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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin of planning brd 08/31/04 Planning Board Minutes ( August 31, 2004 Present: Tom French, Chair; Fred Armstrong, Clerk; Doug Annino, Ken Torman, Walter Jenkins, John DeMassi, Frank Holmes Shaun P. Burke, Director ofP . and Develo ment Mr. French explained the board would take some questions on the aesthetic issues covered at the first meeting, discuss the parking relief and finally infrastructure. Public Comment - Aesthetics Cheryl Grimes, School Street, asked how many loading docks there would be. Mr. Masiello explained they are still developing their leasing, so he does not know how many stores there will be. He said each store would have its own loading dock; most will be at the rear, with some on the side. Ms. Grimes said the original plan shows only one dock. Mr. Hollworth explained for the size of the development, zoning requires nine loading docks, and 10 have been shown throughout the development. Ms. Grimes asked how many trucks would be coming down School Street; Mr. Hollworth said the majority of traffic would be directed into and out of School Street via Route 140; he said he did not know at this time how many trucks there would be. He said there is no access to the site from Route 140. Ms. Grimes asked if there had been an Environmental Impact Report ,,- done on the impervious surface to be installed; Mr. French said that would be discussed during the Infrastructure portion of the evening. Mr. Annino asked how many dock doors would be at each area; Mr. Hollworth said it would depend on each tenant. He said there are three loading dock doors and a compactor pad shown behind the proposed Kohl's pad. Mr. DeMassi asked how many loading docks the other large pad would need. Mr. Masiello said the small stores facing the pond could share one loading facility, and the large pad would need its own. Tom Wojick, 42 Cobbler Road, asked if the loading dock for the largest pad is close to Cobbler Road and asked if it could be oriented toward the interior of the development, nearest the highway, rather than on the Cobbler Road side. Variance Requests Mr. Hollworth said the local zoning requirements exceed the industry standards for a facility of this type, which is 450,000 square feet including the hotel. He said typically, the parking requirements decline as the facility size increases because of "shared trips," the idea that patrons are visiting multiple stores in one trip. ,,- Mr. Hollworth explained how they arrived at their parking numbers. He said the total number of spaces required under the Zoning By-Law is 2,600, which includes 100 dedicated hotel and employee spaces, which translates into 6.17 parking spaces per 1,000 square foot of retail. Mr. Hollworth explained they are proposing 4.6 spaces per 1000 square feet. He further explained the International Council of Shopping Centers numbers ( use 4.125 spaces per 1,000 square feet, and the Institute of Transportation Engineers use 3.97 spaces per 1,000 square feet. Mr. DeMassi asked where the Urban Land Institute models are; Mr. Hollworth said the study was done in 1998 and the malls are around the country, with 39 in New England. Mr. Hollworth said the ZBA had asked about the actual parking demand for centers in New England. He said they took aerial photographs and did parking counts of several shopping centers in the region on July 31, 2004 and August 14, 2004, the tax holiday. Mr. Hollworth presented aerial photographs of several shopping centers in Bellingham, including the Stallbrook Center, which showed many empty parking spaces. Mr. DeMassi asked how much parking is required in Bellingham; Mr. Masiello explained he had prepared tables comparing each town's parking requirements, which will be presented this evening. Mr. Hollworth also presented a photograph ofthe Erin's Centre site in Mansfield, showing many empty parking spaces and a graph of the July 31, 2004 and August 14, 2004 parking numbers for each shopping center described above. Board Comment Mr. Holmes asked what time the photos were taken; Mr. Masiello said both the July 31 and August 14 were Saturdays and the photographs were taken between 12 pm and 2 pm. Mr. Hohnes asked if the studies were done by type of shopping center; Mr. Hollworth said they were done on shopping centers of comparable size to this one. ~ Mr. Armstrong asked the date of the Institute of Transportation Engineers study; Mr. Hollworth said it was around 1984 and is currently being updated. Mr. Annino asked what the recommended distance is from the last parking space to the front door; Mr. Hollworth said that would depend on the zoning requirements of the town and the type of store. Mr. Annino asked if there were studies on that; Mr. Hollworth said he wasn't aware of any. Mr. Annino said it appears to be a very long walk from some of the parking spaces to the stores. Mr. Masiello said the parking plan for Mansfield is thoughtful, and except for a few small places, all the facilities have their parking oriented close to the building. Mr. Annino asked if people would use spaces that far away from the stores and whether