Just added Daphne Designs Her Dream Kitchen to the Sudbury River House story pages.
Category: RIVER HOUSE (Page 1 of 3)
I just finished watching the December 11th Concord Natural Resources Commission meeting and they approved our plan with no required changes beyond what we had proposed. Woo hoo.
They mentioned a bunch of clauses (by number in the meeting) that we have to adhere to, but I assume those were all expected.
In 2017, Concord, MA passed a tree preservation bylaw to encourage the preservation and protection of trees on residential lots during significant demolition and/or construction activity. Since we are planning both significant demolition and construction activity, the law applies to our project.
Basically, if you take down any trees over 6″ in diameter, you either have to plant replacement trees (adding up to 1/2 of the total diameter inches removed) or pay $350 per inch into the town’s tree fund. Unfortunately, we are forced to remove a lot of trees as part of this project. But there is some good news. The tree preservation bylaw does not include the trees in the 100′ wetlands zone. The trees within 100′ of the wetlands are handled by the Concord Natural Resource Commission, and although the NRC wants to see replacement plantings, there is no corresponding pay per inch bylaw for those trees.
Here is the current plot plan showing the disposition of the trees. TBR means “to be removed”. Anything to the right of the green line is in the 100′ near-wetlands zone and is not subject to the tree preservation bylaw. (The red line is the required setback for the building from the street, which has no impact on the trees, but has a big impact on the placement of the house.) All the trees subject to the bylaw have been numbered by the arborist (T1 – T15). Four of those trees have to be removed (T3 – T6, also marked a A – D). But two of those are too small to count. That leaves us with two 18″ diameter trees for which we need to compensate the town.
The arborist is proposing planting a total of 6 replacement trees, each with a 2″ diameter. That gets us to 12 total inches. Since we do not meet the threshold of 18 total inches (one half of what is being removed), we have to pay into the town tree fund for the rest – $2,250. We can still adjust the ratio of plantings to payment, and we have not figured out where the 6 new trees would go. But it could have been a lot worse.
Also added to the plan by the arborist are yellow boundaries, which will be tree protection fences. This is different from the siltation barrier that we also have to install during construction to protect the wetlands. The siltation barrier is shown on the plot as a thick dashed line.
By the way, the plan is to cut a wide path from the road through the foliage running between the two yellow tree protection fences, and right through tree D. That will be used as the access point for all construction vehicles and heavy equipment. When construction is done, we will replant that area.
The Natural Resources Commission meeting is scheduled for the evening of December 11th. We submitted our packet on November 20th, and now we wait for that meeting. Unfortunately, there seems to be five projects being discussed that evening so I do not know how late the meeting will run.
We are also waiting to hear back from the four builders to whom we submitted the design packet. All four have visited the property (although I was only there to meet with two of them). None have asked for extensions, so we expect to get their proposals on December 9th. Their details and pricing will then be collated by our architect and we will schedule meetings with each of them during the week of December 12th to select whom we will work with.
We also had an arborist visit the property to evaluate the trees that we need to remove and those we want to try to save. One tree we were hoping to save turns out to be too close to the proposed location for the new septic system so it has to come down. Tree removal is a big deal in Concord. Any trees that are not in the purview of the Natural Resources Commission are subject to a tree removal law, which means we have to replace them or pay the town based on the diameter of the tree. We will end up doing a mix of the two but I expect tens of thousand of dollars just to compensate the town for the loss of trees (welcome to the liberal Northeast).
Tomorrow we get the existing house evaluated for hazardous materials. I know that there was or is asbestos flooring, but we need an accurate assessment since it impact the demolition process. The one builder whom I talked to thought that the demolition process would only take a day, but I think that is being optimistic.
The two builders I did meet both estimated around 14 months for the build process (starting in April 2025). I am not holding my breath, but it would be nice not to have to drag out the process for years.
Finally, last weekend, we actually started the build process. Ben and I went to the property and replaced the old mailbox with a brand new one. One with a working door (the old one’s door had long since broken off). Here is a picture of the new mailbox (sorry, I obscured the house number). Fortunately, the post was still in good shape, since replacing the post would probably have been beyond my abilities.
