Due to what Chair Carl Staley called “too many outstanding issues” with the proposal, the Peterborough Planning Board voted to grant a continuation on an application for a four-lot subdivision on 16 acres at 238 Old Greenfield Road Monday night. 

Developers Aaron Seppala and Daniel Aho have applied to build four three-bedroom houses on the property.

“This has to be rethought. We are recommending you take more time,” Staley told Aho. “Rather than us trying to come up with a list of things that have to be resolved, we recommend you keep working with the Building Department.”

After hearing concerns about flooding on the property,  Aho asked if they could make one unit a duplex.

“With this much frontage, we were hoping for eight lots, and now we are down to four lots and now maybe three,” he said. “We need to be able to move forward on this and make it work.” 

Engineer Troy Rich of Graz Engineering, who presented the site plan of the project for Aho and Seppala, said FEMA was supposed to have released new 100-year floodplain maps as of May 1. 

“We have an updated flood line from FEMA,  but it has not been finalized yet,” Rich said. “If and when the new flood line goes into effect, it will affect this site plan, and we will have to make some adjustments.” 

Town Planner Danica Melone confirmed that the wetlands overlay protection will not allow any modifications to the landscape within the floodplain, including grading. Currently, the site plan for Lot 3 shows that some grading for the septic tank would fall within the new flood line.

Rich said he should be able to “shift things down a bit”  to comply with the updated floodplain line and alter the plan for Lot 3 to comply with the new regulations. 

“There is enough room to fit everything on Lot 3. The house grading would be out of the flood zone,” he said. “We can still make this work if the new flood line goes into effect.”

Melone said that lots three and four would require a wildlife habitat survey from the New Hampshire Division of Natural Resources.

Several abutters said they have witnessed regular flooding on the property and questioned how building would be possible. A previous home on the property was abandoned due to flood damage. 

Robin and Leslie Kenney, who lives across the road from the proposed development, said it was “laughable” that anyone would try to build houses on the land.

“Our house is much higher up, and our basement is wet,” Leslie Kenney said.  “The first time I met (previous owner) Elizabeth Swan,  she was crying because there was so much water in her basement. These lots are really wet all the time, except Lot 4, which is further up the hill, and the beavers are making it way wetter all the time.”

Jane Graves, who lives next door to the Kenneys, shared photos of what the land looks like during a flood. 

“You can see in the photos from 2007 that Old Greenfield Road is underwater. The culvert is not enough, and even if you widen it, it would not be enough to take the water away during a 100-year flood,” she said. “There was an actual whirlpool the last time it flooded.” 

Graves added that the area is home to abundant wildlife, including  beavers, bears and amphibians.

The board passed a motion to continue the hearing for 60 days and meet again on June 9.

“We will come back with a revised plan,” Rich said.