Freetown Planning Board Continues Claremont Way Subdivision Hearing to December

FREETOWN — November 12, 2024 — Freetown Planning Board continues Claremont Way eight-lot subdivision hearing amid sharp drainage disputes. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to push the hearing on James Simmons's proposed 600-foot extension of Claremont Way — and seven new single-family homes on a 16.6-acre parcel at 32 Middlebore Road — to a December 3 meeting, pending a second review by town peer reviewer Environmental Partners Group. Cranberry farmer Frank Ashley of Keen Road told the board his bogs sit six feet below the proposed infiltration basin's floor, with a restrictive clay layer between them, and that concentrating 16 acres of runoff into the basin could infiltrate petroleum products into his federally regulated crop water supply, potentially voiding his sales contracts. Engineer Jason Youngquist of Outback Engineering Incorporated said the oversized basin — engineered for a storm exceeding ten inches of rainfall, beyond the required 100-year standard — would not raise groundwater elevation on abutting properties and would actually reduce wetland flows compared to pre-development conditions. A second abutter raised concerns about calculation errors flagged in the first peer review, which cited numerous incorrect hydrocad figures, and the board said it would not move forward until Environmental Partners confirmed all calculations are correct.