Piper Lane Project Proposal Agenda Item, Monday, November 5, 2018
A large audience (we estimate at least 200 citizens) gathered at Town Hall to hear about the Piper Lane proposal from developer Stephen Paquette. Citizens are invited to visit Acton TV which recorded the meeting in full at: http://actontv.org/…/acton-ma.-board-of-selectmen-meeting-1…. Mr. Paquette was invited by Ms. Green to present his proposal for a 40-unit townhouse project at Piper Lane. While present, Mr. Paquette did not speak; rather his representatives, including engineer Bruce Ringwall and attorney Lou Levine, spoke on his behalf. Drawings showing the location of the project relative to the Great Hills Conservation area, School Street and Piper Road, and the general configuration of the townhouses were shown. The selectmen posed questions following the briefing, not limited to but including their concerns about the topography of the site, consequent elevation of townhouse profiles, safety for ingress and egress at the School Street/Piper Lane intersection especially for emergency vehicles, design, scale, and apparent disregard for historic context. In particular selectmen noted omissions and mistakes in the application that suggested an incomplete application. They queried the developer’s attorney Mr. Levine regarding these omissions who assured the BOS that they would be addressed subsequently. He went on to suggest the application was still “preliminary” and that, notably, some questions were not answerable by the developer’s representatives, i.e. himself or Mr. Ringwall. Chair Katie Green then invited the South Acton Neighborhood Association, SANA, to make its presentation. Against a visual backdrop of a split image slide of the development showing the Piper Lane townhouses in a 3D rendering, revealing their unusual height on the landscape from many points nearby, SANA began its challenge of the project proposal. David Honn served as moderator for SANA. The following topics were addressed by these individual speakers. Conservation - Alissa and Sylvia Nicol Historic District - Michaela Moran Environment and Affordable Housing - Jeff Chormann 2020 Comprehensive Community Plan - Christy White Sight Line Safety/Traffic - Peter Lukasic Health and Welfare -Gene Beresin Their remarks can be viewed in full on the BOS Acton TV site earlier referenced above in this Summary. Following SANA’s remarks, Dan Hill of Hill Law, a land use attorney representing SANA, spoke to the board. Mr. Hill’s remarks can also be viewed fully on the BOS Acton TV site above as well. Mr. Hill made three points central to SANA’s challenge of this project: 1. An application for the 90 School Street parcel before the Acton ZBA this year had met with a permit denial; thus it requires a “cooling off” period of a year before returning to the ZBA, a fact not acknowledged or respected by the developer who included this same 90 School Street parcel in the Piper Lane application; 2. This project with its 40 townhouses would create “a recipe for disaster” at its School Street intersection with dangerous sight line and safety inadequacies; 3. Acton will reach “Safe Harbor” when the pending 40B project, Avalon II is approved, thus allowing the town to reject inappropriate 40B proposals for 2 years. Mr. Hill concluded by observing the developer’s Preliminary Eligibility Letter (PEL) to MA Housing was replete with misrepresentations of a serious nature, i.e. lack of disclosures, inaccuracies and etc. He urged the BOS to delve further into these discrepancies that, on their face, should disqualify it from any consideration at MA Housing Authority at this time. Ms. Green then invited other members of the audience to come to the microphone. Seven more individuals spoke. These citizens expressed deep and compelling objections to the proposal due to its failure to protect open space at Great Hill. Many also referenced the dangerous safety situation which would be created at School Street and Piper Lane because of the poorly designed, singular entry/exit to the development onto an already excessively congested public road. No citizen who spoke was in favor of the project. The BOS said it would be compiling a report to MA Housing, stating it could not endorse this project finding it ‘wrong in every way.’ SANA will continue its fight to defeat this proposal working with the town and at the state level.
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