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Home » 10/26/2016 – PB Minutes

10/26/2016 – PB Minutes

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BETHLEHEM PLANNING BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday October 26, 2016
Bethlehem Town Hall Meeting Room
6:00 pm

Present: Chairman Michael Bruno, Vice Chair Dave Wiley, Chris McGrath, Steve Gorman and Johnathan Stevenson.
Absent: Sandy Laleme and Marie Stevenson

Mike Bruno opened the meeting at 6:00 pm

The board looked over the minutes from October 5, 2016. Chris McGrath motioned to accept the minutes, Dave Wiley seconded. 5-0 motion carries

Chairman Bruno reads the public notice for Dreier boundary line adjustment. Chairman Bruno opens the public hearing.

Chairman Bruno reads off the checklist.

Gardner Kellogg engineer for the project goes over the plans with the board. Mike Bruno motions to accept the checklist as complete for Dreier. Steve Gorman seconds 4-0 motion carries

Mike Bruno asks if anyone has any questions. There are none. Dave Wiley motions to accept the boundary
line adjustment. John Stevenson seconds 5-0 motion carries

Leslie and Roy Dreier lot line adjustment approved

Close lot line adjustment for Leslie and Roy Dreier at 6:15pm

Board business was discussed to possibly tweak the checklist a bit. Having a page that is dedicated to
the abutters and the checklist coded to tell what page checklist items are on would be very helpful. Such as a Map and key. The budget from last year was given to the board. Chairman Bruno’s homework will be to have the budget ready for a board vote at the Master Plan meeting on November 2, 2016.

Hopes are to cut the budget by 35%. Board business closed 6:30 pm

Chairman Bruno opens the public hearing continuation from October 5, 2016 for AHEAD Site Plan Review.

Chairman Bruno reads the SPR for the public hearing. Nick Fiore explains the project to the board and the public. 44 acres, 28 units, 4 buildings, access off of 302, 100 KW Solar Array, water comes off of James Street, sewer lines run down the road to 302 to the main, 4 Rain gardens, 1 pond, 12 spaces in front of the buildings. Snow storage will be at the corner of the parking areas. 16 Mailboxes will be next to the buildings. There will be a 4 bay (catch basin) 2 treatment area to a drainage ditch with 4 to 5’ of ½ inch stone. Perforated pipe will line the ditch to the rain garden. The Erosion and sentiment control plan will include a sentiment trap that traps storm water, to a riser pipe, rain pushes out the top. Chris McGrath asked about stagnant water. The water is short term states Nick Fiore. The Silt fence (black tarp) will be located 5’ off the sentiment traps. This will actually be reducing the flow. Regular maintenance is recommended every two years. The life expectancy of the drainage system is 20 years. The complete Preliminary Drainage Analysis is included in the SPR file for AHEAD.

Chairman Bruno opens up the hearing to public comment at 7:25pm

Don Lavoie asks if the flow is directed down to 302. Yes some of it is said Nick Fiore. What will prevent
the rain gardens from freezing? Nick Fiore responds by saying this system works very well in the winter.
Rain water is always draining, no frozen water. With the elevation of the project, what is the fire protection plan? Asked Don Lavoie. Olivia Beleau from AHEAD responds by saying there will be fire pumps with sprinklers in all the buildings. Nick Fiore says that there is also water available off James Street.

Don Lavoie asked if the project thought about parking under the solar array. No one wants the solar array where the parking is now. Chris MaGrath said that the solar array is out of the way, and it has been moved many times.

Evelyn Blanchard was concerned about the open apparatus (4 bay) where children could fall into. Nick Fiore responded to say that there is a grate on top. Olivia Beleau said if necessary they will install a fence.

Luther?? Spoke up to say Manns Hill Ahead project has the same system and it works very well. Sylvan Epstein would like the board to do a walk through to see how tight the road will be in-between the properties. Chris McGrath said yes it is tight but it meets all the setbacks. Leslie Dreier would like
the board to do a site visit. With all his years on the planning board he found it to be very helpful. Mike Bruno said that they walked the property last year in spring and found it to be wet with no standing
water.

