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After debate, Townsend Planning Board keeps peer-review requirement for 3 Wheeler Road and continues hearing
Summary
The Planning Board declined an applicant request to rescind a prior vote requiring an independent peer review for the 3 Wheeler Road modification, recording a roll-call vote to keep the peer review in place and continuing the public hearing to May 11 to allow the review to be completed.
The Townsend Planning Board voted to deny a request from the 3 Wheeler Road applicant to rescind the board's prior decision requiring an independent peer review of the modified earth-removal and stormwater plans. The denial means the previously required peer review will proceed; the board continued the public hearing to allow the review to be completed and scheduled a subsequent meeting to consider the peer-review results.
The applicant's representative argued the current proposal is a reduced scope from the original 2016 approval and characterized the change as administrative cleanup that should not require third-party peer review. "We object to going out to peer review ... it's a reduction," the applicant's representative said, describing the decrease in material removal and noting that some structures originally slated for removal were instead rebuilt on site.
Several board members pushed back, saying the modification represents a substantially changed scope and that the town has a standing policy to require peer review for projects of this nature. One member said the submission should be treated "as if it's a brand new project" because contours and treatment systems have changed and the applicant is new.
After discussion the board put a motion on the table to deny the applicant's request to rescind the earlier vote requiring peer review. The transcript records roll-call voting during that motion (for example, Robert Darien recorded as "yes"; Brett King recorded as "no"). The board then voted to continue the public hearing to May 11 at 7:30 p.m. to allow time for the peer review and to accept any revisions before making a final determination.
The applicant requested information about potential costs and timing for a peer review; board members noted the town's standard practice is to require applicant-funded peer review escrows and estimated the independent review could be completed within a few weeks once funded. The public hearing remains open.
