A developer won approval from the Salem Town Board Monday for its plans to downsize some of the houses to be built in an already approved subdivision.
The move is designed to spur sales at the Heritage Estates Subdivision, said Mark S. Bourque, agent for the developer.
Originally the entire subdivision, which is located south of Highway C on the east side of Highway 83, had minimum house sizes required of 2,300 square feet for ranches and 2,900 sqaure feet for two-story homes.
The developer now plans to offer homes that size near the three existing houses in the subdivision, but then allow homes of 2,100 and 2,500 square feet in a center section and then 1,800 and 2,100 closest to the entrance, Bourque said.
“We’re hoping this is going to increase marektability of the development,” Bourque said.
The board unanimously approved the request to amend the subdivision’s conditions, covenants, restrictions and easements.
This will help alleviate future nuisance flooding to downhill neighboring residential properties once this is built-out from rain that exceed 4.5 inches per hour which is the 25-year design storm event WisDOT used to size culverts under State Trunk Highway 83. But, did the town also ammend the maintenance schedule how frequently the stormwater pond are to be removed too? This is important because developments sold as “brown lots” need ponds dredged within 2 or 3 years of when originally dug in highly erodable clayey soils which reduce the volume of water that can be stored as measured in acre-feet of water.