it would be safe to get from those parking areas to the stores. Mr. Annino asked about the fallback position if all the variances are granted and it later turns out there is a parking problem. Mr. Masiello said they intend to reserve land that would have been used for parking as open space; he said he isn't proposing a drastic reduction in parking. Mr. Annino said he would be interested in the peak parking numbers for places close to Mansfield, such as Emerald Square and Wrentham Village. Mr. Masiello said there are big differences between the parking needs of an enclosed mall and an open-air shopping center, so they used open air centers for comparison to this project. Mr. Annino asked about the Wrentham parking ratio; Mr. Masiello said he did not know what that is. ,,- r-- Mr. DeMassi said there had been discussion about shoppers parking and walking around to the different stores, but said because of the distance between the stores, it did not appear to him that would happen. Mr. Masiello said people may move around the site, especially between the most remote stores, but noted there would only be one parking space used for that shopper during that trip. Mr. DeMassi asked about the types of centers used for comparison; Mr. Masiello said they tried to compare different types of tenants and sizes of developments. He said the Stallbrook Center is not representative of the type of development he plans for Mansfield, but said even that center, used as a worst-case scenario, is parked significantly below the peak. Mr. DeMassi said he doubted the tax holiday traffic would be like the peak Christmas holiday times. Mr. Masiello said they decided before this what centers they would fly over and counted all the cars, added a safety factor, and arrived at the results of that study. He said they have not manipulated any of the data and said the retailers experienced a significant increase in expected sales on the tax holiday. ,"- Mr. Jenkins said studying the tax holiday and identifying the volume of people using the shopping centers is admirable, but said he doesn't believe there is a correlation between sales data and the number of people going to the shopping center. He said the tax holiday is an incentive for people to buy big-ticket items, rather than an encouragement for people to shop from store to store. Mr. Jenkins asked about the hotel parking; Mr. Masiello said the hotel is parked at one space per room, and the variance application asks to include employee parking in the underlying numbers. Mr. Jenkins said he is concerned about snow in the parking lot, especially during the holiday peak times. He said he was also concerned about having a place within the center for additional, seasonal parking if it becomes necessary. He said he was concerned about people parking on the side of School Street if there isn't enough parking inside the site during those times. Mr. Masiello said he would look at alternative parking areas. Mr. Jenkins suggested looking at off-site employee parking, such as the Tweeter Center, during high traffic times. Mr. Masiello said there are places on the property where additional parking could be developed in the future, but those locations are in areas where the Zoning By-Law would discourage paving due to environmental sensitivities. He said he isn't proposing to pave those areas at this time. Mr. Masiello presented a copy of the article regarding the tax holiday, which indicates it was a heavily attended shopping day as well as a big-ticket purchasing day. Mr. Jenkins said the board would have a better indication of the parking needs if it knew what the largest store pad was going to be. Dr. Torman said he thought a Saturday afternoon in the summertime might not have been the busiest time to do traffic counts and suggested an evening may have been better. He suggested there are several open-air shopping centers near the Emerald Square Mall that could have been used for parking comparisons. Mr. Masiello said he would be willing to do this type of study on other centers the board would like to see. Mr. Jenkins said the data that would be most useful would be the parking for the day after Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas. Dr. Torman said it would be hard to guess the kind of draw the center would have without knowing the tenants; Mr. Masiello said they looked at the ratio of the spaces to the size of the buildings. Dr. Torman said the centers Mr. Masiello showed seemed to have many fewer stores than proposed here. Mr. Masiello said he ,,- used a variety of center sizes, including some smaller with fewer vendors and some larger ( with more vendors. He said the parking requirements for each is different. Mr. Armstrong said the site plan looks like two shopping centers connected by one access road and asked if the two had been calculated separately. He said it appears the larger, top portion may be alright, but the parking on the smaller, lower portion may be a problem. Mr. Masiello said he had looked at those two areas and provided parking to accommodate them both. He said he could do a table to calculate the parking available for each of those two areas. Mr. Burke said