnson. “And we’re not gonna do easements – easements are a headache further down the road.”
“Convoluted and confusing” is how Johnson summarized the situation.
It’s unlikely that the developer will have a viable plan before the next meeting, so for now, the Planning Board will wait to hear whether Bray wants to start an escrow account in order to provide funding for the board’s engineer to review possible plans.
“That would actually keep the ball rolling on this while you work out the legal thing, because right now he owns that property,” suggested Johnson.
The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for August 14 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
Rochester Planning Board
By Jean Perry