GREENWOOD — On Monday, planning board members will continue to review an application for a proposed subdivision off Rowe Hill Road in Greenwood.
The proposed subdivision, called “Twitchell Pond Overlook,” would consist of seven single family residential lots and one lot held onto by the owner, Paula Lamb.
The property totals 34.5 acres and has recently been cleared by a licensed forester
Under project description, it says ” The site is generally moderately to steeply sloping from Rowe Hill Road west to East Twitchell Pond Road. Wetland areas and two stream segments, delineated by Eric Whitney, L.S.E., S.S. of Main-Land, are located on site and shown on the subdivision plan.
“The parcel is in the Twitchell Pond watershed, which is a protected pond in Greenwood. The project proposes dividing the parcel into seven single-family residential lots, each between 1.5 and 2 acres in size. The remaining land, 22.42 acres will be retained by the owner.”
All the housing lots would be accessed off Rowe Hill Road. The lots will be served by private wells and septic systems, according to the application.
Director of Engineering for Main-Land Development Consultants (MLDC), Rick Dutton, said that the building envelopes are slightly staggered to protect the natural resources and wetlands. Dutton also said they staggered the building envelopes so there is not a straight line of houses in the subdivision and so future homeowners will have a better view of the area.
To control storm water runoff, a concern many abutters expressed, rain gardens are being proposed on each lot. These small vegetated filters will “capture and treat storm water from each individual lot before it leaves the site in order to meet the town of Greenwood’s storm water management and phosphorus control standards.”
Concerns
Several residents attended a public hearing on June 21 with questions and concerns regarding the proposed subdivision.
Resident Bill Bickford asked Dutton if Lamb, who owns the 22.42 acres not being used for lots, had any plans in the future to built another subdivision. Dutton said currently Lamb has no plans for the land.
Greenwood Code Enforcement Officer Joelle Corey asked Lamb if she planned to sell the lots and if so, would the new owners be responsible for their house design, septic system, well and driveway. Lamb said her first priority is creating a subdivision and then from there, see what the housing market is doing before making anymore decisions.
Pete Kefalas, a second homeowner and abutter to the subdivision, wondered how adding seven wells would impact other wells and aquifers in the area.
Dutton said the site is not over a “significant aquifer” and the they “anticipate installing drilled wells.
Bickford mentioned that there are multiple streams with culvert crossings on the East Twitchell Pond Road that are not shown on the site plan and that even with the addition of rain gardens the “velocity of rain from storms is going to be released down hill toward the pond no matter what they do.”
Bickford asked if there was anything that could be written stating that the owners may not remove anymore trees on the lot due to shoreland zoning. Dutton said tree removal on the lot is finished and that MLDC conducted a storm water study that looked at phosphorus and the rate of runoff from the subdivision. Post development runoff will be the same, if not lower, than pre-development runoff, according to Dutton.
Resident Chuck Finger said Twitchell Pond is considered “high” when it comes to protection from phosphorus and requested that the town use a third-party review because of the pond being at risk for phosphorus runoff.
Bickford added that doing a third-party review is an “excellent idea.”
Board Chairman Dennis Doyon said the planning board can bring in a third-party review if it thinks it’s necessary. Doyon also said if people want to have a third-party review they should put their requests in writing to the planning board. Corey mentioned that the deadline for submissions to the planning board is two weeks before the next meeting.
Copies of the plans and more information on the subdivision in general can be obtained at the Greenwood Town Office. The next board meeting is on Monday, July 12 at 5;30 p.m. at the Greenwood Town Office.
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