the only actual number the board heard was 2,600, the required number of spaces, and asked that it get the following: the number of spaces required for the number of square feet for each use; the employee parking for each use; what they are proposing for each use; the distribution of spaces on each side of the site. He also noted Mr. Masiello said there is potential for additional parking in environmentally sensitive areas and asked for those areas to be identified. Mr. DeMassi asked that the parking spaces proposed for each store be described, perhaps by color-coding them on a plan. Mr. Hollworth said there is a table in the plan showing what is required by zoning. ,,- Mr. French said the parking ratio comparison shows the town requires 6.17 spaces per 1000 square feet; Mr. Hollworth said that is the retail, restaurant and employee parking, approximately 2,500 spaces, and does not include the hotel spaces. Mr. French asked if the Urban Land Institute and Institute of Transportation Engineering includes restaurants; Mr. Hollworth said the Urban Land Institute is a combination of mixed-use centers, some with and some without restaurants. He said lTE should, in theory, be more indicative of pure retail centers, but said he believes a restaurant component is included. However, he noted that is a 1984 study that may be somewhat outdated. Mr. French asked if those two studies use gross square footage; Mr. Hollworth said he believes they do. He said he would check whether the studies use gross square footage or gross leasable area. Mr. French said he doesn't think the board wants any more pavement than necessary, but suggested a shared parking area, holding some in reserve and landscaping the rest. Mr. Masiello said he would have to look at whether there is enough landscaped area to be able to commit to doing that. He said most of the opportunities for overflow parking are at the periphery of the center, not the interior and he said he may need additional reliefto create overflow parking areas because he would lose existing landscaping. ,,- Public Comment John Southern, 15 Old Elm Street, said the plan shows a lot of landscaping and asked if there will be usable pedestrian space. Mr. French said many of the green areas on the plan are wetlands, which will not be used. Mr. Masiello explained the pond is existing and will be maintained; they are proposing a series of eight-foot wide walkways with plaza areas circumnavigating the pond, along with several benches and planting areas. That will connect to a network of sidewalks to connect to the stores. He said they are still working on making that area tailored to Mansfield's character. Mr. Southern said the northwest corner is heavily forested and asked if that would be available; Mr. Masiello said that area, closest to the intersection of Routes 495 and 140, is owned by the ,,- Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and everything below that is either regulated wetlands or will be used as stormwater detention systems or wetland replication areas. Jack Walsh, one of the owners, said since the Emerald Square Mall was built, many new shopping centers have been built, taking customers away from the mall. He said the employees no longer have to be bused to work because of the other draws. He added that much of the parking in the shopping center in South Attleboro is for the train station. Jim Polumba, 155 School Street, said he was concerned about adequate parking being provided and the potential for queuing on School Street. He said concerts at Tweeter often cause backups onto Route 495 and he doesn't want that to happen at this site. Mr. Masiello said he would provide the board with some additional parking information for discussion at the next meeting. He said he would request a continuance from the ZBA until after that meeting. Infrastructure Discussion Mr. Hollworth explained the discussion would be primarily about stormwater management, sanitary sewer, water supply and distribution, electrical distribution and private utilities, as well as Mass Electric lines which run through the site. ,,-- Stormwater Management System Mr. Hollworth explained they plan to reduce the peak rates of runoff, balance overall hydrologic regime, maintain water quality and soil erosion and sedimentation control. The runotIwill be controlled on premises. The site contains several environmentally sensitive areas, like wetland systems, so the hydrologic regime has to be balanced. Water quality is a new objective of the DEP, to take stormwater runotIfrom parking areas, settle solids and keep them out of the system, which has been accomplished here through a parking lot sweeping program, catch basins, water quality swales and basins and advanced water quality units. Mr. Hollworth explained the pre-development watershed, highlighting the various areas which affect the site by flowing or discharging to the site. There is a portion between School Street and the railroad right-of-way which drains through culverts under School Street, through this site and out to Route 495. In some instances, a portion of site (shown at the top of the plan) has a discharge point where a portion of the water