Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday re-opened its month-long review of four separate Notices of Intent to build single-family dwellings on two-acre lots at 0 High Street but ultimately continued all four hearings until its next meeting.
Since early November, the project has drawn the attention of abutters who have raised concerns about its possible effect on flooding and natural resources in their neighborhood. Tuesday, the board continued to next meeting its review of three of the project’s lots because the Natural Heritage Foundation has yet to decide if its construction will affect endangered species. The board tabled a decision on a fourth lot to give an abutter’s engineer time to review how the construction will affect his client’s flooding problem.
Project representative Chris Wallace reported that Natural Heritage’s latest correspondence says the construction on those lots will not affect habitat, but the organization needs to continue its review as to whether the project as a whole will affect habitat. Conservation Commission member Michael Gifford said he would be more comfortable waiting for the foundation’s full answer before approving any Order of Conditions endorsing that work can start. The commissioners unanimously agreed.
When discussion turned to the fourth lot, its closest abutter, Jeremy Saccone, who previously said his property near County Road frequently floods because of the bog and will flood even more when a house lot is built near him, said his engineer has not had time to review the new mitigation measures Wallace has proposed, because that response was only issued a day before the meeting. Saccone wanted a two-week continuance to allow that review time. “This is new,” Saccone said. “The new road is now on top of the bog road. The water will come directly back to me.”
The board ultimately granted the two-week continuance to allow time for Saccone’s engineer to respond even as it noted mitigating a flooding problem on upland is a little beyond its jurisdiction of protecting wetlands. “We have limited jurisdiction,” member Ben Bailey said. “This is on the razor’s edge of not our jurisdiction.” Board Chair Christopher Gerrior motioned the continuance after Wallace noted he will have to return in two weeks for the other three lots anyway.
The commission began its meeting by approving a Request for Determination of applicability to the wetland’s protection bylaws for a plan to construct a 16×24-foot shed partially within the 100-foot wetlands buffer zone at 324 High St. Homeowner Stephen Cobb told the commission he had taken this plan to the Zoning Board of Appeals. That board objected to the shed being placed in the front of the yard, which is against town regulation, leading to his decision to move the building closer to his side setback and possibly wetlands. The commission unanimously granted the project a Negative Determination, i.e. that the plan will not affect a wetland area, after Conservation Agent Merilee Kelly reported the new location is a lawn area, 85 feet from wetlands.
Next, the commission approved a request for a Certificate of Compliance of the Order of Conditions for a plan to build a new single-family home with driveway, septic system and associated grading at 127 Neck Road, after Kelly noted this construction had been successfully completed “a couple of years ago.”
The board then granted a request for a three-year extension of the Order of Conditions filed by the MBTA for its property at 45 Kings Highway. Kelly reported that much of the construction project has finished. Project representative Jonathan Niro of BETA Group, Worcester, said the extension is being requested so project managers may continue monitoring the work and complete the parking lot.
The next Conservation Commission meeting will be December 17 at 7:00 pm, at town hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Conservation Commission
by Michael J. DeCicco