July 31, 2024 Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

23 (Pages 86 to 89) Page 86 1 Steepness, you would see because the topography 2 lines are much closer together. So I'm going to go 3 and show respective -- this is that first 4 diagrammatic Section AA, which shows over here going 5 toward Howell, and you can see, respectively, where 6 the house is, the existing vegetative tree line, and 7 actually, how it kind of flattens out here. Now, 8 there was discussion that was brought up about -- 9 and I'll actually show the other -- the other view 10 because I think that's even -- is a lot more 11 telling, is now you see it's at a completely 12 different scale, here's the cross-section of the 13 building, you see the flat portion of the ridge. 14 This is at section BB. And the house and scale is 15 back down over here (indicating). So you can kind 16 of get a sense of it's very hard to understand when 17 you look at the site from an adjoining area or look 18 at a floor plan, you don't quite get a sense of 19 scale. I think this does give you a good sense of 20 scale here. 21 Now, one of the things that we were 22 discussing, and Mr. Anderson -- we talked a little 23 bit about this because he was asking questions and 24 he had shared the geotechnical reports with us and 25 what is very interesting is the best -- Page 87 1 (Noise disturbance) 2 MR. APPEL: The best -- the best way 3 to support a building is on bedrock. We have an 4 opportunity here to be at bedrock or close to 5 bedrock. Do I design these things? Well, to a 6 degree, yes, but we hire, we read the geotechnical 7 reports, we provide them to a structural engineer 8 who designs the foundation systems for the building, 9 and in collaboration with each other, they decide 10 how deep and what type of foundation needs to be 11 used for the building. The conditions here for me 12 are not scary but almost bordering on ideal. The 13 negative to this is that there may be some rock that 14 has to be moved away from certain areas to construct 15 the buildings. There was little room to change a 16 lot of the roadway elevations, so Mr. Anderson kind 17 of gave us whatever leeway we had, but there was not 18 a lot of leeway there, but what is -- what will 19 happen in here is, when rock is encountered, and 20 there is shallow rock in portions of the site, per 21 the geotechnical reports, they're indicating that 22 top portions of this may be able to be ripped and 23

ere is, when rock is encountered, and 20 there is shallow rock in portions of the site, per 21 the geotechnical reports, they're indicating that 22 top portions of this may be able to be ripped and 23 removed because they're already fractured, and 24 that's the investigation that Mr. Anderson was -- 25 was talking about with a contractor. The Page 88 1 contractors don't just make these decisions, it's 2 done with engineers and studies. In addition to 3 this is that a building like this, it's not that an 4 architect designs it, it's not just that a 5 structural engineer is involved and a geotechnical 6 engineer, but there's also inspections, inspections 7 by the town and also third-party independent 8 inspections, so the developer has to hire these 9 inspectors as well that are looking at strength of 10 concrete, placing of reinforcement bars, elements 11 like this, so there are a lot of levels of design 12 and redundancy, all that create an enhanced factor 13 of safety for the construction. I don't look at 14 this as anywhere -- like, when you look at this and 15 you see this in scale, it's nowhere hanging off a 16 cliff, it is not at all concerning, but that's not 17 just me. The geotech engineer and the structural 18 engineer will be looking at that and determining how 19 deep he needs these to go and to what level they 20 need to go to get either satisfactory soils or to -- 21 into existing bedrock. 22 So, let's see. I think I have covered 23 all of the items that I wanted to cover in my 24 testimony. I do have the remainder of my 25 architectural drawing submittals with me here as Page 89 1 well, but I don't know whether, at this scale on a 2 screen, I don't know whether it's useful time to 3 walk through and talk about all the, you know, the 4 way the buildings are laid out, but if there are 5 questions, I can certainly point to one of these 6 exhibits to aid any of the Board members or... 7 MR. PLOCKER: I just have a couple of 8 follow-up questions for Mr. Appel before we turn it 9 over to the Board. 10 Mr. Appel, obviously, there are a 11 hundred affordable housing units proposed. 12 MR. APPEL: Correct. 13 MR. PLOCKER: And there are state 14 regulations which govern the number of one, two- and 15 three-bedroom units that are required. Are you 16 familiar with those? 17 MR. APPEL: Yes, that's exactly what 18 Mr. -- I think it was testified by Mr.

ions which govern the number of one, two- and 15 three-bedroom units that are required. Are you 16 familiar with those? 17 MR. APPEL: Yes, that's exactly what 18 Mr. -- I think it was testified by Mr. Anderson. 19 MR. PLOCKER: Yeah, I just wanted to 20 confirm as the architect -- 21 MR. APPEL: Yes. 22 MR. PLOCKER: -- and we are looking at 23 some unit layouts now. Do the affordable units 24 comply with those regulations? 25 MR. APPEL: A hundred percent,