Whately Housing Committee Gets First Engineering Findings on 268 State Road Site

WHATELY — June 15, 2026 — Whately Housing Committee receives first on-site engineering findings for 268 State Road affordable housing study. The committee heard a progress report from Chris of Berkshire Design Group at its June 15 meeting, learning that test pit excavations confirmed sandy soils with relatively high groundwater at the former Lobster Pot restaurant site — conditions that will require any new septic system to be mounded above grade. Berkshire Design's soil evaluator also located original plans for the existing on-site septic system, built around 1990 or 1991, opening a discussion of whether components could be reused and reducing development costs, though the system's proximity to the river and its 20-plus years of non-use raise regulatory questions under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act that will need review by Conservation Commission agent Scott Jackson. Wetland flagging was scheduled for June 16 and survey fieldwork for June 18, with a completed survey plan and early theoretical site layouts — including unit count scenarios — expected before the committee's next meeting on July 13.