It's hard to imagine a developer planning a project, spending gobs of money to design it and get it approved, but with no intention of finishing it.

The reality is, some projects hit the skids somewhere between the permit and the shovel, leaving a gaping hole and plenty of annoyed neighbors behind.

That's why the Planning Board requires cash bonds on projects – bonds that act like bail. The developer doesn't get the money back until the project is finished and meets all the required conditions. It sounds like the simple solution until you throw an anemic economy into the mix, a buy-shy market and climbing construction costs.

The issue of cash bonds surfaced Monday night at the Planning Board's meeting, after the board took no action on Sherman Woods' developers' request for street name approval since the development hasn't met several required conditions, like meeting with the board prior to construction. No building permits will be issued until these conditions are met, Senior Planner Valerie Massard said, and staff has been closely monitoring the work.

"We've been out there every day," Director of Planning and Development Lee Hartmann said. "It's been a struggle to get them to follow the rules and regulations we have in place."

The project, which includes construction of 14 single-family homes, is located off Standish Avenue behind the Cold Spring Elementary School.  

Later, Planning Board member Malcolm MacGregor noted that a sand and gravel removal operation at Plymouth Regional Economical Development Foundation's Hedges Pond Road land has been going on for years in preparation for a development that simply hasn't happened. This and the Wadsworth development off Herring Pond Road are, essentially, gravel pits and eyesores, MacGregor said. The board needs to explore ways to have these projects cleaned up and made more presentable while the town waits for the developer to finish them.

If the projects aren't completed as planned, why can't the town use the cash bond to complete them, Planning Board member Tim Grandy wanted to know.

It's one thing to use bond money to complete an unfinished street or catch basin, Hartmann said, but it's another to trespass on private property to complete homes. This would expose the town to liability, he added, because the owner could sue if anything went haywire with construction. Cash bonds are designed as punitive, not as a way for the town to step in to complete a project. There are limited means of enforcement, he added. The building commissioner can level fines, cease and desist orders and withhold building permits on developments that don't meet the required conditions.

But in many cases the developer's financial circumstances have changed, rendering completion of the project impossible. In other cases, the developer simply can't sell the houses, so the project can't be finished, Hartmann added.

"This is the worst situation since the Depression," Hartmann said, referencing the current economy.

"I think it's a sensitive subject, and our hands are tied more than we'd like them to be," Planning Board Chairman Marc Garrett said. He suggested the board have the town's attorneys, Kopelman & Paige, pay a visit and answer questions regarding what the board can and can't do to get these unfinished projects completed.

Massard noted that 10 years ago, when she started at her post, the town had 200 unfinished projects, while today there are four or five outstanding. The town's planning staff has been diligently working to wrap up these developments and sand and gravel operations, Hartmann said. 

The board can revisit the sand and gravel bylaw and ask to meet with Kopelman & Paige, Hartmann said. He's already scheduling such a meeting with the Zoning Board of Appeals and suggested the Planning Board participate in this meeting as well. In response to Grandy's request, Hartmann said he would determine how many cash bonds are currently outstanding in Plymouth.