SUNDERLAND – A resident who objects to how a proposed North Main Street senior housing project is being handled says the state environmental protection department has rejected the stormwater calculations provided by the applicant and requested new maps and figures.
Margaret Byrne, an abutter who has been critical of the possible environmental effects of the project, said MassDEP expects this information by March 11.
In an email read into the record by Chairman Steve Krol at a recent Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, Byrne said MassDEP employee David Foulis told her some calculations were unclear and “not factually defensible.”
“David let me know that the 3rd party reviewer could/should have caught some of the issues he has found with these calculations,” Byrne said in the email.
Rural Development Inc., a subsidiary nonprofit of the Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority, is the applicant for the senior housing project. The idea is to build onto the white house on 2.8 acres of Sunderland-owned land at 120 North Main St., near the town center.
The new building, to the rear and left of the existing house, will contain 30 apartments – 27 of which will be one-bedroom, three of which will be two-bedroom.
The ZBA on Thursday voted to close a public hearing that began late last year. Board members plan to meet at 7 p.m. on March 27 to discuss a comprehensive permit RDI must receive to apply to the state for low-income housing tax credits, so the housing and redevelopment authority can solicit investors for the project.
“I think it’s important for the ZBA to not finalize the peer review document until there are accurate and updated stormwater calculations provided by the applicant,” Byrne’s email reads. “The peer reviewer should have the opportunity to respond to these updated numbers. Especially with this ongoing appeal, plans may change yet again for this proposed project.”
Byrne arrived at the meeting at Town Hall about an hour after it began Thursday, and she stood up to tell ZBA members she was alarmed to hear Foulis’ input. Krol said, “We just need to stand back and let it run its course.”
Byrne said the ZBA is required to issue a decision on the permit within 40 days of the close of the public hearing.
Glen Ohlund, director of community development for the housing and redevelopment authority, has previously said the tax credits will likely cover 70 percent of the project’s funding, with the remainder coming from a lender he declined to disclose. A comprehensive permit is one that encompasses all approvals from relevant town boards and departments and is intended by the state to be something of a one-stop process to expedite projects that can serve as a boost to the amount of affordable housing in a community.
Ohlund had hoped to get the comprehensive permit by January.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.