November 13, 2024 Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

129 1 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It wouldn’t appear on 2 the printed version. 3 MR. AFRAN: It doesn’t come out on printed 4 version, so that’s why I gave her a record of these we 5 looked at, I still feel like we can refer to -- 6 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That’s okay. 7 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, yeah, that’s 8 fine, 9 THE WITNESS: This is SP-11 to be in context 10 that slide. To answer your question about 11 fragmentation. This forest is not being very heavily 12 fragmented. For the most part it’ll be contiguous, 13 with the exception, of course, of the road passages 14 that are here. But, otherwise there is contiguous 15 passage throughout, disregarding the fenced area, of 16 course, which we are purposely pulling out of this. 17 But, fragmentation typically refers to something where 18 if I took this entire piece, came down to the bottom of 19 the slide, and all the way up to here, now I’ve 20 fragmented this forest into two pieces rather than what 21 we have here. 22 Part of the basis here in this design, which 23 I like, is that the forest, while not completely 24 contiguous, this is not an access road. So, there 25 actually is contiguous passage throughout this area. 130 1 There is certainly some fragmentation, obviously, where 2 we’re putting -- where the building will be put and 3 where the primary road is, but depending on what this 4 Board does, of course, even this road would be non- 5 competitive to passage, if, in fact, the road is not 6 for daily use. So, there’s quite a bit of free 7 movement, is I guess the way I would put that. It’s 8 not fragmenting the forest to say this development in 9 Essex Fells did, or this development in West Orange 10 did, this is fragmenting the forest. This is what we 11 talk about when we say fragmentation, this kind of 12 suburban single family home development. This is what 13 ties together the -- 14 Q Is it fair to say that you don’t consider the 15 construction of these four very large buildings and 16 parking facilities in the center of this forest to be 17 fragmented? 18 A I didn’t say that. What I said is -- 19 Q Is it -- 20 A -- development fragmentation is minor compared to 21 the other types of development. In green building 22 design one of the things you try to do to minimize 23 damage and to minimize fragmentation, is to concentrate 24 development into the smallest footprint possible. This 25 does that.

green building 22 design one of the things you try to do to minimize 23 damage and to minimize fragmentation, is to concentrate 24 development into the smallest footprint possible. This 25 does that. This type of development here, this type of 131 1 development here is much more impactful of the forest 2 and historic, these are historic buildings, I’m not 3 suggesting there’s any wrong with it. The old crop 4 dust coater, I’m sure, from a green building standpoint 5 and a forestry standpoint, this is infinitely more 6 destructive to the environment than what this is 7 proposing because this minimizes the fragmentation. 8 Certainly is a form of fragmentation, I will not argue 9 that. But, it is less impactful on an overall basis, 10 than most other types of development. 11 Q My question was only, did you do any study on 12 effect on the ecology of the site due to the 13 fragmentation of this project? 14 A And I think I answered you. 15 Q Did you do any self-study? 16 A No, it’s outside of my purview. 17 Q That’s all I asked. Okay. Thank you. Did 18 you do any analysis of fauna that are present on the 19 site, aside from your observing the seven to ten-year 20 medication? 21 A We did not do a wildlife analysis, that was not a 22 part of the project. 23 Q Have you done any analysis -- the question 24 would probably be the same, so if it’d be the same I 25 imagine you just state for the record, did you do any 132 1 analysis on the impact of bird migration across this 2 property or like history of birds who live on this 3 site? 4 A We did not do any analysis of wildlife at all. I 5 think we do with wildlife specifically, is within 6 DEEP’s purview. 7 Q Well, whether it is or is not I’m not sure I 8 simply asked whether you did the analysis. 9 A The answer is no. 10 MR. AFRAN: I’m sorry, I’m just going through 11 my notes quickly, I don’t want to -- 12 THE CHAIRPERSON: It’s okay. 13 Q I’m a little puzzled because when you 14 testified at the last meeting, either direct or in 15 response to questions, you said that, and I wrote down 16 what you said, I think it’s a pretty accurate quote. I 17 look at everything, birds, plants, et cetera, from 18 holistic point of view. Do you recall saying that? 19 A Yes. 20 Q Well, then why didn’t you do any study of 21 wildlife or birds and the impact of this project on 22 that wildlife, if that’s what you do holistically? 23 A

w. Do you recall saying that? 19 A Yes. 20 Q Well, then why didn’t you do any study of 21 wildlife or birds and the impact of this project on 22 that wildlife, if that’s what you do holistically? 23 A First, as I stated, I was not charged to do a 24 wildlife analysis because I know that DEEP will be 25 looking at whether or not there are species or whether