flows to the Route 140 corridor. That has an undersized culvert, which is bypassed during large storms. All the water from this site is conveyed to the Route 495 system and eventually to the Rumford River. There are onsite wetland resource areas shown on the plan, including the existing pond and a ditch bringing water from the northern part of the site, through the site and to Route 495. ~ Mr. Hollworth presented an overlay with the wetland resource areas and proposed conditions, including the post-development drainage system. Roofrunoffwill collect and be recharged according to DEP standards. The site has low-permeability soils, classified as "C" material. There will be a system of swales and detention basins. and the outlet to r- the pond will be changed so it will hold additional runoff. Mr. Hollworth explained the system of conveyances to the various drainage pipes and how they discharge. Groundwater infiltration tests have been done and they are refining their stormwater design as a result of those tests. Mr. Hollworth said the quantity of recharge is minimal from this site. Sanitary Sewer System Mr. Hollworth said the intention is to provide an efficient means of disposal and explained that most of the proposed uses are "dry retail uses" under DEP guidelines, with the restaurant and hotel uses higher. The total sewer generation for the development will be 40,000 gallons. This site is not presently served by sewer, but the town designed a 24" sewer extension to service this property and alleviate existing an pump station servicing the industrial park. The applicant will be extending the sewer main under Route 140, along School Street and to the entrance of the site. There is a stub under the existing stream when the SchooVSpring Street reconstruction was done several years ago. The interior of the site will be serviced by gravity latera1s~ and a small pumping station is being considered. Mr. Hollworth said the highest point of the site is at School Street and the lowest is at Route 140, so the hotel will be at the lowest point and will need a pump. The hotel will require DEP permits for its grease trap and sewer extension. r- Mr. Jenkins noted the pump station is not on the plans; Mr. Hollworth said that is proposed to be underground. He said the controls will be put inside, the system will be privately owned and maintained and will comply with DEP requirements. Water Supply and Distribution Mr. Hollworth said the two issues are water demand to the site and distribution within the site. There is a 12" pipe in School Street with good pressure and will be adequate from fU'e fighting and usage points of view. The town's policy requires replacement of water drawn from its wells; the applicant proposes to fimd a leak detection study and repair, which will improve existing pipes. Mr. Hollworth said the town has done some fundamental leak: detection studies and knows there are areas in need of additional study. Mr. DeMassi asked if there is any intention to use a well on site; Mr. Hollworth said there is not, but the pond may be used for irrigation. Mr. Hollworth said there will be a system of new pipes for domestic feeds and fire prevention; most buildings will have a secondary source of water in case of a break. Hydrant locations have been adjusted following comments from Fire and Engineering. Electrical Distribution System Mr. Hollworth said they have been working with the Light Department, which would like the project to be further along before planning system locations. He noted the Mass Electric overhead lines, which go through this site, will be relocated around the outside of the site to eliminate problems within the site. ,,- r- Mr. Hollworth noted there will be gas service from the other side of School Street. Department Head Comment The clerk read memos from Mr. Gaffney, Ms. Langille and Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Hollworth said he met with staff on July 15, 2004, at which point he understood he was to wait until after the first Planning Board meeting before supplying the testing information to the Engineering Department. He said the stormwater system will have to be redesigned and resubmitted, but that he has addressed the majority of Mr. Sullivan's comments. Mr. French asked about the project's status with the Conservation Commission; Mr. Hollworth said they have filed a Notice ofIntent, had one meeting and will return to the commission on September 27. Board Comment Mr. Jenkins asked about the leak detection program. Mr. Hollworth said they plan to fix leaks in the system on a 2-1 basis. He said there is inevitably a certain amount of leakage given the length and age of the piping. Mr. Jenkins asked what would happen ifno leaks are found; Mr. Hollworth said they have explored a number of other alternatives. r- Mr. Jenkins asked about the detention pond at the School Street entrance. Mr. Hollworth explained that is a wetland mitigation area and will be used to provide water quality enhancement for existing School Street runoff. He said they have not accounted for any peak attenuation in that area. Mr. French noted Mr. Sullivan's memo mentioned plans dated May; Mr. Hollworth