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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-06-20 Conservation Commission MinutesMinutes June 20, 2001, Conservation Commission s SJ r5 inutes of the Conservation Commission 2001 _ b P 2: 3 5 Town of Reading Selectmen's Meeting Room Wednesday, June 20, 2001 - 7:00 pm Present: Chair Nancy Eaton; Will Finch, Doug Greene, Pat Lloyd, Commissioners; Fran Fink, Administrator. Absent: Mark Gillis, Vincent Falcione, Thad Berry, Commissioners and Leo Kenney and Harold Hulse, Consultants 7:15 Continued Public Hearing - DEP 270-352, RGB 2001-14 Notice of Intent Walker's Brook Drive, Capping former municipal solid waste landfill and subsequent redevelopment of the site. Dickinson Development Corporation. Hearing procedures were read, attendance sheet was circulated, commission introduced themselves, and witnesses were sworn. Attorney O. Bradley Latham made introductory remarks. New documents include resumes, revised maintenance plan, June 13 letter, stormwater pollution prevention plan, revised plans, motions regarding waivers. David Pickart, senior environmental scientist at VHB, went through documents submitted. Reviewed the cover letter and attached materials responding to Conservation Commission's comments. Reviewed status of other required documents. CAAA is in draft form and expected to be done July 16. Also preparing separate Notice of intent for roadway improvements, expected to be completed by July 16. Will address need to do additional borings later in his comments. Notice of Project Change will be submitted to MEPA on July 16. 404 application categorically screened, don't need individual permit because below acreage threshold. Suggested the Order of Conditions should require permits to be in hand before work starts.. Discussed dredging stream to remove contaminated sediments. At this time, not proposing to dredge stream. CDM's analysis recommended dredging not be performed. Another concern is about stream being altered, is at equilibrium right now. Not certain how it would react if dredged. Changes to project layout will be discussed by Mark Nogueira. Erosion and sediment control issues are addressed with stormwater pollution plan. Submitted photos of sites with 2 to 1 slopes: 1) Crane Meadow Road Interchange Marlborough/Southborough line. Situation of placement of topsoil over impervious surface. Similar seed mix to what is proposed at site. 50 feet high and linear features are straw rolled logs to dissipate flows off. Riprap wall on top. Upgrading on drainage diverted around slope. 2) Route 90/146. Two to one cut slope 70-80 feet high. Seeded with mixture of wildlife conservation mix and shrubs. Also had problems before used bonded fiber matrix. Minutes June 20, 2001, Conservation Commission 2 3) 3Com Corporate Campus in Marlborough. Seeded with almost same seed mixture as v. ' on the new site. Mowed once a week. 4 years old. Vegetation well established. Did not use bonded fiber matrix. Hydroseeded and rolled jute pack on the top. Pitch is 2 to 1. He has heard town of Needham has landfill with two to one slopes but that is the only one in Mass. Miscellaneous drainage issues: Considered development that causes higher pollution. Had to implement source controls, e.g., snow management, careful storage, restricted from using certain best management practices. All BMPs on plan are improved. Also question as to whether treat first inch of runoff. Only applies if discharges into public water supplies or other critical areas. Technically not required to treat the first inch, but designed project to treat first inch to alleviate concerns. Also, clarified use of word "redevelopment". Site is redevelopment with respect to riverfront area, not with respect to stonnwater management policies. Needs relief from infiltration provisions for stormwater management. Square footage of work in riverfront area went up when they added the area at the north. The riverfront boundary had been incorrect. BVW impact went up slightly as well to accommodate limit of waste. Land under water went up to show the correct numbers. Bank changed slightly. A lot of the work is excavating material out and putting it back in. No fill. Mitigation questions - tree removal and invasive species, mainly Japanese knotweed. Large areas. Mitigation for invasive plant and debris removal includes having wetland scientists flag areas, review areas with administrator, then implement removal. Reconstructing bordering vegetated areas. Excavate, restore, and plant with wet meadow mix. He also has concerns about appropriate hydrology. Landfill closure allows for impact on wetlands. Would like us to formally waive local mitigation requirements. Fran asked they not routinely mow but selectively cut vegetation. Increasing flood storage by 25% over what occurs on site. Lai dfili closure issues, Mark Nogueira will address. Regulatory compliance issues - question about being able to do work in waterways. Regardless of findings about wildlife habitat, less than 10% of land of site, and performance standards, work presumed not to impair wildlife habitat. Discussed mitigation for bank destruction. Removing some culverts. Less bank will be replaced than