Hamilton Planning Board Continues Bridge Street Stormwater Hearing, Citing Engineering Deficiencies

HAMILTON -- February 15, 2022, Hamilton Planning Board unanimously continues a stormwater permit hearing for a proposed Bridge Street house, citing unresolved engineering deficiencies. The board voted to continue the public hearing for a five-bedroom home on Lot 1 of a nine-lot subdivision at zero Bridge Street, carved from the former Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary property, after peer reviewer William Blaze of Weston & Sampson found the application by Allen Major Associates for applicant Summit Real Estate Strategies LLC did not fully comply with state or local stormwater standards. Blaze flagged potential Area of Critical Environmental Concern status that would require a larger water quality volume calculation and 44 percent TSS pre-treatment, questioned whether the proprietary focal-point filtration media can document 90 percent TSS removal, and raised concern that driveway runoff may bypass the bioretention area onto Miles River Road. Two abutters testified to worsening flooding since trees were cleared on nearby lots before any stormwater plan was approved; one commenter said new drainage channels have formed in her yard. The applicant's engineers and Weston & Sampson are expected to confer and submit revised materials by approximately February 22 ahead of the March 1 meeting.