Chris McGrath spoke on how the conservation committee hired a wetlands expert for the property. She will have a report to the town in 2 weeks. (Elise Lawson) Richard Dreier asks why AHEAD picked this property with all that is available in Bethlehem. Mike Claffin answered, to the availability of water and sewer on the property and it is walkable to downtown. The engineer found very little area not on a slope and water.
We never tried to hide that fact that the parcel is wet.

Mary Epstein asked about the sewer line and the lights down the road. She was told by Nick Fiore that
the sewer lines will be 5’ down and the earth above will be put back as it was. As for the lighting it will
be downward LED off the power poles. Mary Epstein asked about a buffer for the lights. She suggested 8’ Arborvitaes. I have a 100 year old house and with all the construction, how about cracks in the
foundation? The engineer on the job will do a pre construction survey said Mike Claffin. Trevor Howard spoke for Mr. Baker from the Maplewood. His concern is more children in the schools. Why is the solar array so big? (2.5 acres) Mike Claffin adds that the goal is to pay for electric to the units and offset energy. Dann says he is happy for solar. Chairman Bruno asks if there are any other questions from the public. There is none. Closed public input for AHEAD SPR.

Chairman Bruno lets everyone know that there was a site visit done. The applicant had to invite the
planning board onto the property and notice it and they did. Chairman Bruno does not see a need to visit
the property. Board vote is unanimous for no site visit. 5-0

Chairman Bruno brought up the bonding e-mails from the attorney for the town. There were 3 in all. Motion
to make the Attorney Mitchell’s email public. Dave Wiley seconds 5-0 motion carries

Chairman Bruno explained how the town could hold a town managed escrow acct., revocable from the
bank. Chris McGrath responds to say the bond was about water issues The complete emails will be a permanent
part of the AHEAD file. Karen McGinley attorney for AHEAD explains how they have a cash escrow, letter of credit and they have their own bonding company. Chairman Bruno responds to the attorney that he was steered away from using the applicants own bonding company.

Steve Gorman adds that looking at Mann’s Hill project and other Ahead properties; they are all perfect in their presentation of property. We as the board are being unfair in who we pick and choose to bond or not bond. Steve Gorman wants to know what the idea behind the bond is. Being Good Stewards the project has the expertise to “do it right”.

The board agreed to the depth of expertise of Nick Fiore’s new maps for the drainage system. Chairman Bruno makes a motion to bond the project. There is no second. Motion fails 4-1

Chris McGrath adds that the packet is great but, there is not a certified engineer. Dave Wiley would like
to have the town engineer look at this. Nick Fiore reached out to Aries (town engineer) they can not engage until the board asks. Nick Fiore said he is happy to work with the town engineer with the same level of detail on the plans. Chairman Bruno said if the town engineer is not satisfied with the plans then it comes back. The applicant will pay for the engineer. Chris McGrath wanted to thank Nick Fiore on the detail of the water drainage plan. Motion from Dave Wiley to have the town engineer review the site water drainage proposal and write a report to be reviewed by the chairman, the chairman can review & approve or call for a board consideration at public meeting.

AoT –DES –WETLANDS permits
DOT on the driveway
Talk with the Fire Chief about access
Plant 8’ Arborvitaes as a buffer along the side of the Epstein property.

Chairmen Bruno seconds Motion carries 5-0

Dave Wiley motion to APROVE SITE PLAN REVIEW FOR AHEAD, LLOYDS HILL. Steve Gorman seconds. Motion carries
4-1 with one not in favor Chairman Bruno

Site Plan Review approved for AHEAD COMMUNITY LIVING AT LLOYD HILLS WITH CONDITIONS
Closed public hearing for Lloyd Hills.

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