Coming before the Mattapoisett Planning Board on June 17 were property owner Andris Rieksts
and his representative David Davignon of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc. In filing a Form J request, Rieksts sought to have one of several lots, part of a subdivision situated at the private end of Park Street now known as Park Lane Extension Estates, released for construction.
Citing the amount of work completed thus far, the request before the board asked for the lot currently held as roadway surety to be released, giving the lot owner the opportunity to begin construction. But immediately following Davignon’s statements in support of the request, the board questioned the completeness of the project.
Read into the minutes was a letter from town-hired, peer-review engineer Field Engineering in which retaining walls were described as eroded and in a dangerous state of disrepair. It was further noted that there is $45,000 of road work yet to be completed.
Highway Surveyor Garrett Bauer confirmed that the walls were not stabilized, which is creating a public safety hazard. “The retaining walls and guard rails need to be constructed,” said Bauer.
Board member John Mathieu said, “I don’t think this is far enough along, it’s not close to being done.” He concluded he could not support the request at this time. However, when he brought up other forms of surety to Rieksts, a solution seemed to evolve.
Mathieu offered, “There are other forms of surety. One is lots, two is a bond, three is a letter of credit and four is cash.”
Rieksts said he could come up with an acceptable surety other than lots. The request saw no affirmative or negative action by the board.
In other business, a Form A, Approval Not Required (ANR) request for the adjustment of existing lot lines to give a small portion of an existing lot to an adjoining family member was approved. The applicant was Almeida Living Trust, Karen Almeida, Ocean Drive.
Also submitting a Form A, ANR request was Jeffrey Dunn for the creation of four lots on Angelica Avenue, each measuring 30,000 square feet and meeting frontage requirements. The request was approved.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board is tentatively scheduled for Monday, July 1, at 7:00 pm.
Mattapoisett Planning Board
By Marilou Newell