The Stormwater Management Commission on July 10 approved a variance allowing limited disturbance of a wetland buffer at 2400 Pennington Bend Road to widen an existing farm road for emergency access and utilities installation. The applicant, Gleaves Farms LTD LP, represented by Mark Spalding of Gresham Smith, sought permission to impact the wetland to bring the access up to fire-marshal standards and to install utility infrastructure.

Commissioners said the request was narrowly focused on the entrance drive and utility work. "The driveway itself right now is about 10 feet wide," Mark Spalding said. "We've...reduced that section to 13 feet. Right now, we're impacting 0.04 acres of the wetland." He said the fire marshal had required a wider access but agreed to the reduced width for this location.

The commission emphasized mitigation. Commissioners moved to approve the variance with conditions requiring mitigation plantings above and beyond the site's required tree-density calculation, coordination with staff on replacing ash trees shown on plans, and inclusion of tree survivability language in the long-term maintenance plan. Staff told the commission landscape installations will carry a standard one-year warranty; follow-up beyond that may be handled through grading-permit closeout and stormwater control measure inspectors.

Commission discussion recorded alternatives analysis describing why the existing, straighter access was preferred to a longer, circuitous route around the property; the applicant said rerouting would lengthen emergency response runs and the fire marshal favored the current location. Commissioners also asked for more detail on the post-construction wetland restoration; the applicant said an environmental consultant will prepare restoration work to return the impacted area to wetland conditions.

The commission voted to approve the variance as conditioned. The motion passed with no recorded opposing votes.

Details in the commission record show the case listed as Case 202500015 and identified the site APNs as 06200003500 and 06200003600; the inspector listed in the case materials is Jeff Gregg for Council District 15. The applicant indicated they will use a three-sided box culvert for the crossing and that the wetland impact is limited to the immediate area of the drive.

The approval permits the applicant to proceed with final design consistent with the conditions the commission set; staff will monitor implementation through permit and post-construction inspections.