Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Watershed Protection topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Braintree ZBA grants variance for Graziano Drive lot to allow single-family house with stormwater recharge
Summary
The ZBA approved variances for lot coverage and open-space requirements in the Watershed Protection Overlay District to allow construction of a single-family house at Lot 2B Graziano Drive, contingent on a subsurface stormwater recharge system and related permits.
The Braintree Zoning Board of Appeals on Aug. 25 approved a variance allowing Frank and Catherine Graziano to build a single-family dwelling on Lot 2B Graziano Drive in Residence B and within the Watershed Protection Overlay District.
The board granted relief from chapter 135 (sections cited in the application) so the property may have 27.7% impervious lot coverage where 20% is required, and 72.3% open space where 80% is required. The applicant's engineer told the board a subsurface recharge system will offset the excess impervious area and reduce runoff rates and volumes below existing conditions.
Attorney Carl Johnson represented the petitioners and described the lot's history, including a 2002 ZBA subdivision decision that produced three lots from an ancestral Graziano farm. Paul Gunn, a professional engineer with Morse Engineering Company, testified that soils on the site are sandy loam and suitable for infiltration. Gunn described a Caltech subsurface chamber system sized to provide about 1,270 cubic feet of recharge for a 100-year storm (NOAA Atlas 14, ~9 inches/24 hours), and said the system would effectively offset roughly 1,770 square feet of impervious area, bringing effective lot coverage below the 20% standard.
Gunn also said the proposed system includes proprietary treatment and meets Braintree and state stormwater requirements for recharge, total suspended solids removal and peak-rate attenuation. "These dry wells have been designed to infiltrate runoff from all the impervious areas on the site, reduce both stormwater rates and volumes, provide recharge well above minimum requirements, and treat a large volume of stormwater that previously left the site untreated," Gunn said.
Board members discussed topography and lot shape as factors supporting a variance. Several members said the proposed home's scale and the stormwater improvements fit with neighboring development. The board voted to approve the requested variance; members noted the project may require additional permits from the Building Department and the Department of Public Works, including a grading permit if required.
The board recorded its finding that the hardships arise from lot configuration and topographic conditions, and approved the variance subject to the conditions discussed in the application and staff report.
