MEMBERS PRESENT: Audrey Delnicki, William Grace, Carol Heffler, Barbara Kelly, and Richard Muller
STAFF PRESENT: Jeff H. Folger, Environmental Planner/Conservation Officer
Debbie Reid, Recording Secretary
Commissioner Carol Heffler who is Secretary for the IWA/CC chaired the meeting in the absence of Chairperson Warren and Vice Chairperson Forzley.
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m.
Motion to: go into Executive Session at 7:04 p.m.
Was made by Commissioner Heffler
Seconded by Commissioner Kelly
The motion: carried
The vote was as follows: unanimous
Motion to: adjourn the Executive Session at 7:29 p.m.
Was made by Commissioner Kelly
Seconded by Commissioner Delnicki
The motion: carried
The vote was as follows: unanimous
ITEM: Public Hearing
Appl. #05-34P – Evergreen Run, 90 Buckland Road, GD zone
Mr. Alan Lamson from FLB Architecture & Planning came before the Commission to represent M.S. Connelly Associates, LLC. Mr. Lamson explained that the property in question is at 90 Buckland Road. The proposal before you tonight is to develop the western portion of the site for retail use. There will be two buildings and parking will be between both of the buildings. There are two wetlands located on the property and a detention basin, which was created as part of the overall Northern Hills development.
Mr. Lamson told the Commission members that the access driveway to this site would be located off of the Lowes driveway. There are two issues that dictate the location of the access drive:
The Planning & Zoning Commission has an Access Management Plan for Buckland road. The Access Management Plan does not allow this site to have a driveway located directly off of Buckland road.
The driveway will need to be widened to create a lane for right turns. The lane is dictated by the traffic that is projected for the driveway and extends further than what would have been wanted.
Ms. Michelle Carlson a Professional Engineer with Fuss & O’Neill came before the Commission. Ms. Carlson explained that as part of this plan there will be silt fence placed around the site to prevent any erosion going off into the wetlands. There will be an anti-tracking apron placed at the proposed entrance. The majority of the stormwater from this site will be collected through the catch basins and will be tied into the existing storm pipe that goes across Buckland Road. The drainage will be brought to the detention basin near the Expo Center. A small portion of the road will be caught in two catch basins and discharge to the regulated area and then go into the wetland. The sanitary sewerage will connect into the existing line that goes down Tamarack Lane and out to
Clark Street through the Gateway Trunk Sewer. All necessary utilities are available.
The mitigation that is being proposed will be to armor some of the intermittent watercourse down stream. Across the street there is an outlet and riprap splash pad that need to be repaired, this will also be done as part of mitigation.
Answering questions from the Commission, Ms. Carlson explained that Poag & McCuen have agreed to have the mitigation done on their property. This application will be maintaining the amount of stormwater going to the intermittent stream.
Jeff stated that there is expected to be a net reduction in the stormwater volume from this site. Jeff explained that there is another portion of the watercourse immediately to the north of this property that was recommended for the applicant to look at to incorporate more mitigation measures. There is a severely eroded channel in that portion as well.
Mr. Jeff Shamas a Soil Scientist from Tritan Environmental in Guilford came before the Commission. Mr. Shamas stated that he had delineated the wetlands on the site and prepared the wetland impact assessment and mitigation report. There are two wetlands on the site. The first wetland is a small area (finger) and is relatively narrow. This is a low quality system with an intermittent watercourse running through. There are invasive species throughout this system. The second wetland is a higher quality wetland with diversity and composition is greater.
Additional mitigation would be to do some selective cutting, thinning and removal of invasive species in the wetland system as well as native species in order to compete with the more aggressive invasive species. Another recommendation would be to capture some of the runoff from the entrance area and then bring it back into the wetland to the east with an energy dissipater. At the end this runoff will flow into the wetland and create a balance.
Answering questions from the Commission, Ms. Carlson explained that there could be a vortechnic unit placed into a manhole to capture sediments and floatables.
Commissioner Kelly asked the applicant to provide for the next meeting the activities that will be taking place near the wetlands (clearing and grading).
Ms. Rosemary Aldrich a Landscape Architect with Insite in Canton came before the Commission. She reviewed the plantings that are proposed for this site. Answering questions from the Commission Ms. Aldrich explained that the following is a list of species proposed for this site that produce berries and has a habitat value?
Berberry being used as ground covers in the parking lot islands,
Red Twig Dogwood being used in front and at the entrance drive
Blue Princess Holly in the corner
Dwarf Winterberry in the front and some in the island
Columner Crab Apples in the planters
Aristocrat Pears
Mr. Alan Lamson explained to the Commission that the type of shops for this development would be smaller stores. There will be a pedestrian circulation walk and a three foot wide side walk along the parking lot so individuals do not have to walk through the parking lot and cars when going from one building to the next.
When Northern Hills Subdivision received approval from the Planning & Zoning Commission, there was a condition placed on the subdivision plan that access to the properties to the north have access through this site. Mr. Lamson stated that this provision has been made, but with this access there will be a small disturbance to the wetland. This item would be addressed when an application is received for the area to the north.
Commissioner Kelly requested the following information is provided at the next scheduled meeting:
The area and amount of fill that will be required for this site.
Quantify the impervious coverage on the proposed developed area west of the wetland.
Alan Lamson also stated that the applicant would be working with Town staff to look at these two properties to see if there is something that can be done to the stream to stabilize it. Jeff added that any work involved there would be dependent on the approval of the landowners.
ITEM: Correspondence
The Commission received a memo from Ms. Marcia Banach, Town Planner regarding requirements for Access Management on the property.
ITEM: Minutes
The Commission approval by general consensus the July 6, 2005 minutes.
ITEM: Adjournment
Motion to: adjourn the meeting at 8:15 p.m.
Was made by Commissioner Delnicki
Seconded by Commissioner Kelly
The motion: carried
The vote was as follows: unanimous
Respectfully submitted
_________________________________
Debbie Reid, Recording Secretary
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