Date: Fri 03-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Wedgewood-suit-settlement

Full Text:

P&Z Seeks To Settle Wedgewood Development Suit

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have instructed the town attorney

to seek a settlement of a lawsuit against the town filed by M&E Land Group,

the potential developers of the controversial Wedgewood residential

subdivision proposed for Taunton Hill Road.

P&Z members voted 5 to 0 to pursue a settlement at a September 24 session.

The Wedgewood site lies east of Taunton Hill Road and west of Cannon Drive.

Cannon Drive is a dead end street which extends westward toward Taunton Hill

Road from Birch Hill Road.

Last June, P&Z members turned down the developers' request for 13 building

lots on 25 acres, citing the application's failure to meet land use

regulations concerning water storage facilities for fire fighting and also

concerning rear lots on land with one-acre residential zoning.

P&Z members had rejected an initial Wedgewood proposal last December, saying

that that development plan would create drainage problems in the area.

The lawsuit which M&E filed against the town concerns the P&Z's rejection of

the initial Wedgewood proposal last December.

In their "first cut" of the Wedgewood parcel, the P&Z approved creating one

building lot to contain an existing house on the property. M&E then sought to

create 14 new lots. But the P&Z rejected the 14-lot proposal. M&E then sought

to create 13 lots, but the P&Z turned that down also.

Now, the town and M&E are seeking to settle M&E's lawsuit over the initial

14-lot proposal by allowing the partnership to develop 12 new lots.

The most recent version of the development plan, known as Wedgewood II,

addresses and apparently meets all requests made by the P&Z in recent talks,

said P&Z Acting Chairman Thomas Paisley.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the developers would reconfigure

and relocate a stormwater detention basin. The Conservation Commission has

endorsed the new drainage plans, Mr Paisley said.

More open space land would be created on the site. The land proposed as Lot 7

in a previous version of Wedgewood would be reallocated to Lot 6 and/or Lot 8.

Both of the initially proposed rear lots in a one-acre residential zone would

be eliminated. Water storage for firefighting wouldn't be provided.

Whether the pending lawsuit is resolved depends on whether town attorney David

Grogins and attorney Robert Hall, representing M&E, come to an agreement on

resolving the development conflict.

Taunton Hill Road area residents have strenuously protested against developing

the Wedgewood site since the matter was aired at an August 1996 P&Z public

hearing.

The residents have voiced concerns over: new development possibly depleting

their existing well water supplies; potential drainage problems; additional

traffic on the already hazardous Taunton Hill Road; and an increased

construction density in the area.

Throughout the development application process, M&E has maintained that

Wedgewood would have no adverse effect on area water wells and that the

proposal meets applicable regulations.

In M&E's pending lawsuit over P&Z's rejection of the first Wedgewood proposal,

M&E claims P&Z acted illegally, arbitrarily and in abuse of its discretion. In

reaching its decision, the P&Z misapplied a law concerning drainage traveling

off the development site to an adjacent property owner's land, according to

the lawsuit.