This is a view from our (eventual) backyard taken on November 17th. The water level is quite low.
This is approximately the same view one week later. There were a few inches of rain the day before and you can see the difference in the water level in our little inlet.
We have been scouting where we will trample our path down to the river to put in our boats. We are allowed by law to have an unimproved path on our property through the wetlands to the river. Since we can not really remove or cut any non-invasive vegetation, this means that we will trample our way to the river, in hopes that eventually we have a dirt path.
The path will go to the right of that tree you see, but then angle towards the inlet and follow the edge of the inlet towards the river proper. If the water level is high, we will put boats in on the side of the inlet. If the water level is low, we will go further to the river. At least that is the plan.
Today, our engineering firm submitted a packet to the Concord Natural Resource Commission describing our project. Now we wait for the first hearing, which is December 11th. There will probably be a second hearing in January (and hopefully that will be it).
You can click on the text image above to read the whole (one page) narrative for the project. I am not posting the entire package (it’s mostly a lot of forms and a few diagrams). But once we get through the approval, I will add a story page about the whole process.
This morning the Concord Water Department came by the house and ripped out the water meter, literally. This is the first step in shutting off water to the property. The next step is to make a hole in our driveway to turn off the valve.
This has to be done before we demolish the house and I felt that I might as well get it done before winter to reduce the possibility of a water problem due to frozen pipes (even though I have the heat on in the house, set at 50F).
As part of the build process, the water department will have to dig up the street in front of the house and put in a new water pipe from the street to the house. But we will deal with that later.
Meanwhile, last minute preparations are being done to submit our plans to the Concord Natural Resources Commission. The submission is due today (Nov 20) for a first hearing on December 11th. As part of the process, we discovered that the initial survey did not include all the trees on the South side of the proposed house location, and when we corrected that we found four more trees that need to be taken down. Sigh.
Since the Sudbury River house will be within 100′ of wetlands, the Concord Natural Resource Commission has the power to approve or decline the plan to build our new house (which means we would be forced to adjust the plans). On the negative side, we are increasing the footprint of the house to be approximately double that of the existing house. We are also taking down 4 trees within the 100′ zone (plus 3 or 4 more outside of the 100′ zone). On the plus side, we will be volunteering to relocate the septic system. The existing septic system is closer than 50′ to the wetlands, and the proposed replacement (which will not be any larger) will be completely outside of the 100′ zone. We will also be removing the old house, a corner of which currently intrudes into the 50′ feet no-build zone, but is grandfathered in place.
The other thing we will add to our proposal, on the plus side of the equation, is our plan to remove invasive species and add (plant) a lot of native trees and plants. When we meet with the Natural Resources Commission, we have to include the plans for this, at least the portions of which fall within the 100′ zone. Today, we reviewed the first pass of a plan from our landscape architect.
This is the plan. The big circles that are empty except for a single dot and the letters “EX” are existing trees. None of those will be removed or impacted. Everything else that is round is new. (Although the three LP tanks on the side of the garage are not technically native plants). You can also see the proposed granite tiled walkway that will lead from the driveway to the front door and to the deck.
(The current plan is to actually block the entrance to the deck from the walkway with a moveable planter. The reason is encourage package deliveries and guests to use the front door. During an outdoor party, we can move the planter and have our friends just go directly onto the deck.)
The river side of the house will have a small lawn, which is not marked, but already exists. This will be mostly in front of the living room, at center of the house, within the 50′ zone (it is grandfathered in place). The area between the front of the house and the road (bottom of the diagram) is still under discussion. It will be above the septic system so planting things with large roots is not possible. We are thinking of a small lawn for sitting outside or a small meadow area. But, since it is outside of the 100′ zone, we do not have to make a decision at this time.
There is currently a line of thick vegetation at the edge of the road hiding the house from the road. We will be forced to cut some of this down during the build process to provide a path for the heavy equipment, but we plan on replacing that vegetation boundary once the house is built. It provides some nice noise isolation from the road (although the road is not a busy street).
For reference, here is the current list of proposed trees and plants. If you have any opinions, you are free to add a comment.
