Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday continued its review of two large projects until November 21 to give the town’s Planning Board time to review both plans first.
JPF Development is seeking approval of a Notice of Intent to build a 15-acre, self-storage facility at Kings Highway and Route 28 that will feature the construction of seven self-storage buildings and an office with associated paved, access drives, parking areas, utilities and a stormwater-management system, located within the 100-foot wetlands buffer zone.
Bob Rogers of G.A.F. Engineering opened the public hearing by explaining that the site has a varied topography because of the work that has been done on the site over the years. He is proposing to build a system that will grade stormwater runoff to the south into three separate water infiltration systems. These will include one for the parking area alone and the largest one for the area of the self-storage buildings.
Rogers added he is asking the Conservation Commission for a continuance in order to hear first what the Planning Board will say about the project at the petitioner’s meeting with that board on November 14. He said he needs at least until November 21 to see how that input may change the plan.
Conservation Commission Chairman Chris Gerrior emphasized the need to schedule a site visit as part of its review of the plan. Rogers hesitated to schedule one so soon. He said he is still busy with his survey crew, and where they would want to take their walk is not yet clear enough. It was agreed to wait to schedule that walk until after November 14.
BWC Snows Pond LLC’s Notice of Intent plan is to build a solar array on 12.55 acres of a 31-acre parcel at 0 Cushman Road, to include a 2.39 megawatt (direct current), single-access tracking photovoltaic array and associated battery-energy storage within the 100-foot wetlands buffer zone.
Engineering consultant Andrew Hamel said currently the lot is a grass field with woods that will need to be partially cleared, and there is a stone wall that will need to be cut into to provide an access road. He, too, said his project is being reviewed by the Planning Board on November 14.
Melanie Sherman Morrison complained that she is such a close neighbor that she will have to constantly look at this solar array once it is erected. She wanted to know how close the array operations will come to her property and the wetlands near her and what will happen to stormwater runoff.
Hamel said the array operations will stop 180 feet away from the area that concerns her, and that there will be no additional runoff caused by the project. Gerrior encouraged her to continue providing input when the Planning Board reviews the proposal on November 14.
Here, too, the commissioners agreed to schedule a site visit via email with the membership, the petitioner and Conservation Agent Merilee Kelly and to continue the hearing until November 21.
In other action, the commission approved a Notice of Intent to expand a back yard behind a single-family home at 31 Hiller Road by leveling the area with fill addition no closer than 25 feet from wetlands.
Previously, homeowner Nathaniel Reece said he had already placed a silt fence and boulders where he wants his work to start. On November 7, he returned with a precise delineation of where the wetlands begin from a wetlands specialist. Those readings showed that his work will be no more than 35 to 40 feet from wetlands. The board will now work on the project’s Order of Conditions.
The Rochester Conservation Commission scheduled its next meeting for Tuesday, November 21, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Conservation Commission
By Michael J. DeCicco