WESTFIELD – The Planning Board approved a definitive subdivision plan Tuesday night, the first time many of the board members participated in that process.
Subdivision approval was a routine review process for the Planning Board until the Great Recession which brought that type of project to a halt because of the substantial initial investment needed to finance the development of the required infrastructure, money banks were reluctant to loan.
“It’s been three or four years since there has been any subdivision plan applications,” Principal Planner Jay Vinskey said Thursday.
The 10-lot development on 28 acres of land off Montgomery Road Tuesday is being developed by Mark Bergeron of Bent Tree Development, LLC. The preliminary subdivision plan was approved by the board in February.
The definitive plan, approved Tuesday, is the document that will be filed with the Registry of Deeds along with the Mylar drawings signed by the Planning Board members. The document includes the board’s findings, condition and waivers.
The board granted a waiver from the subdivision requirement that the developer install sidewalks on both side of the subdivision street, a waiver typically requested by developers to reduce the cost of building the infrastructure.
However, the board added a condition that “The developer shall make a payment to the city’s sidewalk account, in an amount approved by the City Engineer and based upon the length of sidewalk not being physically provided (on one side of the street). Such funds should be targeted by the City for pedestrian and bicycle improvements to be undertaken in the general vicinity of the subdivision.”
The Planning Board members are also requiring “The subdivider/developer shall retain title to the fee of each street, sidewalk and easement appurtenant to the subdivision until conveyed and accepted by the Westfield City Council or duly incorporated homeowner’s association, or for at least two (2) years after completion of required improvements, whichever is the lesser.”
The developer will need to create a homeowners association, and its rules, regulations and responsibilities, shall be submitted to the Planning Board prior to their endorsing the approved definitive plan. This shall include responsibility for the right-of-way, and draft easement language authorizing the City to enter upon, inspect, repair or maintain the stormwater system shall also be submitted.
Vinskey said that the final legal documents must be submitted to and approved by the Planning Board prior to recording and prior to the sale of any lots.
“The developer will need to come back to the board to implement the plan modifications approved Tuesday night and to submit the Mylar plans for the members to sign,” Vinskey said. “The Mylar plans will also include the name of the subdivision street which was referenced on one page of document as Bent Tree Drive, but not included on the plans submitted to the board.”
The responsibility for the maintenance (including snow removal) repair, reconstruction of the roadway and utilities shall remain with the developer, his successors and assigns, unless and until the City Council has accepted the streets as city streets.
The maintenance of the detention/infiltration pond, even if and after the street is accepted by the city as a city street, shall remain the responsibility and liability of the individual lot owners or established property owner association.
Among the plan modifications is the requirement to install a four-foot high chain link fence, or equivalent safety enclosure, around the stormwater detention basin.
The details of the project were presented to the board members by Rob Levesque of R Levesque Associates, Inc. The subdivision will occupy about half of the 28 acres of property owned by the William F. Reed Family Nominee Trust.
The site is bordered by Montgomery Road on the West, the Massachusetts Turnpike on the north, Powdermill Brook on the east and Simmons Brook to the south. Much of the land near the brooks and associated wetlands will be left undisturbed and will be controlled by the subdivision homeowners’ association.
