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190 <br /> Approved 10.1.25 <br /> 1208 Beth Trahos: These are not paved. <br /> 1209 <br /> 1210 Jonah Garson: They're not paved trails? <br /> 1211 <br /> 1212 Laura Haywood: They're like sand, pathway kind of thing. They could be aggregate. <br /> 1213 <br /> 1214 Jonah Garson: I'm done. I know Beth had further questions not related to schools, and paths to schools. <br /> 1215 <br /> 1216 Beth Bronson: I did. There is a concern the conservation neighborhood in the sense that so much of the water, or <br /> 1217 floodplain and watershed and set back requirements prohibit development. Would it prohibit use <br /> 1218 of the public space because it couldn't be managed by the HOA as well? <br /> 1219 <br /> 1220 Beth Trahos: It could be, and those environmental features could be incorporated into individual lots, but then <br /> 1221 they would be subject to the whims of the homeowner, right? Who folks aren't necessarily familiar <br /> 1222 with the buffer requirements,wetlands requirements, and, so,the idea that these things are <br /> 1223 captured in a common, open space where they can be maintained by a homeowners association <br /> 1224 that has knowledge as to those things creates a better stewardship of those lots than putting them <br /> 1225 in someone's back yard, and they can use them as though they were a part of their yard, like,they <br /> 1226 use every other part without recognizing the significance of the features there. <br /> 1227 <br /> 1228 Beth Bronson: And the HOA could not build anything,they wouldn't be able to have any structures,they wouldn't <br /> 1229 make the community gathering space proposed would be outside of that obviously. <br /> 1230 <br /> 1231 Beth Trahos: Not within the environmental features, correct. Yes. <br /> 1232 <br /> 1233 Ward Marotti: I'd just like to add,though, that while that's the case,the landowners,while that may be the case <br /> 1234 on paper and legally,without having knowledge of that, the enforcement of that has potential to be <br /> 1235 retroactive in that if landowners are not aware of those restrictions and move forward completely, <br /> 1236 not on purpose or with any mal intent, but the retroactive fixing of those violations is much more <br /> 1237 difficult than the selective management of that same space. <br /> 1238 <br /> 1239 Beth Bronson: I was just pointing out that all of this preserved area is literally wetland. <br /> 1240 <br /> 1241 Beth Trahos: Not all of it, but a good bit. <br /> 1242 <br /> 1243 Beth Bronson: A good bit, yes.And is this correct, in the boring, that they were hitting water at like 2 feet, 3 feet, <br /> 1244 or more than 5 feet? Is that how to interpret that environmental assessment? <br /> 1245 <br /> 1246 Ward Marotti: By definition,waters in the United States have connection to groundwater within the top foot, at <br /> 1247 least for part of the year. There's three components in a wetland. Hydrology,vegetation, and <br /> 1248 soils. In the hydrology component,there are different parameters that define or that document <br /> 1249 that there is the presence of ground water within the top foot for at least a portion of the year. So, <br /> 1250 the wetlands have water in the top foot for part of the year. <br /> 1251 <br /> 1252 Beth Bronson: And so, in these boring locations in the environmental assessment,where it says depth to water <br /> 1253 surface from soil surface, is that what you're referring to? <br /> 1254 <br /> 1255 Ward Marotti: Correct. <br /> 1256 <br /> 1257 Beth Bronson: Okay, and so it's not like you dig 5 feet down and there's a puddle. <br /> 1258 <br /> 1259 Ward Marotti: Right. There are secondary indicators of hydrologic presence in the top foot. It doesn't have to be <br /> 1260 standing water within the hole, although they were left, I believe,for 24 hours to set before the <br /> 1261 analysis of the connectivity or the depth to the actual standing water in the test pit was there, but <br />