Hardscape & Paving Contractor in Walpole, MA

A curb cut permit from the Engineering Department is required for any new driveway or any widening of an existing one, and no building permit is granted until it is issued. Residential driveways are capped at 20 feet wide, with no more than two per lot.

The policy also controls materials at the street. Inside the public way the driveway has to be asphalt at least three inches thick; brick, stone and stamped concrete are not allowed there. A paver driveway is fine on your own land, with an asphalt apron where it meets the road.

In Residence A, Residence B and the Rural district, Walpole’s zoning allows 25 percent of a lot to be covered by structures and 40 percent by structures plus other impervious surface, and asks for 50 percent usable open space. A driveway, a patio and a pool deck all count toward the 40.

The bylaw also treats swimming pools and retaining walls as structures. A detached accessory structure 15 feet tall or less may sit 10 feet from the rear lot line.

About 70 percent of Walpole’s population is on town sewer, and roughly 30 percent of households, mostly in the more rural parts, use septic. If you are in the second group, the tank and leaching field have to be on the plan before a patio or pool is.

Over the town’s aquifers, a Water Resource Protection district limits a sewered single-family lot to 15 percent impervious, or 2,500 square feet if that is greater.

Walpole’s zoning speaks directly to excavation and filling for swimming pools and terracing. A residential job that moves less than 100 cubic yards in a year needs no earth-work permit; at 100 cubic yards or more a special permit applies, with an exception for pool and driveway work that goes with a permitted house.

Permits are filed online through the town’s ViewPoint portal. Work within 100 feet of a wetland, or 200 feet of a year-round stream, goes to the Conservation Commission.