The Peterborough Planning Board is asking the developers of Walden Eco Village to finalize their plans to add new housing in Peterborough.
On Monday night, applicant Akhil Garland, on behalf of the Garland Family Trust and Chad Branon from Fieldstone Land Consultants LLC addressed the board about their plans for a 20-lot subdivision of the property, located on Middle Hancock Road in Peterborough. The proposed plan includes subdividing the current seven cottages and 13 new three-bedroom homes into quarter-acre lots.
Garland said some of the buildings on the property need to be torn down and removed, and collaboration with the board is key to finishing the proposed subdivision.
“We want to create something together. We are excited about this project after doing nothing with it for three years,” said Garland. “We really want to work with the board.”
Eco Village has been before Planning Board since 2020, when Garland described his plan to subdivide the property. The village was first designed and built prior to 2012, when the zoning ordinance was amended to include a wetland buffer zone. In December 2020, Code Enforcement Officer Tim Herlihy found multiple code violations and safety concerns, and the homes were not properly permitted as permanent residences.
In May, the Peterborough Zoning Board voted 3-2 to approve a variance to allow Walden Eco Village to keep 10 structures within the wetlands buffer. After three years of discussion and multiple lawsuits regarding permit and code violations, Planning Board member Sarah Steinberg Heller expressed concerns about the legitimacy of the project.
“To me, it shows a lack of vision for what needs to go on,” said Heller. “Please move forward and tell us you’re going to comply because it’s very alarming. I want this project to work, but it’s very frustrating.”
Heller also said Garland and developers are not listening to the board’s concerns about the project.
“It’s coming from a place of privilege,” said Heller. “You guys think you are above the Planning Board.”
Fire Chief Ed Walker evicted the tenants from 16 homes in December 2020, and said the applicants need to take responsibility for the mass eviction.
“I’ve been incredibly frustrated because I was put in possibly the worst position in my 40-year professional career on that night,” said Walker. “I have seen little or no acknowledgement from the owner to work with the town to correct those things to create something that is safe and habitable.”
Walker also said a discussion between Garland and him is long overdue.
“This is the first time I think we’ve had any conversation,” said Walker. “I have a level of embarrassment as a professional that we are still having this conversation 19 months later when I had to put these people out in the cold the week before Christmas.”
Shortly after they were evicted, a group of tenants sued Garland for damages, including the obligation to obtain housing, return of all deposits, moving expenses, towing expenses and storage fees, future rent in excess of that they were paying at Eco Village and past rent paid for what was represented to be legal residential dwelling units. That lawsuit was settled last month.
The Town of Peterborough was added as a third-party defendant in March 2021, as the plaintiffs alleged that the town’s cease-and-desist order with no prior notice was “unreasonable and unlawful” and only provided five days for tenants to vacate in the middle of the winter during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. That suit has not been resolved.
To conclude the meeting, the board agreed to give Garland and his team one month to finalize the details of the project, and will discuss the revisions at the board’s meeting Sept. 12.