UPDATE: this afternoon Al Wheeler from the building commissioner's office toured Doeskin 2 and met with one of the neighbors who had problems with the severe runoff and 2 TMMs,Steve Orr and me.
The second retaining wall on Doeskin 2 (lot 7A) apparently was constructed w/o a building permit. It is made of stone and appears to be unstable with a lot of fill behind it. The lower part has been covered over with dirt so the exact height is unknown but is in excess of 8-10 feet and I'm guessing the wall is about 25 feet long. This was built with the assistance of the immediate abutter but it seems to the others just below doeskin 2 to be part of the problem with the changes in drainage and runoff they have observed. We also saw what appeared to be signs of improper fill (bricks) and a site where trees may have been buried. Other neighbors on that side have reported other areas of the site where they feel that improper fill is located. That is an issue that will be addressed in a separate hearing April 1, now that the snow is finally gone and the fill can be checked. Unlike Lot 13 where the Great Wall is located, Lot 7A and the others in Doeskin 2 have not yet been released by the Planning Board so that there is hope that the neighbors issues will be addressed by the Planning Board before any further lots are released and the building dept issues a building permit. Engineering signs off on the grading/drainage plans before they can be approved by the Planning Board and the abutters and others downhill hope engineering will look at the changes that have occurred on the property. The neighbors feel that the removal of all trees that use to soak up a great deal of the water as well as slow the flow of the water down the steep hill, in addition to the changes in the grade/drainage, have severely impacted their homes. Kathy Vassar TMM Pct 1 Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Rene s Mandel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 7:51 AM Subject: Fwd: Further to my e-mail 20Mar03 re: Water runoff from DoeII > Hello, and thank you for your e-mail. > > This is exactly what I have been talking about to the Town Boards over the > past several years, and exactly the result I predicted. > > The hill behind us has not only been de-nuded of trees (I even took aerial > photos and showed them to the town), but the grade has been dramatically > increased by extreme filling with rocks, tree stumps, concrete waste and > other such non-absorbant materials. > > Results are that all the water landing on a large open area above my home > courses across my property. The only course of action suggested is a lawsuit > that I cannot underwrite at this time. > > Gerald Harting > 46 Carter Drive > (508) 877-5930 > Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Received: from rly-xh05.mail.aol.com (rly-xh05.mail.aol.com > [172.20.115.234]) by air-xh03.mail.aol.com (v92.17) with ESMTP id > MAILINXH33-9b23e7b8f0c47; Fri, 21 Mar 2003 17:15:41 -0500 > Received: from TheWorld.com (pcls2.std.com [199.172.62.104]) by > rly-xh05.mail.aol.com (v92.16) with ESMTP id > MAILRELAYINXH58-4ae3e7b8eece0; Fri, 21 Mar 2003 17:15:08 -0500 > Received: from shell.TheWorld.com ([EMAIL PROTECTED] > [199.172.62.241]) by TheWorld.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id > h2LMF61u007539 for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Fri, 21 Mar 2003 17:15:06 > -0500 > Received: from localhost ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) by shell.TheWorld.com > (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA5991745 for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; > Fri, 21 Mar 2003 17:15:06 -0500 (EST) > X-Authentication-Warning: shell01.TheWorld.com: rmandel owned process > doing -bs > Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 17:15:06 -0500 > From: Rene s Mandel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Further to my e-mail 20Mar03 re: Water runoff from DoeII > In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > MIME-Version: 1.0 > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII > X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version) > > It sounds to me as though you have had something done to you that a > neighbor of mine did through his own stupidity. He cut down trees on the > hill above his house. Next spring: instant backyard lake. > > Trees absorb water - lots of it. If the Doeskin II developer has been > cutting down trees uphill of your house, there's nothing left to absorb > the excess water: it runs straight downhill into your yard. > > Rene Mandel
