he Conservation Commission met on April 28 to review an early conceptual design for a proposed subdivision on Wiley Hill Road, hearing a presentation from Project Engineer Joe Piccirilli of Granite Engineering. While the plan is still in its preliminary stages, Commissioners quickly identified several environmental and design challenges that will likely require significant revisions before the project moves forward.
“The project we are discussing tonight is a residential subdivision plan at Wiley Hill Road on an undeveloped property,” Piccirilli began. “It is a little over 20.8 acres in area, located entirely within the agricultural zoning district, and this property has a lot of frontage on Wiley Hill Road, approximately 1,300 feet. We did have the property delineated for wetlands; we have wetlands complexes throughout the property.”
The subdivision concept includes eight single family lots.
“Four of these lots would be accessed with drives right off Wiley Hill Road. Four of the lots would be accessed via a shared driveway,” Piccirilli explained. “These lots generally range from 1.1 to 2.5 acres, with the largest remaining lot being 8.7 acres. We do not have any wetland impact as part of the project. However, we do have wetland buffer impact totaling approximately 9,842 square feet.”
Commissioners immediately noted that the property’s wetland system, heavily wooded and spread across the site, made the design unusually complex.
“Are those permanent wetland impacts?” asked Commissioner Deb Lievens. “What about temporary wetland impacts?”
Piccirilli responded that all buffer impacts shown were permanent. That answer raised concerns, as several Commissioners felt the design made temporary impacts unavoidable.
“You have a couple of houses where the corner is touching the buffer,” said Chair Marge Badois. “There’s no way heavy equipment is going to be able to get around the foundation without going into the buffer. That’s not the only one, there’s another where the house is essentially touching the buffer. I’m guessing you can’t avoid temporary impacts on that.”
Badois added that while the town allows limited buffer crossings to reach upland areas, it discourages construction or paved surfaces within the buffer whenever possible.
“You’re allowed to cross the buffer to get to other uplands,” noted Vice-Chair Gene Harrington. “You’re not allowed to park in the buffer, but you’re allowed to cross it.”
Piccirilli agreed to revise the design to show snow-storage areas, a concern raised due to the long driveways and potential for runoff toward the wetlands.
Still, several Commissioners remained uneasy about how tightly the homes were positioned against the buffer line. Some described the layout as “squeezing it in,” with little room for homeowners to use their yards without encroaching into protected areas.
“I see two problems,” said Alternate Mike Speltz. “One is before you sell the houses, where people are going to say, ‘There’s not a backyard!’ The second problem is that after they sell it anyway, they’re going to start encroaching on the backyard. They’ll have the backyards start encroaching on the buffer areas.”
Commissioners also noted that the buffer line in several places ran “right up to the wetland,” leaving no margin for error during construction or future maintenance.
Because the project is still early in its design and application process, the Commission agreed that a second hearing would be necessary once revisions are made.
“We’ll have changes incorporated into the next iteration of the plans,” Piccirilli promised. “We’ll take your suggestions into account.”