Following many weeks of negotiations, The LWRA and Sybille Pieper have reached an agreement with regards to the subdivision of her property.
As with any negotiations, neither side got everything they wanted out of the deal. However, we feel we have achieved what we could to protect the lake under the circumstances.
We ran into an issue over blasting, with Pieper unwilling to accept our proposals and we unwilling to allow blasting 1/2 way down the hill like they wanted. The saw-off is a clause to require conformity with the Official Plan, which specifically prohibits blasting on slopes over 30% grade. Documents previously prepared by Pieper's consultants suggest the slope only exceeds 25% at it's steepest point. The LWRA has demonstrated that the slope in that area is actually over 25 degrees in that area -- most of the overall slope is indeed over 30%*
They will be required to provide us with a copy of the site plan agreement, so if we find the town has not properly protected the slope in this regard, we can seek an injunction. However, we will not have the right to appeal the site plan to the OMB.
We did get an agreement to limit the area that can be cleared to 15%, inclusive of drive and path, which we believe is an improvement over requiring re-vegetation of any cleared area more than 15% not including drive and path.
We got a provision to require verification of the soils used in the septic bed by an engineer and the houses must be located close enough to the Topographical Drainage Divide that the septic systems are gravity fed rather than pumped.
We have a clause to permit boat ports rather than boat houses, and another to prevent further subdivision of the remaining property.
We did not get the size of the houses limited below the 5,000 square feet they wanted, but we did get a dark-sky lighting clause.
We thank everyone who has participated in this issue. A PDF copy of the Minutes of Settlement is attached, below.
*The slope of a hill, when expressed as a percentage, is equal to the rise (difference in elevation) divided by the run (difference in horizontal distance) times 100. So a 100% slope is equal to 45°.