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Design review of contractor yard draws conservation, stormwater and operator‑history questions
Summary
A proposed contractor yard with stormwater infrastructure partly in Hollis drew public and conservation concern about Witches Brook impacts, compensatory floodplain storage and the applicant’s corporate background; the board requested corrected plans and deferred action to allow state and conservation review.
The Planning Board heard a design review on a proposed contractor yard that would place a 10,000-square-foot shop and roughly one acre of paved storage in Amherst with stormwater treatment elements in Hollis. The application prompted extensive technical questions about stormwater treatment, compensatory floodplain mitigation and ecological impacts to Witches Brook and nearby habitats, and some board members and residents asked for a wildlife study and wetland functional assessment before the board proceeds.
Jason Hill of TF Moran, representing the applicant, said the Hollis work is limited to a dry biofiltration/infiltration basin designed to filter and infiltrate runoff and that the operation would be a small paving subcontractor with no on-site pressure washing or seal-coating. "We're not proposing to store or do seal coating or perform fleet maintenance on-site," Hill said, adding the basin uses a filter soil and is intended to remove phosphorus and nitrogen prior to infiltration.
Several residents and board members questioned whether the biofiltration approach adequately protects Witches Brook from an emergency overflow in an extreme event and whether compensatory floodplain storage relocated to another town parcel matched the wetland functions being filled. Joe Garuba, a resident who spoke at the public-comment period, urged the board not to proceed until corrected plans are submitted so the public may comment on the plans that will actually be built.
Conservation Commission Chair Joe Conley said the commission will review the application in May and requested full, revised materials by May 6 so conservation can provide informed comments. The board heard that Amherst has already deemed the project a regional impact and that state ecological review for threatened and endangered species is pending through DES’s ecological review process and Fish & Game referrals.
Board members repeatedly asked for clearer, revised plans, a wetlands functional assessment or wildlife study where needed, and documentation of where compensatory mitigation would occur. Staff said revised plans and memos will be required before the board takes substantive action, and the board left the application for further review and scheduled conservation input.
Next steps: applicant to provide corrected/revised plans and submittals; the Hollis Conservation Commission will consider the project in May; state-level ecological review (DES AOT and Natural Heritage checks) is pending.
