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Home My WebLink About2024-08-28 Conservation Commission Minutese'� OFq� Town of Reading RECEIVED ^�9e, Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK {t• READING, MA. ,, ,�,oxooa. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2026 MAR 20 PM 4 20 Conservation Commission Date: 2024-08-28 Time: 07:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Select Board Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: Hybrid Meeting - Conservation Version: Final Commission Meeting Attendees: Members - Present: Brian Bowe, chair, Martha Moore, vice chair, Tony Rodolakis, Walter Talbot (remote) Members - Not Present: Craig Catalfamo, Chirag Sthalekar Others Present: Chuck Tirone, Conservation Administrator, Kaushal Patel, Kevin Quetti (remote), Tom Walsh (remote) Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Brian Bowe Topics of Discussion: This meeting was held in person and remotely via Zoom. Chair Brian Bowe called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. Public Hearings 1. 0 Cedar Swamp At applicant's request, continued to Sept 11, 2024. Martha Moore made a motion to continue to Sept 11; Tony Rodalakis seconded Approved by roll call vote 4-0: Walter Talbot yes, Tony Rodolakis yes, Martha Moore yes, Brian Bowe yes. 2. 566 West St — NOI Kevin Quetti presented project. Tony Rodalakis summarized the site visit the preceding Mon. • Wetland lines look pretty good • Took augur bores near stone wall; no wetland soil. • Trees to be trimmed have double leaders and the one to be removed has a fallen leader and rot. • 25' no disturb zone would take away most of the yard. Consultant proposed 5' zone. That 5' line follows a break in the slope. • When the driveway is replaced the applicant would add a stone trench on the side nearest the wetland • Test pit was done at areas where the infiltration would be placed. • Stockpile would be on the flat area near the existing play structure. It would need containment to prevent erosion. Walter Talbot spoke to his site visit. Page 1 1 • Along the street in front of the house there is an area of erosion which has clogged a storm drain, which in turn has pilled over onto the property with a line of erosion past the curb down in the stream. • There is a mesh fabric by the street that appears to be left over from previous erosion control • Many leaves along the property boundary along the stream that appear to have been blown or raked there. • In NE corner there are more leaves and grass clippings. • There is an iron pipe on the back left of the house. Kevin thinks it is a sewer pipe. This is based on a review of the sewer record. Martha suggested that there might be some risk of the sewer pipe freezing in the cold. The homeowner has been in the home for many years and has not seen that. Martha asked for information on the proposed driveway. Kevin said it would have a slight slope away from the house to prevent the current situation where they get water in the garage in spite of a slight bump they have put across the front of the garage. Martha said there should be a `See, Click. Fix" submitted to the town concerning the storm drain situation and Brian said he had submitted one that day. Brian: will the existing driveway be tom up and if so how will the material be handled? Kevin didn't know but would check. Brian said the limit of woark line on the plan runs very close to the shed that will be removed. There is a lot of cinder blocks, hardened bag of concrete and other things under the shed. Brian cautioned to be careful there to not cross the limit line. Kevin suggested they could move the erosion control to make more room. Brian wants a protective collar around the storm drain to prevent material from the site getting into the drain. Also wants a daily sweeping. Kevin said that is part of their normal process. Brian talked about the sq footage numbers in the Drainage Area Breakdown table on the plans. Some points: • Maureen Harald's letter states there is 441 sq it of proposed work in the Riverfront Area. Brian asks how that is arrived at given the whole property essentially is in the Riverfront Area. Kevin didn't know and would check with Maureen. • In Reading decks are considered impervious and the table needs to be updated to show that. • Regardless of that change this property is already exceeding the 10% maximum before requiring restoration or mitigation. • Chuck later pointed to a comment posted by DEP about this property having to do with area that was degraded before 8/7/1996. • Net result is that this table needs to be reworked. Chuck: stated a Redevelopment in a Riverfront (10.58 (5)) must be met in its entirety. One aspect is that no new structures may be closer to the river than at present. The stone trench proposed along the driveway is a structure and therefore cannot be closer than the current edge of the driveway. Chuck stated the applicant would have to change something there. Chuck asked about the new patio and it was decided that the patio is the leading structure and having the deck behind it is fine. As far as mitigation, the regulations state that the mitigation must be as close to the river as possible. Chuck asked if construction vehicles would compact the infiltration area. Kevin said they would flag the area. Chuck stated that they must improve on the existing conditions. Mr. Patel agreed to continue. Tony moved to continue to Sept 11; Martha seconded. Roll call vote 4-0. Old/Now Business — No updates. Discussion Items — 114 Forest St: Minor Plan Change Request Chuck presented the change. Move the foundation and all associated impervious areas 10' closer to Forest St and farther from the wetlands in order to have a larger back yard. Page 1 2 Brian asked when the foundation was built. Tom Walsh it was finished 8123. The letter was sent 8121. Brian said that the foundation was built prior to approval of the minor plan change by the Commission. That is against the town By-law. When asked for his thoughts Tom Walsh said it would not happen again. Brian said we will now have to pay more attention. Tom gave an overview of recent events at the site. Tom said due to the heavy rains the water leaped the fence. Chuck inspected and recommended placement of hay bales. Later they cleaned out the concrete equipment. Rain caused leached material to wash down to the same area. Now they have added hay bales and a stone check point to stop drainage from going downhill. They are going to put in a mound to block erosion. Brian said that at the top of the hill there is still discoloration and crusty. Tom said it would be addressed the following day and Brian said he would visit. There was some discussion about a concrete washout and Tom mentioned that Chuck has given him guidance for making a proper washout. Martha moved to approve the Minor Plan Change as discussed; Tony seconded.. Roll call vote 4-0 18 Whittier — Certificate of Compliance: Brian said he and Chirog had met with the contracted onsite. Two remaining items were discussed: pulling wood chips back from under that fence in the center -right and planting some ground cover on the back right of the property to help with erosion. Chuck said the contractor had reached out after the site visit to get information about ground cover. In other business Chuck was asking approval for dog ban signs at a cost of $425. It was noted that the signs listed in the quote form were larger than needed. Chuck was to reach out to clarify. They may cost less since they will be smaller. Tony moved to authorize Chuck to place an order for the dog signs at a cost of no more than $425. Martha seconded. Roll call vote 4-0. Next DPW meeting is Sept V. Martha can attend but must leave at 1:30. Brian can attend. Walter Talbot moved to approve meeting minutes for 7110124; Tony seconded. Roll call vote 4-0. Not ready yet to vote on the others. Discussion about managing dogs at Bare Meadow. The temporary signs have been pulled down. The permanent signs will be installed soon. Chuck has had few phone calls or emails. Mike Rivers now in waiting room 445 Pearl St — Enforcement Order: Chuck gave a history or the actions leading up to the Enforcement Order. During the last meeting we voted to send a new enforcement order and a request for Mr. Rivers to attend tonight's meeting. He agreed. He sees no problem with getting the work done by Sept 1 V. He has already procured the necessary materials. Brian asked for a status update at the next meeting. Mr. Rivers agreed. Martha asked who would do the work and Mr. Rivers said he would, that he is in construction. Chuck said we need 72 hours notice before start of work so it can be checked before it goes too far. Tony motioned to amend the order to add status meeting on Sept 11 and 72 hours notice before work start. Martha seconded. Roll call vote 4-0. Martha moved to ratify the Enforcement Order; Tony seconded. Roll Call vote 4-0 Martha moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:39. Tony seconded. Vote 4-0. Page 1 3