Engineers say new access road follows old railroad bed; board weighs stream‑corridor and steep‑slope exceptions

Applicant engineers testified that the proposed one‑way access road largely follows an existing railroad embankment and that choice limits regrading and disturbance of steeper slopes. Planner Lorelei Totten described the site orientation and the location of the Stream Corridor Protection overlay and 50‑foot buffers along the stream; civil engineer David Tanzi explained that the design minimizes horizontal changes to the embankment while adding guardrails, internal gates and limited localized grading where necessary.

Tanzi detailed structural measures for culverts (160‑foot corrugated pipes to be structurally lined with a pipe‑in‑pipe lining) and three bioretention basins—two primarily in Edison and one partially within Highland Park—to manage runoff. He testified that the project did not change the FEMA/flood‑hazard model in their analyses, and the flood‑hazard verification had been submitted. Totten summarized the legal balancing test for an inherently beneficial public utility, describing positive criteria (public interest in safe drinking water) and negative criteria (visual, traffic and ecological impacts), and said the project team would mitigate detriments through conditions and replacements: "the stormwater and erosion control measures...are taking place to offset the steep‑slope impacts," she told the board.

Board members asked whether alternatives were tried and whether the alignment was the least intrusive feasible option; engineers answered that prior alternative alignments were no longer viable and that the existing embankment was the best way to minimize disturbance while providing emergency access and truck routing.