Planning board approves North Attleborough High School site plan with stormwater study and ConCom requirements

The North Attleborough Planning Board voted to approve a Level 3 major site plan special permit for the proposed North Attleborough High School, with added conditions tied to stormwater evaluation and Conservation Commission requirements.

The decision, moved by Rob Fitzgerald, the architect representing the applicant team, included elimination of condition four, modification of condition three, and the addition of two special conditions based on Department of Public Works comments. "We are here requesting approval of the North Attleboro High School project," Fitzgerald said during the presentation.

Fitzgerald told the board the project team has completed a traffic peer review and met with traffic engineers and that they have coordinated civil engineering work with Weston & Sampson. He said the applicant has hired an independent engineer to perform a groundwater study on a portion of the site east of the proposed high school, between the proposed building and Laurelwood, to "confirm groundwater levels and that the stormwater infiltration system that's planned there is the appropriate system to use" or whether the design should change to a detention system. He added that, "as part of an order of conditions with the ConCom we'll be providing test pits at each of the underground stormwater infiltration galleries" to verify groundwater elevations.

The board and applicant also discussed overlap between planning-board conditions and the Conservation Commission's order of conditions; Fitzgerald said Weston & Sampson will verify test pits on site under the ConCom stipulation. He explained the invoice workflow for peer-review and other consultant bills: the applicant submits invoices to Vertex, which processes monthly payments, and the school department funds those invoices rather than the town.

After the presentation and discussion, Fitzgerald moved to approve the site plan for the new North Attleborough High School at "one Wilson Woody Way or one Wilson West Woody Way" with the amendments described; the board called for the vote and members responded, "Aye."

The permit approval carries the conditions described above, and the applicant must complete the groundwater study and the ConCom-required test pits to confirm the stormwater system design before final engineering sign-off.