Pownal board accepts Brady mobile home park application for review, orders peer reviews and schedules hearing

The Town of Pownal Planning Board on Sept. 17 voted unanimously to find the application for the proposed Brady Mobile Home Park (tax map 9, lot 6.01) complete for the purpose of substantive review and set a site walk for 5 p.m. and a public hearing for 6 p.m. on Oct. 15.

Chairman Todd Mellin moved to accept the application as complete “noting that there are deficiencies in the application that will need to be addressed upon review,” and the motion passed 4-0. Mellin told the applicant, Shane Brady, the vote authorizes the board to dig into technical items but does not constitute approval of the project.

Why it matters: board members and technical reviewers raised multiple concerns that bear directly on whether the site can safely support a clustered mobile-home park — including whether wetlands have been correctly delineated, whether the site falls inside shoreland zoning adjacent to Chandler Brook (a waterbody the transcript notes is on the State’s 303(d) list of impaired waters), the adequacy of the proposed shared septic/leach-field design, and whether the single proposed well can reliably serve multiple units without treatment or a well house.

Doug Stewart, a wetlands scientist and longtime Pownal resident who submitted materials to the board, urged a field wetland delineation and told the board the application’s current map-based wetlands reference “is based on landscape analysis not field analysis” and “they do typically underestimate wetlands.” The board responded by ordering a formal peer review of the applicant’s wetland delineation.

The board also voted, 4-0, to require independent peer reviews — at the applicant’s cost — of the shoreland zone boundary determination and the stormwater management plan and calculations. Chairman Mellin said the CEO, Tim Giddinge, will coordinate scope and vendors for those reviews.

The board pressed the applicant on water testing and system design. Several members asked that more comprehensive water sampling be done near the proposed well site (rather than relying on a single sample taken about 800–900 feet away), including tests for uranium and radon. Board member Brian Stornelli noted existing local occurrences of uranium and radon and recommended tests that would demonstrate suitability for multiple-occupant service.

Applicant Shane Brady said the plan calls for a central drilled well that would serve the park, with individual tanks and a shared leach field; he suggested that a small well house could be added if treatment equipment is required. The board asked that ownership and maintenance responsibilities for the well and any filtration or treatment systems be clearly documented in the application and in deed or lease language.

The board directed the applicant to provide a current title search and to clarify chain-of-title and any easements affecting the proposed leach field; Selectboard member Jon Morris said the town may pursue its own title investigation if the applicant does not provide adequate documentation.

Operational questions were also raised: the plan leaves trash collection logistics unresolved, and the board expressed concern about winter access and the feasibility of curbside pickup at a private road. The applicant said he would either arrange town pickup or provide individual bins and collect them himself if necessary.

The board set a site walk for Oct. 15 at 5 p.m. and asked Brady to stake or mark the proposed road alignment, corners of proposed home sites, the leach-field area and proposed well location to help the board evaluate topography, sight lines and access. The public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 15 at 6 p.m.

What’s next: the board’s acceptance begins the formal review process; required peer reviews and any outstanding clarifications must be submitted before final action. The board emphasized acceptance for review is not project approval.