The Marion Village Estates and Heron Cove continued public hearings have been again continued to August 25, but the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals made significant progress toward bringing both matters closer to conclusion during its August 11 public meeting.
In the Marion Village Estates case, developer Ken Steen seeks the release of his 2013 Irrevocable Letter of Credit, held until now on behalf of Fieldstone Lane residents as he looks to bring closure to his MVE-related contractual obligations.
ZBA Chairperson Cynthia Callow instructed the board members that the sole task of the August 11 continued public hearing was to verify the as-built plan. “It’s not our purview to do anything else,” she said.
Peter Palmieri of Merrill Engineers and Land Surveyors reported to the ZBA that most of his review of the original and revised (July 12) as-built plans had been addressed to his satisfaction, but some questions or comments remained regarding the direction of flow of the sanitary sewer and stormwater runoff.
Palmieri suggested larger arrows for legibility and noted that the text was difficult to read, corrections he considered easy to perform.
“The only other comment we had was the approved plan showed use of reinforced concrete pipe for the drainage system, and the pipe that I saw was HDPE, which is high-density polyethylene pipe,” said Palmieri, who said he asked in his original report if the pipe composition had been approved by the town and suggested that the developer address the subject with town officials. “(The developer) came back and said that the pipe was similar in nature and so on, but there wasn’t any (specifications) provided.”
Palmieri suggested the town require that information in order to verify capacity and strength comparable to the prescribed (reinforced concrete) pipe.
Callow told the board that Steen had requested and received a waiver to use the “plastic pipe,” as Callow labeled it. She consulted with Planning Board member Jon Henry, whom she said told her that if there are pressurized materials or gases going through a pipe, then plastic is better than concrete because it can expand.
Steen said he can confirm that the pipe used is AGS (Advantage Grade System) pipe. “There was no compromise to material at all,” said Steen, adding that verification in the way of information can be provided if needed.
In referencing comments received from Department of Public Works Director Nathaniel Munafo, Steen said his engineer went back and addressed Palmieri’s comments and that of the DPW. Steen said he electronically rereleased letters addressing comments from the different town sources.
Dr. Ed Hoffer, a ZBA member, suggested that the many paper documents provided are so plentiful that the information becomes difficult to decipher.
Palmieri suggested Steen release the AUTO-CAD drawing, which would separate out the layers addressing the various categories of planning. Steen applauded the suggestion, saying that would clear up any confusion.
When the hearing was opened to public comment, Fieldstone Lane resident Andre Arsenault asked the board if a waiver was granted to skip building a guardrail. Steen said the plans were approved without a guardrail.
Asked by Callow if an approval vote could be made with conditions pertaining to the discussions held that night, Town Counsel Jon Witten told the ZBA it could approve the project with conditions, but in the case of a monetary release, he advised not doing that. “You really need (Palmieri) to say that all of the conditions and that all of his requests and all of Nathaniel’s requests have been complied with before the board issues a release. … The reason why is you can’t get the money back.”
Witten advised the ZBA to make sure its peer-review engineer can sign off on the project and avoid having any lingering outstanding issues on the release. That means one more response from Steen to Palmieri’s requests, which would position the board to vote at its next meeting.
ZBA member Dana Nilson pointed out that Munafo had not reported to the ZBA since Steen submitted a revised plan. He suggested that Munafo’s checklist should be established for the board’s review.
The board voted to continue to the case to Thursday, August 25, at 6:30 pm.
The case of Heron Cove LLC, a Local Initiative Program (LIP) 670CMR negotiated with and approved by the Marion Select Board, proposes affordable housing on Wareham Road, was also heard in a continued public hearing.
Attending the public hearing via Zoom, peer-review consultant D.J. Chagnon, principal at CBA Landscape Architects LLC, reported to the ZBA. Chagnon detailed some issues with curb cuts, facilities on the grounds and plantings. Saying, “trees are my thing,” Margie Baldwin credited Chagnon for his report and added her own criticisms.
Phil Cordeiro of Allen & Major Associates addressed the peer-review comments and those from the board. Palmieri indicated satisfaction with Steen’s team’s response to his concerns and questions.
Where it concerns architecture and building, Callow noted that Marion is a “stretch-code town” with a building commissioner (Bob Grillo) who in her opinion would mitigate the need to spend on architectural review. But ZBA members Dr. Ed Hoffer and Will Tifft suggested such a review would at the very least offer education to the board. With some disagreement, the ZBA voted to include an architectural review of the project.
Asked for his summary on procedure, Marion Town Counsel Jon Witten told the ZBA that it can keep the public hearing open 180 days from its opening and once the hearing is closed, has 40 days to render a decision.
Witten advised the board to hold off on discussing waivers until all substantive information has been vetted. He said the ZBA needs a final waiver list and must avoid “a moving target.” Steen said an updated waiver list was recently submitted but may need further modifications based on the most-recent peer review.
ZBA member Tucker Burr asked Callow if the board should be interested in snow removal. Witten said conditions could be made ahead of approval or subsequent to a decision based on when things have to take place. The applicant can appeal conditions to the state, but he cautioned that those appeals take time.
The board voted to continue the Heron Cove case to Thursday, August 25, at 6:35 pm. It is anticipated that Heron Cove will again be continued to September 22 in order to ensure appropriate time for architectural review and for board members to be present to qualify to vote.
The next meeting of the Marion ZBA is scheduled for Thursday, August 25, at 6:30 pm.
Marion Zoning Board of Appeals
By Mick Colageo