The Marion Conservation Commission met on Wednesday, September 10, to grant a Certificate of Compliance as well as conduct a public hearing for Toll Brothers, Incorporated’s proposed residential development at 78 Wareham Road.
First, a Certificate of Compliance was granted for Laurence E. Reinhard at 17 East Avenue. Before addressing a second Certificate of Compliance request, the public hearing for a Notice of Intent filed by Toll Brothers, Incorporated, began. The developer seeks approval to construct a 48-unit residential development with associated clearing, grading, roadways, utilities, and stormwater-management systems. Chair Matt Shultz stated plans are available at the Town House (annex building, 14 Barnabas Road) for review.
Toll Brothers recently took up work from the previous contractor, Matt Zuker, who had been granted a Special Permit from the Planning Board for work on a 48-unit, townhouse-style village. The new developer seeks an amendment to the original article: Rather than 12 duplexes and 36 single-family units, all 48 dwellings would be single-family.
Toll Brothers also now are looking into adding walking trails to the site, following recent conversations with the Planning Board. Those paths were later said to be mulch and unpaved. The representative from Toll Brothers stated, “we’ve gone through a pretty painstaking effort here to try to keep the amount of impervious area at a minimum, as much as possible.”
It was restated that the development will be linked into the town sewer system. Some questions were raised by the commission over water runoff and environmental impacts, with the representative saying water runoff into the nearby Weweantic River would be slowed with redirection efforts to “minimize the potential for erosion downstream.”
With Toll Brothers still waiting on comments and the completion of a peer review, the public hearing was continued two weeks out to September 24. The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission will be held, likewise, September 24 at 7:00 pm in the Marion Police Department.
Marion Conservation Commission
By Sam Bishop