With questions about its mpact on water supply and traffic flow mostly resolved, the Tiverton Planning Board signaled at its meeting last Tuesday that it is moving closer to final action on the preliminary plan review phase of an application for Tiverton Heights, a major housing development in the north end of town. 

Tiverton Heights Ltd. Partnership/Harkins Homes LLC of Portsmouth wants to build 275 housing units, to include single-family homes, duplexes, townhouses, and apartments, on a 136-acre parcel of land at Fish and Souza roads. Twenty-five percent of the development will be slated for low-to-moderate income households.

If ultimately approved, the proposed project, which has been viewed with alarm by some community members in part because of its size, would be the largest residential development ever constructed in town.

At last week’s meeting, after the planning board heard from developer Christopher Harkins, his attorney, William Landry, and others on progress made to date, board members voted unanimously to continue the public hearing on the application to Nov. 1 and to approve the applicant’s request to extend the time clock – the specific timeframe for approval of the application – to Nov. 15.

Water Supply/Pressure

A condition imposed by the planning board in late 2016 was that the developer would need to assure the town that the finished project would not cause water shortages and that water supply and pressure would remain sufficient for fire protection purposes.

Timothy Thies, P.E., an executive of Pare Corp., told the board that an evaluation by his company showed the development would not have an adverse impact on existing customers of the North Tiverton Fire District, either in terms of water supply or water pressure.

He said the company’s evaluation also assessed how much water would be available for fire protection purposes (fire flow) but the ultimate decision regarding its adequacy would need to be made by the developer and the Tiverton Fire Department.

Tiverton Fire Marshall Dan Murphy, who also addressed the board, said questions remain regarding fire flow in only one section of the proposed development and options to address those questions are still being explored.

Murphy said the anticipated width of main roads within the proposed development would be adequate to accommodate the department’s ladder truck.

Traffic Study

Referencing a traffic study done by Bryant Associates, Inc., planning board chairman Stuart Hardy said a follow-up analysis by a peer reviewer who was hired by the town resulted in only one or two remaining questions. Hardy noted the planning board would likely ask the developer to address these questions as part of conditions that would be set by the board, assuming it takes favorable action on the application. 

School enrollment

Projected enrollment statistics sent to the planning board by Dr. Peter Sanchioni, superintendent of schools, indicate the completed project would create an estimated surge in Tiverton school district enrollment ranging from 110 to 385 students.

Hardy noted these estimates were significantly higher than those provided previously by the applicant and a peer reviewer. 

William Landry, the applicant’s attorney, questioned the validity of the numbers, saying most of the proposed project consists of two-bedroom units which, he said, “would generate almost no school-age children.” Additionally, Landry said school impacts are not appropriate criteria for approval or denial of an application of this type. 

School transportation

In his communication with the planning board, Sanchioni said transportation provided by the school district within the actual development would only be available to special needs students. 

The board discussed how this school policy, along with legal issues relating to busing of students, creates a number of unresolved questions, including where students who live within the development and use school transportation will be picked up and dropped off, how far they can walk to bus stops, and what restrictions exist in terms of which roads they are allowed to cross to reach a bus stop.

Because no school district representatives attended the meeting, board members agreed that town officials would communicate with the superintendent or his designee prior to the Nov. 1 meeting to get clarification on transportation questions. 

Next steps

Hardy asked the board to consider what conditions will need to be imposed upon the applicant during the next phase of the approval process and what carryover provisions from the master plan approval in 2016 still need to be addressed.

He said it is not the board’s goal to come up with conditions that are “radical” or “draconian.” Rather, he said the process is intended to be collaborative.