Groton Open Space Association

KKC Holds Last Public Land-Use Info Meeting; Questions Remain

 

GROTON — With many questions remaining unanswered about its project, the Midwest firm hired by the town to help rewrite the town’s land-use rules has concluded its meetings with the public in Groton.

Following the Oct. 29, 2008, meeting — the second and last of its kind — GOSA e-mailed questions arising from the presentation to the Office of Planning and Development Services on Nov. 3. GOSA asked for a response, if any, by Nov. 6. The OPDS did not respond to the questions, or to a follow-up voice mail that was left when no reply was forthcoming.

Lane Kendig of Kendig Keast Collaborative, the land-use consulting firm, told a public audience of about 50 on Oct. 29 that KKC would have some further contact with Groton land-use commissions while formulating suggested regulation changes. He did not give specifics. He added that no further public information meetings are scheduled.

Last May, KKC kicked off the rewrite process with a series of meetings–one each with the general public and several groups of stakeholders. On Sept. 23 and Sept. 24, it met with land-use boards.

The meeting Oct. 29 was held to present to the public KKC’s mid-project regulation assessment report, which was released in written form in September and is available on the town website and at the library. The meeting was televised on GMTV and video was available on the town website.

The final KKC recommendations, to be worked out in close consultation with the OPDS, would need approval by land-use bodies, chiefly the Zoning Commission, to become effective. The suggested code amendments currently are scheduled for disclosure in June.

Town Councilor and former Mayor Mick O’Beirne, citing the far-reaching nature of the prospective regulation changes, suggested at the Oct. 29 meeting that KKC’s final recommendations should be subject of a town referendum. Mr. Kendig replied, “Be careful what you wish for… A referendum is an absolutely lousy land-use tool.” He said referenda can have and have had unpredictable and undesirable results.

Mr. O’Beirne said prospective zoning recommendations could lead to “sweeping changes” that would affect all town residents. He questioned whether the Zoning Commission, which is appointed rather than elected, should have “sole power” to decide. Michael J. Murphy, OPDS director, said referenda are not part of the system for implementing zoning changes.

GOSA suggested that further public meetings should be held, even if that required increasing the budget for the project.

The OPDS said at the Oct. 29 meeting that it would put into the record any written statement on the KKC report that was submitted by Nov. 14. 2008.

Mr. Kendig declined to predict the extent to which Groton’s natural resources would be protected under the regulation rewrite. In response to a question from GOSA President Priscilla Pratt, Mr. Kendig said that the matter would need study. A “conceptual” table in KKC’s assessment report shows slopes of more than 25% being 95% protected in rural zones and woodlands in RU zones enjoying 90% protection.

He said protection levels for rocky outcroppings, steep slopes, forest cover, flood plains and riparian resources all would need further consideration. Earlier in the meeting, he had triggered concern when he said that the 90% protection level for woodlands found in the assessment report was based on the Midwest, rather than heavily forested areas of New England.

The exchange created the impression that any and all protection levels are indefinite at this point, though values had been assigned to them in the written report.

In response to a GOSA request for local examples of how KKC’s quantified “resource protection standards” and “residential cluster standards” would apply, Mr. Kendig said the OPDS was working on this. The OPDS did not elaborate at the Oct. 29 meeting. Nor did it respond to GOSA’s e-mailed question on this matter.

Under KKC’s system, land proposed for development would undergo an expert assessment to determine its natural resources–including water bodies, floodways, floodplains, wetlands, riparian and wetland buffers, woodlands, steep slopes and wellhead protection areas. The land then would be assigned numerical Open Space and Resource protection factors. Mr. Kendig said the process would help eliminate subjectivity in land-use decisions.

“We are trying to get away from a situation where anyone can challenge anything,” he said. One of the declared aims of the regulation rewrite is to achieve “certainty of outcome thatapplicants will have when formulating their development plans.”

In this connection, GOSA cautioned against mechanizing the approval process to the point that the common sense, judgment and individual responsibility of commission members are nullified.

GOSA recommended that if the plan were to be adopted, the natural resource assessments should be conducted by experts paid by town commissions, rather than developers, even though the bill ultimately might be financed by the developer. This process would function in the same way that the town employs independent experts in complex land-use cases.

Mr. Kendig said he was confident that developers’ experts, working with the town’s competent planning staff, would accurately determine the physical attributes of land. Mr. Murphy backed up Mr. Kendig saying there was no reason to question experts and that “resources are quantifiable.”

GOSA said that assessments compiled by developer-paid experts were subject to conflicts of interest that could destroy public faith in the fairness of the process.

KKC stressed in its presentation and report that permitting more flexible design for new housing, including higher densities, would encourage the preservation of open space and avoid “cookie cutter” subdivisions. They said the formal public protection of open space was not the subject of their report, but declared that Groton already has abundant and growing amounts of publicly and permanently protected open space.

GOSA told the meeting that in fact only 11% of Groton’s land enjoys formal protection and that numerically significant amounts of new open space are not being acquired. It warned that protection of open space within the boundaries of developments, while desirable, is not a substitute for town action on the Conservation Commission’s long-ignored list of some 20 properties that ought to enjoy formal protection.

One little-noticed feature of KKC’s Land Use Regulation Assessment is this recommendation on the final page:

“Adopt provisions to allow the administrative review and approval of minor activities within upland review areas.” In its post-meeting e-mail to the OPDS, GOSA asked for an explanation and noted that this recommendation could prove controversial in light of the “minor” status that was assigned by the Inland Wetlands Agency to the proposed Wal-Mart super store near the Groton drinking water reservoir. Like the other e-mailed questions, this one went unanswered by the Office of Planning and Development Services.

Sidney Van Zandt, a GOSA director, objected to a KKC recommendation for cluster housing in the Sewer Avoidance Area north of I-95.

She said heavy development in this area, already taking place, would create non-point pollution that would “severely damage our most valuable resource and [that of] the many towns around us that receive our water.”