During its Monday night meeting the Planning Board raised objections to the plan for a two cul-de-sac development in the Cedar Street area, sending it back to the drawing board after not approving a waiver request.
The proposed open space and landscape preservation development (OSLPD) concept plan for Deer Ridge Estates called for a waiver from the 100-foot buffer zone, but some board members felt there were too many affected areas, and more effort should be made to conform to town regulations.
Concerns also were raised about the ability to access a large parcel of open land on the northern portion of the property, bordering the Sudbury River.
“I generally like the concept they put forward, but I have some reservations with it,” Planning Board chair Gary Trendel said. “One is to reduce the number of locations where the buffer zone is less than 100 feet and really to minimize the decrease from 100 feet as much as possible. I’d like to see the total number of impacted parcels in half, or something to that effect.
“And then secondly, something in the designs that … gives some option for the public to access those large parcels that literally create the justification to design for less than 100 feet for buffer. And I think there’s some particular emphasis on the Cedar Street Extension side.”
The applicants, Courtney and Kyle Derderian, were seeking a special permit for the plan, which would extend Lincoln Street, a dead-end road off Cedar Street, and add a cul-de-sac there with four new house lots, as well as construct a new cul-de-sac off Cedar Street Extension with four house lots.
The proposal included an emergency access road between the two cul-de-sacs. The road would be closed to vehicular traffic via gates but allow pedestrian and bicycle access.
The plan was the original version that was presented to the Planning Board in September. The applicant presented two variations last month following feedback from the board, but eventually returned to the first plan following a determination from the town’s zoning enforcement officer.
Lincoln Street is a 1,700-foot-long dead end road off Cedar Street (across from Carbone’s restaurant). While the town has a bylaw limiting dead-end roads to 1,000 feet, zoning enforcement officer Chuck Kadlik indicated that the board should only ensure that the extension of the road falls within that 1,000 feet limitation — disregarding the existing portion of the road. This means no waiver would be needed to extend the road about 400 feet, as the plan proposes.
The original concept plan was approved for a special permit by the town in 2003 by a different developer. The Derderians, who live on Lincoln Street, recently purchased the property in hopes of developing the property to their liking.
The design includes setting aside approximately 50 percent of the plot for open space, primarily 3.5 acres next to the Sudbury River and 5.9 acres on the southerly side of the parcel.
The development would have private wells and private septic, as town water is not available.
The board voted 4-4 with one abstention on the waiver request. Because the waiver request was not granted, no vote was taken on the special permit. Had the permit been granted, more specific details about the plan would have been addressed in a later subdivision review.
Design consultant Joe Marquedant thanked the board for its candid criticism and said he would meet with the applicants and work on an adjusted plan.
The hearing was continued to Dec. 21.
0 Hayden Rowe discussion continues
The board continued a hearing on the 0 Hayden Rowe proposal. Developer Ron Nation has presented plans for a nine-home cul-de-sac in a wooded area off Hayden Rowe Street, with the access road at the open field near the corner with College Street (the field that has a billboard on its north end).
The Planning Board took a site walk on Nov. 14, following the introduction of the plan 12 days earlier.
Project landscape architect Larry Greene said input was taken from the board and changes were made to reconfigure the roadway, making it shorter and wider, add some additional perimeter landscaping buffering, and reconfigure lots to address wetland/upland calculation errors.
Some concerns were raised, most notably about whether there are one or two crossings of wetlands, as two crossings would lead to an issue with the Conservation Commission.
The hearing was continued to Dec. 16. …
The board also granted NESI Realty LLC a new permit to continue earth removal at a granite quarry located at 253 Lumber St. The quarry is a source of Milford pink granite, which is used in restoration of historic buildings around the country. …
The board also OK’d slight changes to the plan for the Chamberlain Street/Whalen Street subdivision, and discussed plans for construction of a commercial building and associated parking at 0 South St. A site walk was scheduled for the South Street project on Dec. 19, and that hearing was continued to Dec. 21. The developer for both those projects is REC Hopkinton LLC.
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