Town planners want more information before they move forward with master plan review of a proposal to build an 18-unit apartment complex on a 2.27-acre stretch of land formerly owned by the late Robert Healey at 665 Metacom Ave.

At last week's planning board meeting, engineer David D'Amico laid out a plan to transform about half of the mostly wooded site into a small apartment complex comprised of 16 two-bedroom and two one-bedroom units. The small red bungalow formerly owned by Mr. Healey would remain, and would be used as a rental office.

The land, which is broken into two parcels, was purchased for $300,000 this past December by Bristol resident Denise O'Brien; her husband, builder Michael O'Brien, is the applicant.

Under the plan, the eastern half of the property, zoned for business, would house the development, and a small area of the parking lot would spill over onto the western lot, which is zoned residential but for now would remain mostly wooded. The project needs both planning and zoning board review, as a special use permit will be required to build the complex on the commercially-zoned portion of the property.

Prior to the meeting, Warren Town Planner Bob Rulli and board members received several letters from abutters, who expressed their concern that the project could hurt their property values, increase traffic in the area and impact groundwater in an area several they say is already wet.

"Where we are right now, our back yard abuts onto the woods," said 8 Gregg Drive resident Denise Duarte. "We have a very quiet neighborhood at the moment; and definitely the water table. That is a problem."

In his presentation, Mr. D'Amico said the plan is to install a permeable parking lot surface with a runoff reservoir underneath. Doing so, he said, would mitigate the development's impact on the surrounding areas and would "probably" be able to accommodate the water generated in a 100-year storm, while allowing it to slowly dissipate into the ground.
But Mr. Rulli and planning board members said that without having done a perc test or soil analysis, it's impossible to know what the impact could be.

"The onus is on Mr. D'Amico to give us a more refined drainage plan before we have the town engineer look at it. I don't want to design it for him," Mr. Rulli said.

Another issue is zoning, which as written would not allow as many parking spaces to spill over onto the residentially-zoned section of the property as are drawn up in the O'Briens' plans. While they could ask for a zoning variance to get around that requirement, Mr. D'Amico seemed amendable to removing a portion of the parking lot to adhere to zoning regulations. Doing so would still create enough parking spots on the site to satisfy the town's requirements, he predicted.

Several board members raised the issue of landscaping, noting that the plan as presented does not include enough information on landscaping and the placement of vegetative or other buffers around the site.

"Metacom has a lot of concrete and I think we could all benefit with more green space and landscaping," board member Brett V. Beaubien said.

Board members drew the hearing to a close after about an hour. Prior to the board's next meeting, members said they want to see soil and perc tests, an accurate count of traffic in the area, and more information on landscaping and vegetative buffers.

Mr. D'Amico said he would also rework the parking plan to remove the westernmost portion of the parking lot on the residentially zoned portion of the property.