Date: Fri 29-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Autumn-Ridge

Full Text:

P&Z Will Have To Break Tie Vote On Autumn Ridge

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Autumn Ridge, a proposed 10-lot subdivision on 42 acres west of Buttefield

Road, drew an unusual 2-to-2 tie vote from Planning and Zoning Commission

(P&Z) members on November 21.

Although P&Z members considered the proposal to be denied at their November 21

meeting, a legal decision several days later determined that because the vote

was a tie vote, no commission action was taken.

P&Z members now have two options: a member or members can change their votes

to break the tie; or a fifth member can listen to audio tapes of a November 7

public hearing on Autumn Ridge to make himself eligible to vote and thus break

the tie.

If P&Z members don't act on subdivision proposals within specified time

periods, the proposals are approved automtically.

On November 21, P&Z member Heidi Winslow made a motion to approve Autumn Ridge

provided that the developers met several conditions. The proposed conditions

would have required the developers to: reposition a stormwater detention basin

on the site, build wider road shoulders on a proposed road, install an

underdrain along the road, redirect the discharge of a footing drain,

reconfigure a driveway to make it safer, and post a $165,000 road construction

bond.

In response to commission questions about the quality of the open space land

proposed for the subdivision by the developer, Ms Winslow said "We don't have

a lot of control over the quality of land offered as open space."

When the development project came to a vote, Ms Winslow and P&Z member Thomas

Paisley voted in favor.

However, recently-appointed P&Z members James Boylan and Daniel Fogliano voted

against the project, resulting in the tie vote.

Mr Boylan expressed concern over the presence of a natural gas transmission

pipeline on the property.

Mr Fogliano said the proposal was "not prudent," adding that the wetland area

proposed as the subdivision's open space isn't usable land.

"There's not really a lot I like about this plan," he said, saying it was "not

a good plan."

The development would require the construction of a 1,200-foot-long street

known as Autumn Ridge Road. Applicants for the project are David G. Kaufman,

and his daughters, Judith D. Kaufman and Marjorie S. Fieldman.

The Iroquois nautral gas transmission line, which passes through the

development site, poses some restrictions on construction and land uses. The

natural gas company had granted its permission for the development provided

that its high-pressure pipeline was protected from damage during construction.

Attorney Robert Hall represented the applicants at the November 7 P&Z public

hearing.

The developers didn't have a hydrogeologic study performed to determine water

availability in the area.

Larry Edwards did the engineering work. The development would have had more

than four acres of open space, according to Mr Edwards, a land engineer and

surveyor based in Easton. The site had been eyed for four-bedroom houses

ranging in size from 2,500 to 3,000 square feet.

In 1994, the Conservation Commission had granted the applicants a wetlands

construction license for the Autumn Ridge project.

At the November 7 hearing, P&Z member Heidi Winslow questioned whether a

wetlands license that is more than two years old is still valid.

Mr Hall then said he would do legal research on whether the wetlands license

remained in effect, resulting in the November 7 hearing being continued to

November 21.

Mr Paisley informed P&Z members November 21 that a wetlands license would

remain valid for a five-year period after a P&Z approval of the development

plan.