Our next step is to review this proposal so the entire documentation packet can be put together for the Natural Resources Commission by November 20th (the deadline to make the December 11th meeting).
By the way, in case you were wondering, the Natural Resource Commission will monitor the plantings that we put in place for five years and require us to replace anything that dies. I think they do this with a yearly site visit, but I am not completely sure of the details. We will need to be diligent about watering to get it properly established.
We have selected four builders / general contractors from which to solicit initial bids on our project and four packets went out today. I have included a copy of the cover letter below so you can get an idea of the process.
The preliminary drawings and specifications include a lot of details, all the way down to fixtures, trim and downspouts. All four builders were previously contacted and expressed interest so this is not a surprise to them (other than being a week later than promised).
I am not going to post all the details from the packet, but I will share this updated picture showing the house seen from the river side. It has siding, windows, deck railings and under-deck lattice. (And downspouts.)
Next for us is a review of the initial proposal for the landscaping that we plan on submitting to the natural resources commission as part of the approval process. They also get all the specifications we have prepared (and although the NRC does not care about fixtures, they do care about downspouts, foundations, septic systems, everything external to the house and counting the rooms.
Its been 10 days since my last update. Things have been busy, although mostly for our architect.
We have two big activities coming up. Activity one is getting approval for the design from the Concord Natural Resource Commission (NRC). They have to approve the plans, because the house will be within 100′ of wetlands (although we are more than 200′ from the river, which helps). The NRC wants to know all the exterior details, so we need the complete design, plans for putting in a new septic system, locations of things like the external heating/cooling systems, back up power generator, and which trees need to be removed, as well as our plans for remediation (replacement plantings).
We have not engaged a mechanical engineer yet so the heating/cooling details are not fully worked out, but we have a preliminary plan for what will be placed outside the house and are hoping that it is mostly accurate. Meanwhile, next week we meet with a landscape architect with whom we have engaged, to do a site visit. She will be proposing the replacement trees and plantings that will be part of the plan presented to the NRC. A representative from our site engineering firm will be doing the presentation (he has experience with the NRC) and he expects it will take two different monthly meetings to get approval (hopefully the December and January meetings). We have discarded our plans to seek a special zoning exemption for a taller roof, so we will not need any unusual zoning approvals.
I have attached a copy of the sewage disposal plan to give you some sense of what the engineering firm has been doing. I do not expect you to read the details. But the thicker black rectangles in the plot plan will be the new leeching field and septic tank. The existing one is behind the garage and is too close to the wetlands; and, although it is grandfathered in, relocating it will make the NRC happy.
Activity two is preparing a packet to present to builders for pricing. The architect has selected four builders to initially engage, all of whom she has experience with and who have expressed an interest in the project and can start in the spring. The architect gives the builders a complete package with as many details as possible, and the builders come back with estimated costs and schedule. Then we pick one.
We are still working to select specialists to design the mechanical system (heat pumps, duct work), electrical system and plumbing. We are putting extra care into the design of the electrical system to reduced internal EMF and magnetic fields as much as possible.
Speaking of which, our EMF consultant has said that boxy rooms with square walls make for a lot of reflection of electrical fields but also acoustic waves (i.e. the room will be noisy). We can not really do much for the main living room, but we are toying with the idea of slanted walls and ceilings in both the master bedroom and the gaming room.
You can see the proposed two slanted walls in this diagram. What you can not see is are the proposed cathedral ceilings. Because the space ends up being so unusual, it helps to see a 3D model of the space, so I have attached two images of the expected gaming room space. The door on the left side of the first image leads out to the porch. There are shelves (for games, of course) along both the North and West walls; and a Murphy bed taking up part of the wall (behind our lovely model in blue).
As part of the planning for the septic system, we were forced to raise the floor of the main level by about a foot, which puts further pressure on the second floor. I have posted some more details at the bottom of this page, including a 3D model of the family room space to give you an idea of the impact of lowering the roof into that space.
Finally, I have updated the pictures and floor plans that I previously added to the main Sudbury River House page. You can go there for the latest design diagrams.
