By Sarah Gardner
For the Gazette
GRANBY — Families in Granby gathered Monday to sound off about plans for a 76-lot subdivision near the Belchertown line, saying the construction would ruin the quiet cul-de-sac where they live.
About 30 people attended the Granby Planning Board’s public hearing for the proposal by Michael and Scott Pio of P.C. Development LLC., of Ludlow. The 157-acre site is located north of Carver Street near its intersection with Munsing Ridge.
The Pios’ proposal would extend an already-existing section of houses on Munsing, where most of the meeting attendees live.
“We’ve always known more development for the area was planned, but I’m aghast at 76 houses,” Cory Lawler, who has lived on nearby Carver Street for four years, said. “There’s already too much traffic, and adding these lots will be too much.”
The area has been slated for development since the approximately dozen houses on Munsing Ridge, an area not owned by the Pios, were built. The property planned for future development is mostly woodland right now.
The current plan for the development would take out the cul-de-sac at the end of Munsing and extend the street to loop through the site and back to Carver Street to the north. Many of the attendees said they did not want the cul-de-sac removed.
“There are 12 children under the age of 14 in the houses on Munsing Ridge,” Jen Feldman, who has lived on the street for 10 years, said. “Part of the reason most of us chose to live here is for that cul-de-sac, where many of our children play. It would be a serious hazard to remove it and allow the cars of 76 more houses to regularly drive through.”
Michael and Scott Pio said at the meeting they were willing to change the plans to allow the cul-de-sac to stay, but that there must be two entry points to the neighborhood in order to comply with Granby’s regulations on the length of a dead-end street.
Feldman and many others at the meeting also said although they had been told when they moved in the rest of the area would be developed, they had not been informed of the plans to eliminate the cul-de-sac.
Glenn Sexton, chairman of the Planning Board, said the board would have to find the original plans for the development in order to confirm what real estate brokers should have told families who moved into houses on Munsing Ridge.
The board also said Granby Police would be consulted about running a traffic study in the area to address traffic concerns.
Residents also expressed concern about whether any trees in the area would be conserved or replaced, the exact boundaries of the lot, which the Pios said they bought four years ago, and whether the area could supply enough water for wells at 76 houses.
The developers said they planned to construct the road in one phase and then sell the lots.
“That worries me, because it’s a huge lot,” John Pelham, who lives on Munsing Ridge, said. “Even if Granby suddenly sees a lot of growth, it will take years to sell those lots, which means we’ll be dealing with construction for decades.”
The Planning Board suggested to the developers that they begin construction on the opposite end of the planned street, in order to minimize the effect of construction on current residents.
The construction of the road would most likely take between two and three years, the developers said.
The Pios some time ago had considered a five-stage building plan for the site in which they would build the road and lots in segments, but that idea was scrapped.
“This is meant to alleviate residents from the level of construction that would have been involved if we proceeded with the original five-stage building plan,” Michael Pio said. “If we build it in one phase and then start selling lots, we hope it won’t affect current residents over as long of a period of time.”
James Trompke, vice chairman of the Planning Board, said the board would not allow lots to be sold until the road is complete.
The board gave P.C. Development until Sept. 11 to revise its proposal according to the suggestions made at the public hearing.
The next public hearing regarding the subdivision is scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 14.