Townsend Planning Board approves 53 West Meadow stormwater permit, voids Wheeler Road vote

TOWNSEND — March 23, 2026 — Townsend Planning Board approved a stormwater permit for 53 West Meadow Road but was forced to void all votes on a contested 3 Wheeler Road modification after discovering it lacked a valid quorum for that item. The four-member panel — Chair Andrew Shepard, Errol Hobson, Brett King, and Associate Member Lance McNally — spent much of its March 23 session debating whether Greg Roy of Dillis & Roy should be required to fund a peer review escrow for a stormwater modification the firm says reduces project disturbance from 200,000 to 150,000 square feet and trims earth removal by roughly 100,000 cubic yards. Board consultant Lori Provost informed the board mid-meeting that McNally, as an associate member, is ineligible to vote on stormwater management permits, rendering the quorum invalid for that hearing and nullifying a 2-1 vote to uphold the peer review requirement; the matter was continued to April 6. On 53 West Meadow Road, peer reviewer Jeff Walsh of Graves Engineering found "no major problems or fatal flaws" and the board voted 3-0 to grant the permit with conditions, including a requirement to report any unusual soil conditions found at infiltration basin sites during construction. The board also voted 4-0 to extend the County Estates Condominium Trust stormwater permit at 5 Turnpike Road by one year, to February 2028, while the association secures bids for a long-delayed parking lot.