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State flagged wildlife overlap; staff to add narrative addressing species habitat
Summary
Staff reported a state consistency review flagged overlap between the proposed growth area and habitat for New England cottontail and other species; the planner offered to draft brief narrative text and mitigation language for the comprehensive-plan growth-area entry.
The town planner (Staff member) told participants the state had identified a remaining inconsistency tied to the proposed growth-area map and its overlap with wildlife habitat. "Couple weeks ago, we got a a letter from the state saying, well, we have 1 more inconsistency I need to bring to address. It's related to, the proposed growth period in the South... since it overlaps heavily with New England Cottontail habitat," the staff member said.
Board members and a public commenter asked that the comp-plan language include explicit steps for surveys and mitigation and that environmental reviewers and the relevant state experts be involved early. Staff agreed to prepare a short narrative call-out about critical natural resources and suggested that the planning board and council could handle technical mitigation as part of the zoning/ordinance phase.
