Harbor and Coastal Zone Management Commission grants consistency to Orienta Beach Club project at 1025 Rushmore Avenue

The Harbor and Coastal Zone Management Commission unanimously voted April 15 to find the Orienta Beach Club’s redevelopment plans for 1025 Rushmore Avenue consistent with local coastal regulations, clearing a required step before the project goes to the planning board.

The commission’s action followed a presentation from the applicant’s team and technical Q&A about the project’s proximity to nearby waterways, stormwater handling and landscaping. Applicant representative Andrew Spatz told the commission an April 7 diagram shows the site is about a mile from the nearest rivers and that the submission demonstrates "there would be absolutely 0 impact" to those waterways or to neighboring properties.

Why it matters: A consistency finding from the coastal commission is a prerequisite for some permits and variances; the commission’s approval allows the applicant to seek variances and a fuller review at the planning board. Commissioners also focused on stormwater compliance and habitat-related landscaping as items within the commission’s purview.

Engineers for the applicant said the design has not changed since the project’s last appearance and that it complies with DEC and town regulations. Mark Palotiki, the project’s civil engineer, said the compensatory storage volume the team will seek a variance for — "1,500 and change" cubic feet — remains the amount under consideration and has not been altered. Palotiki told commissioners that redevelopment work will capture required water-quality volumes and that captured runoff will be infiltrated where the design calls for it: "we are capturing that and we are infiltrating that into the ground," he said.

Commissioners pressed the team to clarify whether filling a floodplain area would result in untreated runoff to the sound. The applicant’s engineers explained that the village and DEC rules the team followed distinguish floodplain fill (a quantity issue) from water-quality treatment; they also said FEMA guidance did not require compensatory storage for the particular type of floodplain at issue.

Commissioner Anita raised habitat concerns and confirmed those issues fall within the commission’s scope; Spatz said Wellesley Stout Associates (Thomas Cross) revised the landscape plan and that reviewer Tara Bella would review the updated submission before planning board consideration.

The chair moved to approve a draft resolution granting consistency to the application; the motion was seconded and the commission voted unanimously to approve it. The commission clerk will forward the signed consistency finding to the planning board, where the applicant expects to seek variances and a date for a public hearing.

The commission adjourned after approving the consistency finding.