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◆ PAGE 8 LONDONDERRY T IMES ◆ APRIL 11, 2013
Waivers Granted for Hickory Woods Over-55 Housing
JAY HOBSON
LONDONDERRY TIMES
————––––––————–◆
Hickory Woods, a
proposed 98 unit,
age 55-plus restricted
condominium project in
the area of West and Nashua
roads (Route 102), has
received 18 waivers from
the planning board, all needed
for it to obtain a conditional
use permit and initial
approval by the board.
The waiver requests
were recommended by
staff to be granted as conditions
that had been met
by site plan amendments.
Roads are private, speed
limits are slow enough to
be amenable to waiver,
and two of the waivers
were from impact fees that
the Town Council has discontinued
until the current
court-ordered audit of the
town's impact fee practices
has been completed.
Jack Szemplinski of
Benchmark Engineering
requested that the property,
which is in two sections,
be allowed to join
as one, and that request
was granted as well.
Szemplinski outlined
to the board at its
Wednesday, April 3 meeting
what the finished project
would look like -
homes encircling a preexisting
cell tower, a serpentine
roadway that at
one point is 50 feet from
abutters' back yards, and
a smaller road that ends
in a cul-de-sac.
Attorney Morgan Hollis
of Gottesman and Hollis
said the project will be
completed in six phases,
traffic studies have been
completed and reviewed,
water will be provided
from Hudson and utilities
will be gas or propane.
Town Planner Cynthia
May said a couple of issues
regarding landscaping remain,
in particular landscaping
in the buffer zone
between the property and
abutting lots.
She said the landscaping
was inadequate to prevent
extraneous light from
vehicles on the roadway
within the property from
affecting abutters on
Priscilla Lane.
"The buffering that
they've done to adjacent
lots is inadequate and
neighbors, specifically, Mr.
(Scott) Christenson and his
next door neighbor, could
be impacted by lights on
cars traveling in each direction
on Quarry Road (proposed
on the site plan).
Our recommendation was
to put landscaping in that
location," May said.
Priscilla Lane abutters
James DiBurro and Scott
Christenson also voiced
concerns at the meeting
about vehicle headlights
shining on their homes
and about the proximity
of the road to their back
yards and their children
who play there.
Szemplinski and Hollis
said the issues would be
addressed.
May said the applicant
has gone before the Heritage
Commission, which
asked about the location of
stone walls and whether
the walls would be disturbed
and if so, how they
would be reconstructed.
May also said the
applicant plans to make
improvements to the Conservation
Overlay District
(COD) and went before
the Conservation Commission,
which requested
the applicant allow 4700
square feet of the property
as a drainage outlet.
She said the Conservation
Commission also recommended
approval of
the COD permit on condition
that the applicant
include a conservation
restriction on the plan and
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the condominium documents
designate approximately
7 acres in the
northern part of the property
as such. May said the
applicant has set apart
10.5 acres in that location
(see related story page 1).
Board member Laura
El-Azem asked if the roads
had been widened as the
fire department had requested
in order to accommodate
their trucks,
and May said they had.
Board member Lynn
Wiles expressed concern
that what are listed as private
roads now may in
time be requested to be
public roads, and asked
how many private to public
road changes had taken
place. Board Chairman Art
Rugg said it happened
once at town meeting in
the '70s but with the current
form of government
utilizing a Town Council, it
would be difficult for that
to happen again.
Szemplinski said the
development was intended
to be self contained and
that the roads were intended
to remain private.
Board member Mary
Wing Soares asked about
where the town stood on
how many over-55 communities
it had and if there
was a limit on the number
allowed. May said the town
was way below the limit.
"I guess I have a little
problem with it being called
'elderly' at 55 and not having
any sidewalks for the elderly
people that are going to
be walking around the subdivision,"
Soares said.
Board member John
Laferriere said the sidewalk
issue should be looked at
when putting in these kinds
of communities.
"I keep looking at the
entrance on Route 102
and I keep asking myself
why it's there," Laferriere
said, noting it didn't make
sense having an entrance
on West Road and an
entrance on Route 102. He
said the entrance should
be on West Road, with a
fire access on Route 102.
Laferriere also asked
about lighting.
Szemplinski responded
that there will be post
lighting in front of each
house next to the street,
and low level lighting at
the clubhouse. "There will
be no street lights," Szemplinski
said.
May said the post
lights at the end of each
driveway would throw
less of a circle of light
than streetlights, and
noted there is no requirement
to provide lighting.
Resident Martin Srugis
asked if hydrants would be
on the property, and was
told that they would be.
Newly appointed member
Al Sypek asked if the
pumping station that will be
used to provide water would
have emergency power;
Szemplinski said it would.
Soares made a motion
that was seconded by
Wiles to grant the waiver
requests, which passed
unanimously.
A motion to grant the
conditional use permit,
made by Soares and seconded
by Wiles, passed 8-
1, with Tom Freda the dissenting
vote.
The board also unanimously
approved a motion
to accept initial approval
of the plan.
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