said the revisions have not been formally submitted, but those plans include minor changes. Mr. DeMassi asked that the next meeting include an aerial view of the site; Mr. Hollworth said a view like that is included in the special permit application, and he would add it to the presentation. Mr. DeMassi asked if Mr. Masiello's company has developments in other communities near residential areas and whether there have been water complaints. Mr. Masiello said the Millbury project had proposed to bring new water infrastructure to a nearby residential area, and during the construction some of those residential wells and septic systems failed, which they replaced. He said he has no knowledge of complaints from abutters about runoffbeing directed to their properties. ,,- Mr. DeMassi said the water seems to be moving toward Route 495 and asked which way the water flows at that point. Mr. Hollworth said a portion of the runoff during small events enters a culvert that discharges to the other side of Route 140 to a wetland system, then flows to the Rumford River. The other areas of the site overtop their capacity during larger events, discharge to twin 36" culverts; to Route 140 and then to the Rumford River. Mr. French asked if the pre-development watershed map shows the culverts; Mr. Hollworth explained they are generally in the area ofthe diamonds shown on that plan. ( Mr. DeMassi asked about using water from the pond and asked if the plans show how that will be done. Mr. Hollworth explained the May 21 plans show an intake in the area at the end of the pond, but they have not yet designed the pumping system. He said the big concern would be to get the landscaping through the first three growing seasons, after which the drought resistant plants should be self-sufficient. Mr. Annino asked if the landscape irrigation would be done using the pond. Mr. Hollworth said there would also be a back-up system in case of drought, but said that would be rare. He said the pond is 12 feet deep in its center, so there are millions of gallons of water available. Mr. Masiello said they planned to landscape around the buildings and the islands. Mr. Hollworth said because of glacial till materials, there / would be low levels of water withdrawal from the pond. Mr. Annino asked about roof drains for the small stores and hotels; Mr. Hollworth said they would flow overland into adjacent drainage systems because it will be clean roof runoff. He said the large building roof runoff will be captured and recharged and the small buildings will have insignificant runoff. Mr. Annino said he didn't want to see grease traps at the front of the restaurants. Mr. Annino said once the pump station is decided, the emergency generators should be located on the plans and screened. ,,- Mr. Annino asked about the sewer; Mr. Hollworth said there is a 24" main which has the capacity to serve this site and other sites, including the industrial park. The main would go under School Street, under Route 495 and connect to the industrial park. The applicant will provide laterals up School Street. Mr. Annino asked how the electric will get from School Street into the site. Mr. Hollworth said it would come off the existing overhead lines, which may be relocated. The exact location is unknown at this time. Mr. Annino asked if it would need a transformer and how that would look; Mr. Hollworth said he didn't anticipate a transformer at the entrance, but there would be a primary feed at the entrance with transformers to the individual buildings. He said there would be a system of four 2" conduits underground. Mr. Annino asked about water pressure on School Street and how this would effect residences. Mr. Hollworth said the pressure is currently 66 psi, and the town will engage a consultant to put this project into its model. Mr. Annino asked about the need for fire pumps. Mr. Hollworth said that might depend on the tenant and what their storage situation is; some retail tenants require booster pumps for fire suppression. ,,- Mr. Armstrong asked about how the pond is fed and drained pre and post-development. Mr. Holworth said there is surface runoff now and the pond is groundwater fed; the discharge is a granite cobble spillway, 4-6 feet wide, with a platform across it. He said they don't plan to alter that discharge point but to level the area around it. He added the r- pond is very clear, which he attributes to the fact that it is groundwater fed and very deep. Mr. Holmes said there will be a lot of additional impervious surface and asked about the post-development peak rates. Mr. Hollworth said the infiltration is more an attempt to maintain base flow to the wetlands, which represents an insignificant piece of attenuation. The majority will be through catch basins or the pond. Mr. Holmes asked if the spillway would restrict the flow; Mr. Hollworth said they would extend it and add controls to on- site culvert systems. Mr. Holmes asked about the location of testing; Mr. Hollworth said the Engineering Department has witnessed test pits in the detention basin areas to estimate seasonal high ground water. He said 12 borings and 12 test pits have been done, and he will make