Kensington planning board conditionally approves five‑lot Highland Road subdivision, grants limited two‑year stormwater waiver

The Kensington Planning Board voted to conditionally approve Liberty Woods’ application to subdivide a roughly 12.5‑acre parcel at 8 Highland Road into five single‑family lots, granting the developer a limited waiver of the town’s two‑year stormwater calculation and a modification to the town’s construction‑phase tree‑protection requirement.

Applicant Keith Bartel told the board the project would create five single‑family homes (four fronting Highland Road and one on the 107/South Road side), with each lot exceeding two acres and conforming to local zoning. He described existing site features — a farmhouse, a farm pond, isolated wetland areas with 25‑foot buffers, stone walls and specimen trees — and said the development would use swales and infiltration areas to retain and infiltrate runoff.

Residents at the public hearing urged caution. One abutter warned that heavy rains already flow from the hill into nearby yards and asked how additional impervious surface would be managed, saying, “The water comes off of that hill … I’m kind of concerned about losing all that permeable area.” Another resident described longstanding localized flooding behind their house and asked for specifics on house placement and drainage plans.

Bartel and the project’s stormwater engineer (identified in the presentation as James) responded that the design collects roof and driveway runoff in swales and infiltration basins, and that while some small subcatchments show a slight timing increase for the two‑year event, the larger storms (the 25‑year scenario) are detained and released at lower peak flows post‑development. Bartel said the team conducted test pits for septic systems, completed lot‑loading calculations, and had soils and wetland delineations in the submission.

The board debated two waivers. First, members discussed and then approved a waiver limited explicitly to the stormwater calculations for the two‑year storm under the cited stormwater sections; staff and the town engineer had advised that the minimal increase in peak flow at one analysis point did not create a significant on‑site impact. The waiver vote was recorded in the meeting as 4 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention. Second, the board agreed to waive the requirement for a full construction‑phase tree protection plan on the condition that the applicant submit a supplemental plan demonstrating that tree removal across the entire parcel will not exceed 8 percent and that the applicant comply with periodic inspections by a state‑licensed forester at the applicant’s expense.

Conditions the board attached to its approval include: obtaining state subdivision approval (HDS) and local septic approvals; Lot 5 obtaining NHDOT driveway permitting and Lots 1–4 obtaining town driveway permits; updating the zoning table to reflect the Wetland Conservation District; adding monuments where boundary lines exceed specified intervals; documenting the granted waivers on the final plans; updating test‑fit witness information; and providing the fire chief’s confirmation that the homes will be sprinklered or otherwise meet the chief’s preference. The approval was granted unanimously; the board made the approval conditional on the applicant meeting the listed requirements within 120 days.

The board closed the public hearing and moved remaining staff‑level technical checks and permit reviews into the conditions of approval. Next steps for the applicant are to finalize the plan updates, secure required state and local permits and provide the supplemental tree‑impact calculation and the fire‑chief letter requested by the board.