ZBA approves special exception for single-family home with wetland-buffer mitigation on Bridal/Dunstable Road

The Nashua Zoning Board of Adjustment on May 12 approved a special exception allowing Marathon Building & Development to impact roughly 1,290 square feet of a 20-foot wetland buffer at 55A Bridal/Dunstable Road to construct a single-family home.

Engineer Jim Petropolis, representing Marathon, said his firm resumed the project after a prior consultant closed and that a resurvey showed a narrow buildable area that made some buffer encroachment necessary. Petropolis described the buffer as primarily mowed lawn and said proposed mitigation would include conservation markers, native wetland plantings, and erosion and sediment controls. “When the work is done, the buffer will be reseeded and planted with native wetland plants as requested by the Conservation Commission,” he said.

Petropolis walked the board through the special-exception criteria for wetland-buffer impacts and said the Conservation Commission had approved the plan with three conditions, which the applicant accepted. Board members noted the site is challenging to develop without a limited buffer impact, agreed the applicant used a least-damaging approach and concluded the proposal met the required criteria.

The board voted to approve the special exception; the decision incorporated the Conservation Commission conditions and recognized that additional details and erosion controls will be reviewed during planning-board site-plan approval.