the results of that testing available. Mr. Holmes asked where groundwater was generally found; Mr. Hollworth said they are tying to establish situations where the water will be close to the landscaping and usable as part of the wetland mitigation. Existing groundwater elevations have been variable and it appears glacial tills appear immediately under existing soils is perched as little as 3 feet below grade; static groundwater level closer to 7-10 feet. Mr. Holmes asked if the infiltration basins wiU be 2 feet above groundwater; Mr. Hollworth said those areas hadn't been witnessed prior to the plans being drawn, so they would have to be redesigned to get minimum 2 feet separation between the bottom and groundwater. r- Mr. Holmes said it appears there will be significant changes to the drainage; Mr. Hollworth said there would be. He said they did an analysis of how the system would react with no recharge, which has been submitted to Engineering. Mr. DeMassi asked about drainage going into the pond and where the overflow would go. Mr. Hollworth said there is more than enough room to handle the water with the modifications proposed to the berm. He said the difference in the pond pre.. and post- development would be 8-10 inches, and the pond's discharge would be into Wetland Area 1 at the southerly comer, which then enters a forested wetland system contained by berms constructed when the 140/495 improvements were done. There is a twin 24" culvert at the entrance to help control the runoffbefore it leaves the site. Mr. Burke asked about the stormwater leaving the site and where it goes. Mr. Hollworth explained all the areas in fuschia on the plan are contributory to the Route 140 system, go under 140 through a series of culverts and pipes and discharges to a wetland system on the easterly side of Route 140. He said that culvert does not have the capacity to handle the loo-year storm, so for the 2-year storm, there is a drainage ditch connected to a culvert; the ditch continues at a pitch, water ponds in the area, overtops the crest and flows into another drainage ditch to combine with water contributory to that area. There is a ditch bisecting the site, which was realigned at some point and was intended as a runoff for the street. There are twin 24" culverts under the access drive parallel to Route r- 495, and water will overtop that, go into a swale along Route 495 then to the Rumford ",- River. Mr. Burke asked about the area nearest Cobbler Road and what effect this would have on the residences at the end of that cul-de-sac. Mr. Hollworth said there will not be a substantial change in the overall watershed area. The area will have runoff to undeveloped portions of the site, resulting in conditions similar to existing conditions. The majority of the parking lot runoffwill be directed away from Cobbler Road, and there will be a reduction in the peak runoff going to that area. Mr. Hollworth said in the largest storm, the runoff should get better for Cobbler Road residents. At the southerly end of the triangle, the storm water goes under Route 495 and comes out on the other side into a large, low-lying drainage system and eventually to the Rumford River. Mr. Burke asked about that property's owner. Mr. Hollworth said that is undeveloped area but he would research the owner. Mr. Burke said there are large lots on the Cobbler Road cul- de-sac and ask~ if this point of discharge would effect those homes. Mr. Hollworth said he had tried to verifY that there will be unimpeded flow to a large open area. Mr. Burke asked about the third point of discharge along Route 495; Mr. Hollworth said that ultimately comes out at the same point as the second discharge. He said that discharge does not head to residential properties, and the peak rate of runoff would be reduced. Mr. Burke asked ifall discharge will have been treated; Mr. Hollworth said it would be, as will the roof runoff. ",- Mr. Burke asked what additional storm water to the pond in the winter would do to the pond. Mr. Hollworth said he didn't believe there would be significant change to the water temperature, but there would likely be thinner ice at the discharge points. Mr. Burke said he wouldn't want to change the water temperature to the point where fish or plant life in the pond are impacted. He said the pond might be an attractive place for children to play and suggested it might be possible to use it as a recreational use, but wouldn't want to do that if stormwater discharge might create dangerous ice conditions. Mr. Masiello said he would be concerned about allowing public access to the pond, and said there would be fencing around the walkway to discourage access. He said they have fencing around the detention ponds at their other facilities. Mr. DeMassi said if there is going to be fencing, the board would need the details. Mr. Hollworth said they are working with the Conservation Commission to try to restore some native species to the edge of the pond, which may discourage access. Mr. Burke said if the pond is intended to be an amenity, there has to be a way to treat it while safeguarding public safety. He said this pond doesn't have the steep sides found in a