| > This weekend, I looked at a new subdivision in Maynard called Vose
> Hill Farms (off Rte. 27 just before PKO). I am looking for information
> on the builder, the quality of construction, and whether this
> is a good location to live in.
The subdivision was designed by Robert Quirk, who sold it to a builder named
Capobianco. Quirk is well known, most recently for his contribution of
$250,000 to the St. Botolph Trust/Harold Brown/Tom Finnerty/Bill Bulger
business. I am surely not going to comment on that in a notesfile. I'll let
the Globe and Channel 2 get the Senate President ruffled and I will
leave DEC out of it.
I'm less familiar with Capobianco, with regard to quality of construction, etc.
I will snoop around and send you mail.
> I've read some of the entries here regarding the mud slide(s?) last
> year. I figure it must have been because the main road has not
> been paved yet, and once the roads are paved, the mud slide(s) will
> go away. Is this a valid assumption?
The mud slide was not related to the road. Drive into the subdivision and as
you travel up the incline, notice the steep hill to your right covered with
round boulders. The problem was that excessive erosion caused a rock slide,
and there were boulders all over the road. The developer's fix was to replace
the boulders and pour small stones around them, to lessen erosion. Is this an
adequite solution? I don't have the expertise to say. However, the head of the
Maynard Conservation Commission, who is concerned about this and other drainage
issues at Vose Hill, contrasts this construction technique with that used by
Digital Equipment on a hill at the new Powder Mill Road building. DEC used
flat boulders instead of round ones, with the flat face out. Water runs down
the face of flat boulders and no erosion exists.
The whole question of drainage is up in the air at that development. The
developer recently asked the Maynard Planning Board to waive their previous
requirement for a retention pond, to handle drainage at the rear of the hill,
toward PKO, and the town boards are arguing this.
OK, you're trying to figure out whether to buy a house there or not. The only
property threatened by the rock slide was immediately above it, and I believe
that house is already sold, so you're clear there. The real concern for the
newer houses is drainage and erosion. At a minimum, I suggest approaching this
with some scepticism. Perhaps tour the area in a rainstorm. If you happen to
know a civil engineer, you might try to tour him around. You will have to
decide whether to buy now, or to wait until the drainage scheme is designed and
implemented, and then decide. Not an easy decision.
-Steve
|
| A recent newsletter from the Maynard Neighborhood Preservation Assoc.
has lots of information about how Vose Hill was built, problems with
it, etc. Between that an articles in the Beacon, I'd be inclined to
stay away from it. There are many nice older and younger homes for sale
in Maynard in this soft housing market in the price range of Vose Hill.
Every morning I run past a nice 4 bedroom on Mockingbird Lane (or on
whatever the street Mockingbird is off of) for instance. This is a very
nice house that backs up to woods, on flat land. And that's only one
example.
Why risk trouble when there's so many good options available?
|