A proposal to replace seven houses on Mahoney’s Lane with seven elevated homes drew a crowd to the Old Rochester Regional High School auditorium on October 28, with 128 people signing in for the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission hearing. Residents questioned how the redevelopment would affect nearby salt marsh, coastal banks, and existing trees.
Dennis Mahoney and Sons Inc. has proposed redeveloping the approximately 4.35-acre property with new houses supported on open concrete columns, a paved access road, upgraded utilities, and a stormwater collection and infiltration system.
Before the hearing began, Conservation Commission Chair Michael King said the commission is establishing a formal written comment period. The public may submit written technical comments to the commission office at Town Hall until November 12 at 4:00 pm.
“This will allow [us] to thoroughly review your submittals and require formal responses from the applicant before our next session, which is already scheduled for December 2,” King explained.
Underscoring the tension around this project, King asked everyone to treat the applicant’s engineer, David Davignon — lead project manager and partner at Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc. — with courtesy and respect.
“I stand here tonight in the unenviable position of having to present this project to this very large audience. It’s not my first rodeo,” Davignon said. “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for pointing out that I am a fellow human being and I’m just here to do a job.”
Davignon then described the project, which entails reconstructing seven single-family dwellings “that were constructed in 1945, 1940, 1954, 1900, 1900, and [others] as far back as 1850,” he said. The site, which has access to Main Street, is bordered southerly and westerly by a tidal inlet connecting Eel Pond to the Mattapoisett River, and northerly and easterly by developed residential projects.
“It should be noted that the driveway, which provides access to the houses and is called Mahoney’s Lane, is not a formal roadway approved under the Subdivision Control Law. Therefore, the Planning Board has no jurisdiction,” Davignon explained.
The project lies within a coastal flood zone subject to high-velocity wave action. He said flood requirements drive the elevated design, with portions beneath the houses used for parking behind breakaway panels.
He then said: “I think it’s important for me to say the reason this Notice of Intent proposal is before the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is because of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Specifically, Mass DEP has proposed draft regulation wetland changes.”
He then explained that these changes have resulted in hundreds of Notice of Intent applications in the past two years for similar properties along the southeastern shoreline, with property owners seeking to protect their rights. He said the draft regulations constitute a land taking for vacant property within the velocity zone and will prohibit new construction there. They will also restrict reconstructing any cottages, houses or buildings damaged by catastrophic events, such as a hurricane, to the exact same size, with no increase in footprint.
“I haven’t seen any change in those draft regulations since they first came out, and the rumors are that they will be instituted sometime in the near future … But that was the driving force behind submitting the Notice of Intent at this time, so that the property owner doesn’t lose his rights,” Davignon said. “Should the DEP peel back some of their proposed draft changes, this project wouldn’t be constructed for the foreseeable future.”
He added: “That is coming from the property owner to me, to the audience. So, if you really want to see nothing happen at this site, talk to your state reps. Have them talk to the DEP about how extreme they’re going with their proposed draft wetland regulation changes.”
In continuing his presentation on the Mahoney’s Lane project, Davignon said the proposed grading would direct runoff toward the center of the property. The design includes three bioretention areas, additional catch basins, and stormwater outlets relocated outside the 100-foot buffer zone. The applicant has offered to fund an independent engineering review of the stormwater analysis.
Samantha Carew of Ecosystem Solutions, the town’s peer-review consultant, outlined changes made following site visits and discussions with the applicant. Those included moving two houses farther from coastal resources, rotating another house and adding separation and native plantings along part of the proposed work area.
However, substantial tree clearing remained proposed, including in an area currently without houses. Carew described concerns about erosion, sediment reaching the wetlands, and the loss of vegetation that helps stabilize the bank and reduce wave energy.
The trees are doing a job right now for storm damage prevention and flood control, and that is something for the commission to consider,” Carew said.
The latest revised plans and stormwater materials arrived the day of the hearing, limiting time for a full review before the presentation.
Attorney Peter M. Vetere, counsel at Verrill Dana LLP, represented abutters at 15, 17, and 19 Main Street. He requested additional documentation of the coastal-bank boundaries and an analysis showing how the proposal would meet standards protecting the coastal bank and salt marsh.
“The burden of proof under the regulations is on the applicant to demonstrate compliance with performance standards,” Vetere said. “Nothing in the applicant’s narrative addresses those performance standards at all.”
Vetere also sought additional independent wetlands review. King defended the town’s existing peer-review arrangement with Ecosystem Solutions and said the commission would obtain a separate engineering review of the stormwater calculations.
“We as a commission and under the Wetlands Protection Act will do the due diligence relative to stormwater,” King said.
Resident Cindy Martin raised a separate question about whether portions of the property contained historically filled wetlands. She said inquiries to the Board of Health and the state Department of Environmental Protection had produced no formal records documenting the site as a dump or filled area.
Martin read from a historical account describing dumping at Mahoney’s Lane and asked that the site’s history receive further examination.
A peer-review consultant said historical aerial photographs could help investigate that question.
Resident Robin Lepore focused on the proposed work’s proximity to the coastal bank and the protection provided by existing vegetation.
“Even if houses are on stilts, stilts are not going to be protected if the ground underneath them is all eroded away. All the protections provided by the banks and the buffer of the bank [during a storm surge] compel me to support a project that is pulled back out of the buffer zone of the banks,” Lepore said. “And, however you configure it tightly, you could have townhouses, you could have other kinds of structures built there. But to put these houses all right on the edge or so close to the bank, we’re going to just simply be having a major problem, come the next big storm.”
Russell Chase of Ridgewood Road urged the commission to consider the risks of leaving the existing houses in place during a major hurricane.
“If we have another hurricane like the 1938 hurricane, most of those houses will be down to their foundations,” Chase said. “We’ll have gas leakage, and we’re going to have the sewer station inundated with floodwater, and each one of those four-inch pipes that serve those homes could separate. And I think that everyone should consider what the alternative would be and the damage that would cause, the environmental damage caused by having those homes come off the foundation and end up in a big pile.”
King said the commission would evaluate the proposal under the state Wetlands Protection Act, including its protections for flood control, storm damage prevention and wildlife habitat.
The next hearing is scheduled to resume December 2 at the ORR auditorium.
Mattapoisett Conservation Commission
By Jeanne Hopkins