Report: Northpointe Development Denied

The Marlboro Planning Board unanimously denied the Northpointe housing application, according to a report in the Independent.

The vote came at the board’s Dec. 4 meeting and was based on a municipal law that governs storm water management procedures, according to the report.

Northpointe had proposed building 299 market-rate homes, 85 low and moderate-income homes and one caretaker unit. Previously, board members were concerned about residents converting large dens into extra bedrooms, increasing the estimated number of school children coming from the development.

An estimated 260 school children were expected and Planning Board members said if half of the large dens in market-rate housing were converted to bedrooms that number could double.

Northpointe's revised site plan included one dry retention basin and one pond, which runs off into Gravelly Brook. Board members had questioned possible flooding across Thornton Road as water travels to the brook, but Northpointe representatives were confident pervious ground would limit any road flooding.

At the Dec. 5 meeting, board planner and engineer Laura Neumann said the detention basin met only 45 percent of Marlboro’s infiltration requirement for a two-year storm, but the system could possibly have been brought into compliance if not for the scope of the proposed development, according to the Independent’s report.