Habitat hopefuls find humanity in others

Thursday, July 29, 2010

MILFORD – Everything looked good on paper when the Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity purchased Lot 26 on Tonella Road last year, planning to build a duplex for two local families. In August of 2006, Tim Ferwerda, a soil and wetlands scientist for Meridian Land Services, had surveyed the lot, determining that the thin sliver close to the road was suitable for building despite an “extremely high” water table. The following April, the Milford Zoning Board of Adjustment informed Patricia Berntson, then owner of the property, that she would receive the special exception she needed to build a two-family home 12 feet closer to the road than required by zoning ordinance. “I thought there was some dry land along the road,” Ferwerda said during a telephone interview on Tuesday . “It was fairly marginal.” Ferwerda’s stamp of approval occupies a prominent place on a 2006 town planning map used in 2008 when Berntson sold the lot to Marc “Cappy” deMontigny, a local businessman who purchased the lot for access to water and sewer lines that he could connect to his home, just up the road. According to Dana Mac-Allister, the town building inspector, the town issued a building permit to deMontigny on May 21, 2008, giving him the go-ahead to build a single-family using town utilities, on the slim lot. The permit allowing deMontigny was “suspended” on September 26, 2008, MacAllister said, adding that he didn’t know why. During a telephone interview on Tuesday, DeMontigny said he hadn’t planned to sell the Tonella Road lot but changed his mind after he heard that the Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity was looking for land. Habitat wanted to build a duplex for two families who had qualified for its program. The Milford lot had already been approved for the construction of a two-family house, and the soil had been tested by experts who identified a narrow slice of buildable land within a lot that was mostly wetlands. At the time, the real estate market was “red hot,” said Habitat volunteer Rob Gual, who was serving on a committee looking for land or foreclosed properties. “It was really hard finding opportunities,” he said. According to MacAllister, who was reading from town records, BAG Land Consultants of Concord conducted a wetlands delineation test on deMontigny’s property on July 17, 2008, identifying a narrow slice of land that was suitable for building. On January 9, 2009, Habitat closed on the property, agreeing to pay $105,000 for the 1.8 acre-lot located off Nashua Street, near the County Stores. The buyer had no reason to believe there would be a problem, given the existing soil tests and town building approvals. Meanwhile, the process moved forward: Habitat’s selection committee found two families who qualified, based on work history, income and ability to make mortgage payments, and in the spring, volunteers, including the future homeowners, began clearing the lot in preparation for laying the foundation. “We had a pile of brush 12 feet high and 20 feet wide, 30 feet long,” said Bob Hughes, one of the prospective homeowners. “For weeks, we were chipping and breaking up piles, burning it.” About two months ago, a crew from Robert Todd Land Consultants in New Boston arrived at the site, prepared to pin, or mark, the boundaries of the foundation, a topographical survey. But the building project was halted after a crew member, who is also a soil scientist, noticed both fill, and some plants commonly found in wet soil. To satisfy his curiosity, Richard Kohler, the soil scientist, used an augur to delve into the earth and collect a sample. “It indicated that the soil was saturated,” Todd said. “They decided there was no benefit to doing further work and packed up and came back to the office.” Habitat contracted with another surveyor who confirmed that the slim section of land that previous surveys had identified as buildable, was not. “We were stuck,” Gual said. “Two opinions were that it was wetlands. … We didn’t know what to do.” State law provides some leeway for building on wetlands, but typically permission is granted to large, commercial applicants such as Wal-Mart, Gual said. When applicants receive approval, however, they learn that the process is expensive, and that there are no guarantees that the project will work out. “So we’re kind of in a pickle,” Gual said on Tuesday, repeating what he had said last week after learning that the Hughes family, selected to occupy one side of the proposed duplex on Tonella Road, was on the verge of homelessness. Meanwhile, town and Habitat officials are trying to figure out why soil scientists reached such different opinions. “Hopefully, they will work this out, and they can still build,” MacAllister said. But Robert Todd, the New Boston soil scientist, was not so optimistic. Todd speculated that fill might have been added to the site before the last soil test, covering clues, such as foliage, that would indicate wet soil. He said that previous surveyors may not have observed the fill, but he emphasized that this was a guess, and a “possibility.” Town Planner Sarah Marchant wondered if the change in soil conditiions were the result of an above average rainfall over the past several years, including the devastating Mother’s Day Flood in 2006 And State Climatologist Mary Stampone, a faculty member in the geography department at the University of New Hampshire, said that the removal of trees on the property could have altered the water table. “If you take out the trees, the wetland area might expand,” she said. But Todd, the land use expert, said it was “highly unlikely” that rainfall would change the water table. “It takes years of saturation, without the presence of oxygen,” he said. And Marc deMontigny, the Milford businessman who sold the lot to Habitat for Humanity, said he’s still scratching his head, trying to figure out what changed. “Before I bought it, a survey was done and the ZBA gave approval for an 18-foot setback,” de Montigny said, referring to the 2006 survey by Meridian. “It’s very strange.” Asked if he had any theories, deMontigny said he believes the recent surveys are inaccurate. “I believe they need to go out and map where Meridian plotted,” he said. “When Meridian did it, they said it’s buildable. They checked. So something’s not right.” Hattie Bernstein can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 24, or hbernstein@cabinet.com.