By David Fortier
A builder seeking approval to construct an open space development on the former Schaffrick property off Perkins Street has had a request to bring boring equipment for soil samples through park property put on hold until more details can be provided.
“The city is wanting some more information on the analysis of the soil, what the soil can bear in terms of sloping,” said Jim Pryor, of P & B properties in his presentation before the Board of Park Commissioners last Wednesday, Sept. 19, in city council chambers at city hall.
The soil samples have been requested by city engineers as part of an inlands/wetlands application for a bridge that would allow further access to the property, where an open space development of 16 houses is being considered. At the moment, the builders, P & B Properties, have withdrawn an inland/wetlands application and are working with the city to develop a stronger case.
While in may be “putting the cart before the horse, we want to get the subdivision designed and approved and then come in with the construction.” Pryor said.
The option left to the builders to gain access through the city’s dog park which is under the purview of the park system, he said.
Pryor said that he did believe any damage would be minimal and might end up carving out a new path since an old path that cut through the former Schaffrick property would be cut off.
The boring equipment, at eight-feet wide and 10,000 pounds, according to Pryor, would leave a path in the Hoppers-Birge Pond Preserve and take down trees.
Opponents who attended the meeting recommended several different alternatives how to obtain the soil samples. They also voiced their opposition to the procedure in emails and letters to board members, the mayor and city council.
During public participation, former Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu challenged the board to take a more active role when it comes to consideration of parks role in assessing their general overall contribution to the city.
She included the fact that Bristol as fewer miles of trails per person than what is recommended for cities of the size of Bristol and recommended, in the event that the current proposal not go forward, planning to purchase the property.
“I would strongly encourage the parks board be ready and poised with a request to the decision makers that you, in fact, purchase this property to make the Hoppers-Birge Pond full, because that is the highest and best use,” she said. “It’s part of the stewardship that you are charged with.”
Overall, the discussion about the Hoppers-Birge Pond Preserve and the builder’s request at the meeting last week focused, largely, on whether the parks department might take advantage of the builder’s dilemma and carve out a path that might benefit future park goers and dog walkers, while leaving the fate of the project which would result in the loss of 10-plus acres which the builders purchased from a local family within the last year, to other city agencies.
The property, while private, is part of a contiguous core forest and contains rare geological formations dating back to the Ice Age. One is a kettle, a formation that has left an expansive rounded out formation where the ice melted, and another is an esker, which left a hill of sentiment. Both would be disturbed if not destroyed by a sand and gravel operation that would be conducted by the builders.
The development, on the other hand, would be the first of its kind in Bristol, offering 16 zero-carbon single-family houses.
“Again, you have to forget the project,” Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano said, “whether that can happen or not. That’s inlands/wetlands. That’s zoning. That’s all that stuff. Does this potentially help our park and does it hurt the park right now. That’s really the decision this board has to weigh right now.”
Caggiano added, “Is that path going to be a helpful thing, and how is it going to help?”
The boring operation would result in 15 to 25 holes, eight-inches wife and 25-feet deep, according to Pryor. The work would require a minimum of two days, and the holes would be filled upon completion.
“I think it’s clear we don’t need another path made up there,” vice chair Bob Fiorito said. “If this board wants to give them approval to them to do it, they should go in with the intent of returning it to what it is now as much as possible.”
However, Fiorito did mention that the board might be avoiding another question about one of the paths through the area that crosses the private property being considered for the housing development.
“I’m guessing that is going to come to an end,” he said, “so we need to figure out what we are going to do with that trail that goes across their property and that might be something we need to think about while they are doing work is there something they could do while they are doing it to get in there that’s going to help us solve that problem?”
The mayor picked up on Fiorito’s point to prompt a discussion about the benefits of creating a new trail.
“I think this the thing that is most important for us to be looking at can we actually make an important that would make a win-win situation,” he said.
As an aside, the mayor also said that while a walk through might be helpful, the decision might be made at the meeting.
“If we to give this to Josh [Mederios], Sarah [Larson] and our city engineer, and give them authority to come up with [path] because, listen, none of us is engineers. We take months and years to do this.”
Fiorito said it was only appropriate that these individuals should talk about a potential solution. He made a motion that for city engineers and staff to come up with a solution that works for both parties.
Mederios asked for clarification.
“We are referring this to the city engineer and staff to reconfigure a path that always him (Pryor) access and creates a permanent path outside of private property?”
To which Caggiano replied, “A potential permanent path. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a t path yet, but it won’t impede us from making it path down the road. It may help us. The sense I am getting is, if the board wants to do this, we want to gain some kind of benefit in the future.”
The motion was revised after further discussion, about whose responsibility the final decision would be–the engineer’s or the board’s.
“I’m saying to Bob’s motion is that we give the staff the ability to work, to give the yes or no on the details of it,” Caggiano said.
After more discussion, the motion was amended so that the engineer would report back to the park commission, which would have final approval. The amended motion passed unanimously.
During the discussion, prior to the vote, several alternatives to the builder’s proposal surfaced, including what appeared to be an existing trail that might be used for hikers and dog walkers that avoided the private property and methods to obtain the soil samples.
One audience member, breaking with protocol, was allowed to address the commissioners. Erik Madsen, a local activist, offered different approaches to obtain the samples, from the use of more appropriate boring equipment to the use of a crane to drop the equipment into the area where the samples are required and even the use of a helicopter as a delivery device.
Opponents of the project anticipated the possibility of the city piggybacking on builder’s dilemma for its own benefit.
In a letter sent before the meeting to the superintendent and assistant superintendent of Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services Mederios and Sarah Larson, respectively, Michelle Rudy, president of the Friends of the Hoppers-Birge Pond Preserve, wrote:
“It is standard practice to fix whatever damage they cause, i.e. replant trees that must be cut and fix trail erosion. Everyone does that. None of this, “It will create a new trail and be good for the park.” They shouldn’t be able to get out of fixing the damage with that line of thinking. We don’t need more trails at the Hoppers, there are already too many, especially on steep embankments.”
In the same letter, Rudy said that after consulting with a geotechnical expert about the equipment, two considerations would be 1) the builder is using the proper equipment for job, specifically, whether it would be boring eight-inch or four-inch holes and 2) that all alternatives have been exhausted.
After the meeting, Madsen, in an email addressed to the board of park commissioners, mayor, and city council and board of finance liaisons, voiced strong opposition to the housing development and the use of the proposed rig on the site.
In addition, he commended the board for its final decision.
“I commend the Board of Park Commissioners for not being pressured by the mayor to grant immediate access approval to the developer, but rather to gather more information and deliberate at a later time,” he wrote.
At the same time, he raised questions about role of the park commissioners, which, he stated, includes informing the public about what is at stake with the development, “especially the users of the park of the perils and adverse impacts of this development.”
He also posed the question, “Why is the Board of Park Commissioners acting like the development is inevitable when the development has yet to get approval by wetlands or zoning?”
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