Commission presses applicant on stormwater, buffer impacts for 550 King Street retail phase

Representatives for 550 King Street LLC presented a notice of intent for a 23,500-square-foot retail building on the former IBM campus that would require grading and a retaining wall inside the 100-foot wetland buffer to an existing stormwater pond.

Chris Raymond, presenting for the applicant, said the project’s grading and a new retaining wall are necessary to make the existing parking field developable and that the plan proposes roughly 6,000 square feet of impacts to the 100-foot buffer while reducing net flows into the existing pond through upgraded on-site treatment and an infiltration system. The applicant also requested a waiver for approximately 3,260 square feet of temporary work within the 50-foot no-disturb zone tied to replacing and upsizing an existing stormwater outfall.

Commissioners questioned whether the building could be shifted away from the pond; one commissioner asked bluntly whether siting choices were driven by profit, saying the applicant appeared to be “trying to make money” by building into the buffer. Commissioners pressed for detailed contour maps, the expected retaining-wall height (applicant indicated roughly an eight-foot wall in places), calculations showing how the project reduces net flow to the pond, and a peer review of the stormwater design. The commission agreed to schedule follow-up and asked the applicant to provide contour/grade details, the storm threshold that triggers outflow, and to file the formal waiver and supporting analyses prior to any vote.