The August 19 meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board found the panel reviewing two Form A – Approval Not Required requests submitted by the Gingras Nominee Trust, for property located off Randall Road and off Whitetail Run, a total of eight subdivided lots.
The applicant was represented by engineer Alan Ewing who presented the subdivision plans as two separate projects.
The first application, the Randall Road lots, features seven lots with Lot 1 being over eight acres. Ewing said that the preliminary subdivision was executed by land surveyors Romanelli Associates and had gone through an 81X filing and complies with the Commonwealth’s general court rulings on land subdivisions as noted in Mass General Law.
The Planning Board, which on this night consisted of chairman Tom Tucker and members Nathan Ketchell and Karen Field, saw no problem with the plan as presented. The lots would meet current frontage and setback requirements, would have access to public water and sewer services, and would be accessed by a public roadway.
The proposed seven-lot subdivision was accepted as presented.
The next filing presented by Gingras Nominee Trust was for an additional two lots, or was that one lot? Confusion was about to muddy the second plan as Ewing began to explain what Tucker deemed “creative engineering.”
The Whitetail subdivision plan would include Lot 1 from the Randall Road plan, which had just been approved, but now would be further subdivided to create two lots. So, was Ewing talking about eight lots, or nine lots spread over two plans? That was the confusion.
After some discussion, it was determined that the total number of lots would be eight. Tucker was a bit frustrated that the applicant had not presented one master plan for all versus two separate plans.
“We wanted to make sure the Randall Road plan would go through,” said Ewing.
“You should have disclosed Lot 1,” Tucker said.
Having accepted the Randall Road concept as presented, the board moved forward with discussion on the Whitetail plan and ultimately accepted it as presented.
Douglas Schneider of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc., also presented a Form A Approval Not Required for Arthur Alden III for property located off Aucoot Road. This request, which had previously been approved for a two-lot subdivision in February 2019, was to amend a lot line. Finding the request minor and having no impact on frontage or setbacks to the zoning bylaws, the request was swiftly approved.
In other matters, the board tabled the discussion of a request from the homeowners association of the Village at Mattapoisett for the return of a $50,000 cash surety against future environmental damages, a sum viewed by the association as “arbitrary” and unsupported by studies or cost estimates. The Planning Board members questioned whether the maintenance plan for the stormwater management detention ponds was, in fact, being properly handled, and that the sum in question had not been fully funded by the residents in the beginning.
While the Planning Board thought the association should have control over the funds versus being held by the town, they also thought review of maintenance records was in order prior to releasing the cash. Tucker asked Planning Board Administrator Mary Crain to invite association representatives to the next meeting for further discussion of their request.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board is scheduled for September 16 at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room.
Mattapoisett Planning Board
By Marilou Newell