July 30, 2024 Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

13 (Pages 46 to 49) Page 46 1 are short of that and it is not on the steep slope 2 going down the other side towards the municipal 3 streets to the east. 4 MAYOR McCARTNEY: And can you assure 5 us that even if our current steep slope ordinance 6 does not apply to this, then every precaution would 7 be made to shore up whatever development is here? 8 MR. ANDERSON: Could you -- I didn't 9 hear you, I'm sorry, Mayor. 10 MAYOR McCARTNEY: Well, I -- 11 MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC: We can't hear. 12 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Okay, okay, I got 13 it. Mayor -- I'm sorry. 14 MAYOR McCARTNEY: My question is: 15 Even if our current steep slope ordinance does not 16 apply to this, would every precaution be made to any 17 development? 18 MR. ANDERSON: Absolutely. 19 MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC: Oh, yeah. 20 MAYOR McCARTNEY: Thank you. 21 MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC: Yeah, sure. 22 (Public outburst) 23 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Council President 24 Rutherford. 25 Ladies and gentlemen, I'm trying. Page 47 1 Thank you. Council President. 2 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Thank you, Mr. 3 Chair. Thank you, Mr. Anderson and all of you that 4 are here in person and virtually. I just want to 5 know for the record, Mr. Chair, at 7:13, there were 6 122 people on Zoom. Is that still correct, Mr. 7 Fagan? 122 people. We can see how important of an 8 issue this is. I do have a few questions, some are 9 piggy-backing off of the questions the Vice Chair 10 and Mayor have already asked but I still would like 11 to ask them for additional clarity, and I'm going to 12 go in the order of my notes. 13 So, you have the buffer, particularly 14 with regard to the deer fence, highlighted on the -- 15 on the map that we see. We can see that there is 16 more than 100 feet between each of the buildings and 17 the property lines. Are those buffers undisturbed 18 trees, undisturbed foliage, are you planting 19 anything in there or certainly where the deer 20 fencing is, is that the only thing going in that 21 buffer? 22 MR. ANDERSON: So -- yes, that is 23 correct. So -- here, let me try to show you -- 24 explain the exhibit a little bit further. So -- 25 thank you for turning that light off. The lighter Page 48 1 green color in here is inside that dark line. 2 That's the inside limit of disturbance line. 3 Outside that limit of disturbance line as you go 4 around the site is the existing native forest. So 5 we are not doing anything where

that dark line. 2 That's the inside limit of disturbance line. 3 Outside that limit of disturbance line as you go 4 around the site is the existing native forest. So 5 we are not doing anything where there's -- where 6 there's no deer fence associated with this and 7 there's wetland area, that will remain exactly as it 8 is today, if it's outside the limit of disturbance. 9 Where we propose the deer fence is outside the limit 10 of disturbance by definition, but it's permitted to 11 be placed without calling it "disturbance" by 12 ordinance, and that is just going to allow the 13 trees, the understory, to grow back in these areas. 14 But there's different colors, the darker green for 15 where the understory will grow back, a little bit 16 lighter than that green where it's the existing 17 forest to remain, and the light-color green where we 18 actually are disturbing where it's grass or lawn 19 planted back again. 20 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Got it and so 21 -- I will skip around since we're talking about 22 trees. You stated there are 1,498 surplus trees as 23 a result of this plan. Did I get that right? 24 MR. ANDERSON: I believe so, yeah. 25 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: But that Page 49 1 includes a credit of over 7,000 trees because of the 2 deer fencing. So how many total trees will be 3 replaced with actually trees, not the deer fencing? 4 MR. ANDERSON: We are proposing 279 5 new trees. 6 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: And will -- 7 (Public outburst) 8 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: So 279 will be 9 planted on site. 10 MR. ANDERSON: That's correct. 11 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: And how many 12 are coming down again? 13 MR. ANDERSON: 5,904. 14 (Applause by members of the public) 15 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Have we any 16 understanding -- I understand that you are -- you 17 have a stormwater management plan. 18 MR. ANDERSON: Um-hum. 19 COUNCILMAN RUTHERFORD: Have we any 20 understanding of what those what are called hundred- 21 year storms that seem to come every two or three 22 years now, do we have any understanding of what type 23 of impact that amount of water would have with that 24 amount of trees coming down? 25 MR. ANDERSON: We do. It is part of