First, apologies for the low volume of activity recently. It seems
that business for internet retail picks up around the holidays, who
knew?
My neighbour John and I walked the “South Peak” property with map in
hand on Sunday. We got a feel for the topography and I think we
learned quite a bit. It was useful having John there as he is a
contractor and has some experience with this sort of stuff.
There are two issues of drainage which are immediately apparent once
one actually sees the site.
The wetlands area leading in to Cottontail Lane is way closer to the
end of Cottontail Lane than one might think from the mapping. This
means that the proposed road and drainage system in that area is going
to be very very tight. So tight that it is difficult to imagine a town
spec road (50 feet including ditches) fitting in the space between the
end of the designated wetland and the edge of the property.
The area at the bottom of the hill, close to Route 212, looks to be
the most problematic part of the whole project. The designated
wetlands area is substantially smaller that the apparent area of
wetness. At the moment the drainage there flows into a retaining pond
built on the adjacent (apparently abandoned) property and thence into
a culvert and into the Osnass Lane area.
Given the current plans for the overall drainange system, which
involve a complicated and counter-intuitive route flowing from one
catchment pond to another and finally down the hill, it seems that
this is where we must demmand better answers. (It also means that if
we/they *do* eventually get it right, the developers’ claims that the
whole project may actually *improve* out drainage situation may
actualy come true.)
I also think that it means we have even better arguments when it comes
to reducing the number of lots/houses.
To do list:
* Investigate the costs of having an independent engineer look at the
maps as currently rendered. Also, what is the extra cost of having
that engineer walk the property.
* Run the whole situation by an environmental lawyer. Costs?
Thoughts and suggestions always appreciated.
Mark
(originally published on the Yahoo Groups site December 7, 2004)