Once again, the  Arlington Conservation Commission will be reviewing a proposal for a large home on previously undeveloped land at 47 Spy Pond, deep inside the 100-foot wetlands buffer zone. Please register your attendance at  https://linkto.run/p/DHWK05K7 
The hearing will be this Thursday evening, 6/20/2019 in the Senior Center, Main Room (27 Maple Street).  The meeting starts at 7:30pm, the 47 Spy Pond item is tentatively set at 8:30pm at this time. We will share the confirmed meeting time and location as soon as we can and prior to the meeting.  As before, it is very important to show up in large numbers to show that the town residents continue to care about this matter.

To remind folks, in late 2018, the town approved Seaver's plan to build a new house on one part of the lot (the part closer to Princeton Road, where the existing house sits).  

At the 6/20 Con Comm meeting Seaver will be proposing a second house on the site.  This second house would sit on the other part of the lot, the  side closer to Garrison Road.  Seaver plans to split this single lot into two lots.

The critical detail at this point is that there are now new, looser regulations in place in the town when it comes to wetlands protections.  Seaver is making this newest submission (called a "Notice of Intent") under the new regulations, which are less stringent than the regulations under which Seaver filed his original plan to build the second house.  That plan was rejected by the Con Comm, largely because the house sat so deep into the buffer zone (the proposed siting was about 50' from the shore).  However, the new regulations make it easier to build inside the 100' buffer zone than was allowed before. 

Compared to the plan that was rejected in late 2018, the new plan is only 2.5 feet further back from the shoreline.  The new plan also calls for felling of the only mature tree on the entire lot.  The new footprint can be seen here:  https://cutt.ly/uokeaR    The footprint of the house is approximately 1700 sq ft, as compared to the previous 1800 sq ft.  This is still substantially larger than most homes in the neighborhood.  Seaver has been repeatedly asked to provide an alternatives analysis to justify intrusion into the 100-ft buffer zone, and they have consistently failed to provide a good-faith realistic analysis.  Certain members of the Con Comm have also expressed the opinion during informal discussions that a smaller house, further back from the pond, would be a reasonable alternative, but there is still a strong possibility that a majority of the Con Comm could approve the new plan, in the absence of firm public opposition.
The developer's current strategy is to offset the environmental impact of the larger home by proposing a water infiltration system for part of the street.  While such a system may help to reduce run-off into the pond, it does not mitigate the full range of environmental impact that comes from intrusion into the buffer zone.  

As we have detailed in many past postings, building such large houses that penetrate so deeply into the buffer zone is harmful to wildlife, increases runoff into the pond, and has a range of other negative impacts.  Seaver has claimed that he cannot make a profit if he builds smaller homes.  As recent market statistics in Arlington show, this is just not true (not that Seaver's level of profit is the public's concern either).

We ask that as many folks as possible come to the 6/20 meeting.  The Con Comm needs to know town residents continue to care about this matter and that we want them to uphold the interests of our community..

Please share the above widely in Arlington.