SOUTH DEERFIELD — A proposed condominum project off Sugarloaf Street passed through a checkpoint with town health officials on its way toward development.
The Board of Health passed a motion during a meeting Wednesday to approve preliminary plans for the development, which covers 22 acres and four parcels of land at the base of Mount Sugarloaf. There had been concerns that the development’s stormwater retention design could create mosquito breeding grounds.
“I’m gonna be very broad with this. I cannot see any problems this would have with the town from a health issue,” board member Henry “Kip” Komosa said before the vote. “The subdivision would only help the sewage treatment plant at this point. One of the problems we have is with flow.”
The proposal calls for 36-duplex condominiums split into 72 individual residences and, according to developer Mark Wightman, will be limited to people 55-years-old and older.
The town Board of Health consists of the same members as the town Selectboard. During the meeting, Chairwoman Carolyn Shores Ness said she’s worried drainage infrastructure — which includes catchbasins for stormwater runoff — in the preliminary development plan could inadvertantly create ideal breeding grounds for mosquitos.
“The only concern I have, and it should be addressed in the definitive plan, is the retention. The fact is you’re putting a mosquito breeding area in the middle of a residential area. We cannot have mosquitos,” Ness said. “We don’t want a retention detention pond.”
As to those concerns, Ness said the Board of Health has been encouraging residents not to build such drainage infrustructure for years because of health concerns.
Other potential health-related concerns Komosa said some community members have expressed include the possibility that residual tobacco pesticides are still in the soil. Komosa put the concerns to rest and said he has investigated and found nothing.
“In year’s gone by there were some town-owned wells contaminitated by pesticides,” Komosa said. “That has since changed, and it has cleared up. It seems to make sense to me that if it’s not showing up in the water, it seems to have dissipated.”
Following discussion, the Board of Health unanimously passed a motion to approve the subdivisions preliminary plan, noting concerns and asking the developer to change stormwater runoff designs.
You can reach Andy Castillo
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