In appearing before the Rochester Planning Board during the latter’s March 8 public meeting, Brian Wallace of JC Engineering, Inc. formally requested a judgment of “substantial completion” for Units 1, 2, 21, 22, 43 and 44 of the Plumb Corner Village housing development.
“Forty-four is a model home so it’s really five units that we’re hoping to gain occupancy for,” he said.
Wallace referred to an original request date of February 16 and a meeting with Field Engineering, Rochester’s peer-review consultant, along with the town planner, highway surveyor and site foreman. Outstanding issues were included in a report that Wallace said JC Engineering received on February 28.
Reading from a prepared statement, Wallace outlined actions taken to address the concerns noted in the peer-review report including a safety plan to be signed off by Fire Chief Scott Weigel and Police Chief Robert Small.
Other issues included: no-parking zone; reflective house numbers; a partial as-built plan showing that all finished units meet setbacks in the site plan; the clubhouse (projected for interior completion by the end of May); temporary fencing, a playground, plantings and a septic system.
Town Counsel Blair Bailey told Wallace that the day the site opens it has to be compliant under the American Disabilities Act (ADA).
Safety was a major concern of the Planning Board as it applies to exposed basins and large machinery on site of the overall incomplete development.
Planning Board Chairman Arnie Johnson asked if the fire chief had received the safety plan. To that point, Wallace had filed the plan with the town but not specifically with the fire chief. Johnson said Weigel needs to be in the loop “because his opinion is very critical to our decision. … We don’t have anything from the Fire Department at this point.”
Planning Board member Ben Bailey agreed, calling it “enormous oversight” on the part of the applicant not to submit its plans to the fire chief.
Blair Bailey said that any verifiable thing can be a contingency on a board vote. He said that theoretically the board could vote contingent on the approvals of the fire chief, the Board of Health and peer-review consultant Ken Motta of Field Engineering.
In a follow-up call with Town Planner Nancy Durfee, it was learned that the board did vote at the conclusion of its March 12 site visit to recognize substantial completion contingent on the meeting of conditions that were discussed during the March 8 meeting. The decision, being written by Durfee, will be ratified at the board’s March 22 meeting.
Since the septic system is not complete, Planning Board approval would be contingent on Board of Health approval.
The road to establish a “substantial completion” judgment formed the main subject of the March 8 regular public meeting of the Planning Board.
In that discussion, Blair Bailey isolated the question as to what on Motta’s peer-review list of requests needs to be addressed in order to make the requested lots resident ready.
Although Ben Bailey asserted that completion of the clubhouse and playground were agreed upon as prerequisites for substantial completion of Phase 1, Blair Bailey confirmed that the board has the power to release a portion of Phase 1, provided the board’s security in doing so and in how much surety is being held (slightly over $1,500,000 as of March 8).
High-winds precautions and mitigation plans were addressed by Durfee, who also recommended using the site map as a place to reiterate assurances of such items as staging. She also relayed Motta’s request for a schedule of items to be completed.
“Weather has been really tough on us this year, weather has set us back,” said Wallace, who said there are three more foundations left to be installed. Road infrastructure, he said, is completely finished relative to Phase 1 of the project plans. He stated that Phase 1 areas should not have any machinery and little left to be brought in. “Phase 2 and Phase 3, we’re happy to look at that a little more closely and set up more appropriate staging areas, but as far as Phase 1 goes, there really isn’t a whole lot left … and that’s why we’re here.”
Ben Bailey asked about measures to control wind-blown dust and suggested a threshold of gusts to trigger watering in affected areas.
Blair Bailey reiterated a request for two distinct punch lists, one identifying those items that are contingent on a vote of “substantially complete” so the five units can achieve occupancy and the other listing the items that Motta’s peer-review requested that are not subject to the same timeline. Blair Bailey also reassured meeting attendees that the town is doing its best to complete the process, albeit with a priority on safety.
Johnson requested a list of ages of the people who are waiting to move into the units in question prior to the site visit. He was told he would receive that information.
The over-55 development does not allow children to live there, but it is anticipated that many would-be residents are grandparents to children who will visit.
Wallace told the board that the applicant intends to go back before the Conservation Commission with additional information.
In other business, the Planning Board voted to approve special permits for Renewable Energy Development Partners LLC for its applications for installation of a canal-canopy, solar facility and groundwater protection. The board’s vetting process complete, Durfee was to write the draft decision for the board’s consumption at its next meeting.
In a public hearing briefly opened, Industrial Tower and Wireless LLC requested and got a continuance to April 12 at 7:00 pm for its Site Plan Review application for installation of a 190-foot, monopole, cell-phone tower on High Street. The continuance was requested by the applicant in the interests of completing its business with Rochester’s Zoning Board of Appeals. Technical difficulties with remote access resulted in a pause of the meeting that necessitated a repeat of the continuance.
In her report to the board, Durfee said that it is grant season and she has two applications due on March 18. She said her work with the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) is crucial in gaining state approval for project funding.
Durfee also discussed the impending feasibility study that it is hoped will determined whether Rochester builds a combined facility for police and fire or separate facilities.
“I’d rather take the money we were going to put into a feasibility study and put it into (construction),” said Johnson, who said he doesn’t believe a feasibility study will tell the town’s residents anything they don’t already know.
The board voted its approval in the declaration of trust in the Master Plan where it concerns the Village at Plumb Corner.
Durfee said three candidates have gone onto the second level of consideration for the job as board administrator.
The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, at 7:00 pm.
Rochester Planning Board
By Mick Colageo