drainage area and asked the applicant to be creative and keep it looking like a pond. Mr. Masiello agreed. Mr. Jenkins asked if there is an intent to enlarge culverts; Mr. Hollworth said there is not. Mr. Jenkins asked about the overhead wires going around the outside of the development and said that issue should be revisited. Mr. Masiello said they understood that from the last meeting and ate working with Mass Electric to resolve the issue. Mr. Jenkins said he ,,- didn't want to be able to see the overhead wires from Route 140. Mr. Masiello said he r- understood the board wants him to explore the underground option. Mr. French asked for an aerial photograph showing the proposed development and the drainage where it goes under Routes 140 and 495, and the routes it travels to the Rumford River. He also requested half size copies of the most current sets of plans. Mr. French asked about the water quality basin near School Street; he asked if it could be rotated so as not to lose trees. Mr. Hollworth said he would look at that. Mr. French asked about cutting and filling; Mr. Hollworth said the intent is to balance the site and the structural fill material that will be brought in. He said in light of the high groundwater and geotechnical information, they are looking carefully at that. He said he did not envision surcharging the site. Public Comment Jim Polumba, 155 School Street, asked the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant. Mr. Burke said Mansfield has been directed by DEP to prepare a comprehensive wastewater management plan, but there is no moratorium on new connections. He explained there is an ongoing program to remove groundwater from the facility because that adds quite a bit of capacity. Mr. Polumba asked if this project would put us over the top. Mr. Burke said he did not think it would. r- John Southern, 15 Old Elm Street, asked about what would be taken out of the School Street water main and what effect it will have on downstream users. Mr. Hollworth said this project would be put into the town's mode4 but said it would have an insignificant impact on pressure for other users, and the site will use a very low percentage of the School street capacity. Leonard Flynn, 102 Jewell Street, said the Great Woods conservation area is south and west of this area. He said the development should not be approved with overhead lines, access should be off Route 140 and suggested getting the support of the Board of Selectmen and local representatives for a Route 140 access. He said traffic on School Street is already heavy from West Mansfield and this will make it much worse. Mr. French said there has been a lot of discussion about the Route 140 access and he believes every effort will be made to make that happen Mr. Flynn said he did not believe the board has received enough information to make a special permit decision. Mr. French said the board has discussed that with the applicant, who said he would be working on creating a theme for the development. Mr. French said the applicant is also putting together information about projects he has done in other towns which use design review for specific tenants and uses, but said he was also concerned about the board receiving enough information to make a decision Kara Lynch, representing Mansfield Citizens to Save the Land, asked if an independent environmental consultant would be hired to review drainage. Mr. French said the board ,- has not discussed hiring outside consultants and is relying on Town Engineer John ~ Sullivan, who is as good or better than anyone they could hire. Tom Wojick, Cobbler Road, thanked the board for addressing his neighbor's concerns about drainage and thanked Mr. Hollworth for his explanation. He said there is a 48" pipe under Route 140 that ends at a swale, which is the beginning of the tributary that goes to the Rumford River. He said he is concerned about the flow rate being increased. Mr. Hollworth said that enters the site as twin 36" pipes but may increase to a 48" pipe. Mr. Wojick said either that pipe was oversized or there is an intention to increase flow. Mr. French said DEP prevents developments from increasing peak flow off site, which Mr. Sullivan will review and verifY. Mr. Wojick asked if there are any studies showing the existing flow; Mr. French said he didn't know of any. Mr. Hollworth said Mass Highway may have done some studies on that. Mr. French said there are a number of items the board requested for the next meeting. Mr. Masiello said he understood that, and said he is aware of a number of issues that remain to be addressed. He said he cou)d have the answers for the next meeting. J The board discussed continuing to September 22, 2004 at 7:00 p.rn., at which time the topics will be: Conclusion of Parking Relief, Infrastructure, and if time permits, Begin Traffic Discussion. The board also discussed meeting October 13 and 20 for traffic. ,,- Motion: To continue to September 22, 2004 at 7:00 in Room 2 aIb (Torman-DeMassi) All in favor. PASSES Motion: To adjourn at 10:45 p.rn. (Torman-DeMassi) All in favor. PASSES Next meeting: September 1, 2004 at 7:30 p.rn. ~MLc.A- fl/LJ1lft~;d Signature of Clerk { r--