Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Subdivision Highview topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Developer proposes seven-lot redesign for High View Estates; planning board outlines next steps
Summary
Sanco Builders presented a reduced seven-lot concept for the long-running High View Estates subdivision. The planning director and board members outlined filing options, required waivers and a future public hearing if the applicant files a definitive plan.
Michael Santullo, representing Sanco Builders, told the Woburn City Planning Board that his team has prepared a scaled-back concept for High View Estates that would yield seven buildable lots.
The plan reduces ledge removal and road length, Santullo said, and would create lots with about 100-foot frontages (roughly 12,000 square feet). He told the board he will ask his engineer, Jack Sullivan, to add more detail and begin work on utilities and road alignment. “I will have Jack take the next step further and put a little more information on this plan and start thinking about utilities and stuff like that,” Santullo said.
John, the planning director, told the board this redesign would ultimately require either a preliminary or a definitive subdivision filing. He recommended the applicant consider preserving the undeveloped portion of the parcel as open space or retaining it as a single large lot to avoid later access issues. “You may want to consider…donate it as open space to the city or whatever your plans are,” the planning director said during the discussion.
Board members pressed for clarity about the remainder of the original tract. Santullo said the area proposed for development is roughly 2.7 acres of a larger parcel that is “7 and change” acres in total, and that several lots in the previously approved plan lie under a 250-foot power-line easement and were undevelopable. The developer said he does not plan to develop the land beyond the seven lots he showed the board.
Board members and staff flagged technical requirements the applicant will face if he proceeds. The board noted existing grade approvals and the potential need for waivers: the currently approved road grade is 10% historically but the board indicated an 8% grade is in force for the current filing standard; road width on older plans is 40 feet, and new filings may require waivers for modern standards. The planning director also said that if Santullo files a definitive plan, the board will hold a public hearing and the newly approved definitive plan could supersede previous court-approved plans.
There was no vote on the concept; Santullo said he will return with more detailed plans and utility information for the board to consider.
The board did not set a filing deadline or public hearing date at the meeting; the planning director described the procedural steps that would follow a preliminary or definitive filing.
