Water Wizz proposes removing, recreating wetland for additional parking

Water Wizz is looking to expand the amount of parking available on site by removing and replacing wetland next to the park and renovating the current gravel parking lot.

Owner David Darling accompanied by attorney Eric Brainsky of Brainsky Levinson law firm and civil engineer Taylor Dowdy of the engineering firm BSC Group presented the proposal to the Planning Board Monday, Nov. 10.

The group is proposing to increase the number of parking spaces to 290 by filling in an approximately 4,000 square foot wetland located just south east of the current parking lot and create more parking there and paving over the current gravel parking and installing lights and landscaping to help fix Water Wizz’s parking issues.

“For quite some time it’s been a bit of a free-for-all out there with folks parking all over the lot and going down to the railroad tracks and the area adjacent to the wetland and just kind of parking haphazardly,” Brainsky said.

Darling said he would work with Dowdy and an outside wetland botanist to recreate an 11,000 square foot wetland just east of the proposed parking lot.

In order to recreate the 11,000 square foot wetland, Darling said the wetland botanist would pick the soils, plants, insects and reptiles to introduce into the designated area.

According to Dowdy, he worked with wetland scientists from his firm while developing the proposal who determined the wetland “did not provide any ecological value.” 

And Director of Planning and Community Development Josh Faherty agreed, calling the area an “isolated vegetated wetland,” meaning it is a wetland not connected to any other body of water.

The project is still in the planning and developing stages and is pending Planning Board approval.