Groton Open Space Association

IWA Okays Ice House Proposal With Vernal Pool Protection

GROTON–The Inland Wetlands Agency has approved, with restrictions around a vernal pool, a residential subdivision proposed for the Ice House site on Route 1.

The Agency specified that the eight-lot subdivision requires a minimum 150-foot buffer to the south and east of a vernal pool that is located at the northwest corner of the Ice House property. This compares with the 100-foot minimum offer by the developer during the course of the Wetlands consideration of the application. Consideration began with a site walk March 5, 2003.

The Agency required a margin of 150 feet or 50 feet from the edge of wetlands, whichever distance is greater from the pool.

The expanded buffer could make it difficult to build a house on 0.58-acre Lot 4, adjacent to the tract containing the vernal pool. It also means that “no disturbance” easements protecting the buffer area are required for Lots 2 and 3, which together total 1.24 acres. Under the agency’s June 11, 2003 decision, easements on Lots 2,3 and 4 must be designated by conservation markers placed on trees about every 50 feet along the easement lines.

The Mystic Conservancy, a group formed by abutter Karl Goldkamp to oppose aspects of the development, had urged the subdivision be limited to four lots, with buffers for the vernal pool of 400 feet to the southeast and 300 feet to the southwest. The north end of the tract (upland) containing the vernal pool backs onto town-owned open space. The 0.76 acre area with the pool is designated by the developer as the subdivision’s open space.