Crossing at Canal developers address flooding concerns
BOURNE — A Rhode Island-based developer is revising its five-story Crossing at the Canal building plans and elevating electrical and mechanical components that could be compromised during flooding in the low-lying flood plain next to the Cape Cod Canal.
The Crossing at the Canal project, proposed by the Oxford Development Group Inc., includes 167 apartments along the canal on Kendall Rae Place across from the unfinished Calamar Apartments complex.
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The last-minute agreement came at the insistence of Planning Board member Pat Nemeth, who questioned how floodwaters would be handled in severe storms.
Project engineer Joseph Longo said Crossing plans meet all state stormwater standards and underground chambers are designed to handle infiltrated water brought by a 100-year storm. He said the chambers would collect stormwater and drain within 24 to 48 hours with no canal outfall.
Project includes 167 apartments
Nemeth, however, was critical of below-level building components such as items at the underground parking lot that would likely fail during flooding.
Board member Chris Farrell defended the plan.
“The Planning Board doesn’t normally review electrical and mechanical aspects of plans,” he said at the Sept. 8 meeting. “We don’t have the expertise to do that.”
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Board Chair Dan Doucette agreed with Farrell. Doucette said the review of such plans would fall to town inspectors, especially the building inspector.
Nemeth, however, also pressed Oxford Development for a condition of special permit approval that would cover the evacuation of apartment residents’ vehicles from underground parking in severe storms. She said flooding happens and can overwhelm building systems placed in lower site elevations.
Other questions were raised during the review of plans for the last undeveloped parcel at the canal, which planners say is 98% complete.
Crossing at Canal fits zoning for downtown development district
Does the project meet a town need and is it viable? Is it what the greater community wants? Will traffic impact concerns be addressed and measures assured to discourage Crossing traffic from traversing the nearby Everett Road neighborhood? Does the project “walk away” from the original downtown Bourne re-development vision of restoring former commercial properties?
Doucette said the project conforms to local zoning for the designated growth incentive zone and downtown development district.
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“We asked developers in the beginning … ‘what do we do’ in such an area?” Farrell said. “They said you have to go up to deal with (potential) flooding issues.”
Farrell was otherwise enthusiastic Crossing would benefit the community.
“This is probably the best project to come down to Main Street in 60 years,” he said. “This is the kind of project the town of Bourne needs to make progress.”
Former selectman George Slade told planners the Crossing — when completed — would represent a $100 million property valuation for the town.
Board review continues Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Main Street Community Center.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Developers of Bourne apartment project address flooding concerns
