WILTON – A public hearing by the state Department of Environmental Services Wetlands Bureau to take comments on a controversial wetlands crossing drew a full court room June 27.

San-Ken Homes Inc. of New Ipswich is requesting a permit to dredge 975 square feet within an intermittent stream bed and install a 36-inch diameter 40-foot embedded culvert as part of a seven-lot subdivision on Barrett Hill Road. The new driveway would serve one single-family residence. An embedded culvert has a natural bottom to assist wildlife passage.

Barrett Hill Road is in the Davisville Section of town, a dead-end gravel road which was recently declared ‘scenic.’ The subdivision is opposed by the majority of the abutters.

The hearing was conducted by Stefanie Petreault of the Wetlands Bureau. The hearing was recorded.

The proceedings, while emotional and sometimes heated, were polite.

After some deliberation at the close of the hour-long hearing, the Petreault said, because of the many comments and opinions they had received, they would keep the hearing open until July 27 to give more people time to respond. The Bureau has 45 days after the close of the hearing to make a decision.

Most of the comments made were concerned with protecting the environment: the wildlife, vernal pools, and possible pollution of near-by Mill and Stony Brooks. Mentioned were endangered turtles, as well frogs and salamanders who breed in the vernal pools.

Other comments cited inconsistencies in the presented plan, that the plan was not a “minimal disturbance’ but a major one, a lack of communication between boards and agencies and a general distrust of the developers.

One abutter summed it up eloquently: “What is missing is the voice of frogs and salamanders, the squirrels, foxes, bear and deer, the voice of the land itself. There are errors and omissions in the design. There are no maps documenting the land. Water always flows downstream. The impact isn’t only on this place.”

Long-time resident Tom Schultz, who lives in the area and is not an abutter, presented the other side, saying he had no stakes in the plan. “People need a place to live. There is a limit to the amount of land for housing. We are not yet built out as some towns are. We can’t have no more development.”

He noted that there are few older houses in the area. “Everything there has been built in the last 20 years.”

The applicant’s engineer said his company “did look at vernal pools” and at various streams. “We tried for the least impact possible.” Comments may be emailed to WetlandsApplicationPublicComments@des.nh.gov or mailed to NHDES, 29 Hazen Drive, PO Box 95, Concord, NH 03302-0095, or hand delivered to that address.