Environmental Review Cautions About Storm Water And Slopes At Avalon Site

By Andrew Gorosko

The King’s Mark Environmental Review Team has a submitted a draft report on Avalon at Newtown, a 304-unit rental apartment complex proposed for a 40-acre site at 178 Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville. The report raises concerns about problems associated with slopes and storm water run-off at the site.

The draft report contains recommendations on how the developers could minimize environmental damage in developing the site.

Avalon Bay Communities, Inc, the developer, last week withdrew two applications for the project from consideration by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) and the Conservation Commission. The firm cited difficulties it has had in obtaining sanitary sewer service for the project. Avalon plans to resubmit revised development proposals to the two land use agencies after securing access to sewers from the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA).

The town received the long-awaited King’s Mark environmental report one day after Avalon withdrew its two applications.

King’s Mark is a group of environmental professionals from federal, state and regional agencies which assists towns in reviewing the sites proposed for major development. A King’s Mark review of a development site is intended to provide information and analysis to aid towns and developers in making environmentally sound development decisions.

 The town asked King’s Mark to review the site due to concerns about the effect of building more than 300 apartments there, as well as the effect on the Pond Brook Watershed. The town asked King’s Mark to review topography, geology and geologic limitations, soils and erosion, sediment control, hydrology, storm water management, water quality, wetland resources, fisheries habitat, wildlife resources, archaeological significance, traffic and access. King’s Mark has yet to submit report sections on geology and wildlife. Those two sections are considered important aspects of the report because extensive blasting would be required to develop the property and the site is considered to be a valuable wildlife area, said Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver.

“There’s a lot of suggestions in here,” Mr Driver said of the draft report, noting that a 304-unit apartment project would have a “dramatic impact” on the site. Based on the volume of recommendations made in the report, Mr Driver said he doesn’t expect Avalon to return to the town with another development application for a long time, possibly a year.

“I believe it’s going to come back,” Mr Driver said of Avalon’s intention to residentially develop the site.

The 304-unit apartment proposal is the largest private residential complex which has ever been proposed locally.

 

Review

In its proposal, Avalon wanted to build 304 apartments in 11 buildings, an amenities building, a swimming pool and 733 parking spaces. The project would include garages and carports.

The wooded, steep site with rock outcrops contains 4.2 acres of wetlands, which drain directly or indirectly to Pocono Brook, a tributary of Pond Brook.

In the storm water management section of the report, the authors wrote, “One of the most significant concerns with this site is the amount of steep slopes… Special slope stabilization measures may be necessary.”

“The site topography is quite varied with grades averaging over 10 percent. There are several areas with grades over 50 percent and some near vertical rock faces,” it states.

The report suggests cutting 125 parking spaces to eliminate almost one acre of impervious surface on the site, and thus improve drainage patterns.

“On a site as steep as this, care must be taken to properly stabilize seeded areas with mulch and/or geotextiles. Properly constructed and maintained, the development should have minimal impact on the adjacent wetlands and watercourses,” the report notes.

King’s Mark suggests that the developer narrow the proposed 1,900-foot-long access driveway and move it eastward on the site to protect an area for wetland-dependant wildlife species.

Natural diversity data base maps and files concerning the site indicate there are no known populations of federal or state endangered, threatened or special concern  species at the site.

A review of aquatic resources indicates the site contains the headwaters of two unnamed watercourses, which are tributaries of Pocono Brook. King’s Mark recommends that, at a minimum, a 50-foot buffer zone of undisturbed habitat be left adjacent to the two streams.

The Office of State Archaeology recommends that bedrock outcrops in the area be surveyed for archaeological resources if extensive blasting is proposed. Such outcroppings could have provided prehistoric Native Americans with opportunities to camp under existing overhangs, considering that rock shelter sites in the Newtown area have dated to over 5,000 years ago, according to the archaeology office.

A traffic and access review of the site stated, “The site appears to be well laid out for a large complex. Sight lines from Mt Pleasant Road are good; normally sites this large have multiple access points, but traffic operations will perform adequately enough. Mt Pleasant Road in this area is classified as a ‘principal rural arterial,’ capable of handling the proposed traffic volume from the new development.”

 The P&Z and Conservation Commission are expected to consider the King’s Mark report when reviewing a future version of Avalon at Newtown.