Today’s Gazette reports:
Developer to submit revised North Street plans
Despite withdrawing an application to the Conservation Commission for a townhouse development in the North Street neighborhood, developer Douglas Kohl has not abandoned the controversial project and plans on submitting revised plans in May…
The new plan the Planning Board preferred calls for 23 units and the elimination of the loop road so that the two roads would be extended and dead-end…
Nine units would have garages, a decline from the original plan. Owners of those homes without garages would use a group parking lot and walk to their units…
Alan Seewald, an attorney representing the neighbors, said…”This is way too dense. This is an ill-conceived plan.”
…The Planning Board was split on the density issue…
Here is the older proposal “L2a” showing the loop road (pictures taken by NSNA at the March 26 Planning Board hearing):
Here is the new proposal “D” showing two cul-de-sacs:
Another rendition of proposal “D”:
Here is the part of proposal “D” that would sit at the end of Northern Avenue:
We will provide a video of the March 26 Planning Board hearing and a more extensive critique of Kohl’s latest proposal within a few days.
See also:
Planning Board Gives Initial Critique of Kohl Condo Proposal: Jan 22 Video
1:09:30… Doug Kohl of Kohl Construction: “I could see that
making little single-family houses is more in keeping with the
footprint of this neighborhood.”
1:37:00… Planning Board chair Francis Johnson: “I think there’s a concern about the number of units…”
1:37:07… Planning Board member George Kohout:
“…perhaps this development is a little too dense for a number of
reasons. Just that it does create a different kind of burden on a
neighborhood–not quite in character…and that’s one of our big
criteria in this kind of review. It would also relax part of the stress
on wetlands by moving, let’s just say, for example, those four units,
22, 23, 24 and 25, out of there. That might allow for some different
configuration of the stormwater structures and provide more room for
some of that shared access. But I’m also struck by the offer that the
developer made about looking at single-family homes… workforce
housing…because single-unit structures would fit in much more with
this area.”
1:47:48… Doug Kohl: “You will get as part
of that [forthcoming additional test pit data], questions addressed
like, ‘Is any portion of the building that we’re placing here built in
any kind of a previously filled wetlands?’ We should be able to answer
that question for you quite clearly.”