Delilah Street garage proposal tabled after neighbors raise runoff and septic concerns

The Shapleigh Planning Board tabled a conditional-use application for a garage at 19 Delilah Street after abutters raised concerns about stormwater draining downhill toward neighboring septic systems and steep excavation into a bank.

Chair read several written comments from neighbors including an April 27 email from Susan Conland expressing concern that "one significant issue is water runoff on Delilah Street, which is a sloping street" and warning that a 34-by-36 roof would increase roof-runoff that must be managed. Another abutter, Doug Wells, wrote he did not object to the proposal but said the project must not worsen existing runoff problems. The board discussed the need to detain or otherwise manage a 100-year storm design and whether gutters, dry wells and riprap trenching would be sufficient to protect adjacent leach fields.

Board members asked the applicant, represented by Tyler Matthews, to provide a more detailed stormwater plan with explicit dimensions for any trenches or dry wells, a clearer revegetation plan showing species and widths for buffers (board members suggested substantially more than the three-foot buffer originally shown), and a professional evaluation from a licensed septic/site evaluator that confirms the weight-rating of the existing plastic-chamber leach field and whether construction traffic would compromise it. They also requested lighting details showing down-facing fixtures to avoid glare on neighboring properties.

Chair summarized the board’s technical requests and called for a motion to table the application until the applicant returns with the requested documents; the motion carried. The board noted that if the applicant wants a different completion date the revised schedule can be proposed when the updated materials are submitted.