By Victor Tine
Staff writer
March 24, 2008 06:35 am NEWBURY — A North Andover developer is seeking Planning Board approval to build a 21-house, cluster-style subdivision on Scotland Road next to the Interstate 95 interchange. Dean Chongris of Meadowbrook Realty Trust is seeking permits for a development called Martin Burns Estates under the town's Open Space Residential Development zoning bylaw. The project would be built on a 28.8-acre, wooded tract across Scotland Road from the state police barracks, with the Martin Burns Wildlife Management Area on the south and west. The project and wildlife area are both named after an early 20th century Newbury town official who was also a sportsman and conservationist. The Planning Board opened a public hearing on the development Wednesday night at Town Hall and will continue the session on April 2. Engineer Benjamin Osgood of New England Engineering Services told the board that 8.59 acres of the property is wetlands and that, of the remaining 20 acres of upland, building would take place on only 6.54 acres. The plan, Osgood said, would leave 13 acres — or 65 percent of the non-wetlands area — as open space. Houses would be clustered along a road that would loop back on itself. There would be a single crossing of a wetlands. Osgood said conventional tract development would use all of the site for a total of 20 houses and require three wetlands crossings. By conforming to the Open Space Residential Development rules and preserving more open space, the project can accommodate one extra dwelling. He said the houses would be supplied with water from individual wells and would contain sprinkler systems. Houses would also have individual septic tanks that would flow into a large dispersal field at the southerly end of the property. Osgood said water runoff would be channeled into a detention pond on the northeast side of the property. He said overall runoff would not exceed current levels. Two abutting Scotland Road homeowners, Denise Scalfani and Michelle Roscoe, voiced concerns over the amount and flow of water runoff toward their properties. Roscoe also questioned Osgood on details of the septic system and wells. Town Planner Judy Tymon said the two women accompanied Planning Board members last week on a site walk of the project property. The project will also need the approval of the Conservation Commission on wetlands and drainage issues and the Board of Health for the water and septic systems. Tymon said the Open Space Residential Development bylaw benefits both developers and the town. She said the bylaw allows the town to preserve open space, but developers like it because the compact configuration of the residences reduces the amount — and therefore the cost — of infrastructure improvments. "Infrastructure costs developers money," she said. "They like the fact that the road's going to be shorter." In a telephone interview Thursday, Chongris said he was not concerned about moving forward with the development in a depressed housing market. He said his company builds energy-efficient houses that still attract buyers, even in a slump. He also said preliminary work will take a while, giving the housing industry a chance to rebound. "By the time we have the project ready for the market, it will be a different market," he said.
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