impacted. Asked that this work be allowed because bank does not supply important wildlife habitat in as much as it is now armored, densely vegetated, trash up to edge of it. Outstanding issue about offsite mitigation. They are not proposing because does not believe it's required under regulations. May do offsite restoration if you want to go outside limit of previously disturbed area. Their work only impacts footprint of existing landfill. Did have to improve upon existing conditions. They feel improving by: 1) capping landfill improves water quality, pollution, habitat; 2) removing invasive species and restoring more natural plant community, such as forested wetland; removing debris from adjacent wetlands; 4) removing existing culverts; Minutes June 20, 2001, Conservation Commission 5) increasing flood storage on site. Revised Operations & Maintenance Plan. Walkers Brook Crossing, LLC will be responsible party. Property owners association will share maintenance. When switch from construction to maintenance, will provide qualifications of responsible party to Conservation Commission. Will post "no salt" signs. Talked about more frequent street sweepings, but it's impracticable at times to sweep during winter due to ice, snow. Ed Shaw said as soon as take sand off site, will heed to reapply during storm. Actually, they have reduced sweepings from 4 to 3. Included phrase at the request of the conservation administrator or option of site manager, more frequent sweeping can be implemented. Has basins with substantial storage capabilities for sediments. Regular cleaning of basins will take care of sediment. Chemical handling and disposal - included sample of Home Depot policies and other tenants would provide when come on board. Eliminated discrepancy on routing mowing. Other landfill maintenance/testing - Paul will respond to these. Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan - a detailed draft. Erosion and sedimentation controls. More details on erosion controls. Tried to prevent slopes from eroding in the first place, including how slopes tracked at end of day. Get furrows lined up to collect water. Expanded section dealing with temporary stabilization. Information on what should be mulched, where controls go, NII polyachrilamide. "Silt Stop" - can be sprayed to promote flocculation. One requirement is that should have soils tested to come up with appropriate application rate. Mark Nogueira went over plan changes and overview of purpose of documents. Met with CPDC on Monday night. Explained number of comments from CPDC and citizens. In areas where CPDC and Conservation jurisdictions overlap, they will try to create documents where both commissions could refer to them. Order of (Conditions can then refer to them and they become a working document. List of plan changes included in documents. A couple highlights - curbing, road salt prohibitions, etc. Pesticide issues: Plant areas of Home Depot. Water is treated before going into box culvert. He also went through some other changes. Phase in sequencing plan. Doug Greene asked if only 8 inches of loam, won't there be lots of shifting? Mark Nogueira, with 12 inches of loam geared toward landfill with no use. Here, there will be maintenance, etc. Guarantee of maintenance to side slopes, etc. Anchors in slope hold lining in place. Anchor trench at end just keeps cap from blowing upward. Membrane textured to inhibit sliding. Phase-in plan - site is going to be open for up to 18 months due to sheer volume of work. Waste relocation that has to happen and stabilization methods. Will be using Silt spray for temporary stabilization and bonded fiber or seeded if open for 30 days. Minutes June 20, 2001, Conservation Commission 4 Paul Ozarowski said with respect to having large areas open, it is necessary to accomplish waste relocation. In some areas, excavating 20 feet deep, which is being distributed over a large area. Physical movement of waste is the time-intensive part. Will Finch said in interest of being efficient and capping the landfill in the least amount of time outweighs problem of having whole site open at one time. Sequence and plan and schedule must have wetlands as first priority. Would be happy to bring in contractor consultant/bidder to discuss phasing. Discussed arrangement of signing off in phases and possibility of interim approvals. Brad Latham asked if Commission could do review without reopening to public hearing. The question tonight is whether we need additional testimony from additional people. Need to get over hurdle so we can work toward a draft order. Eaton said she needed more detail on certain things, such as structural integrity of items such as wall next to resource area. How can it be built without impact to the resource area? Brad Latham discussed an e-mail from Peter Hechenbleikner, Town Manager, about land by Track Road, with the Board of Selectmen offering to transfer land to conservation control, about 4 %2 acres. Eaton said she also has concerns about sedimentation in stream. Not clear where four upstream contamination sites are that allegedly aren't being dealt with. Town's consultants opined no dredging, but they agree. Paul Ozarowski said there is no clear standard of when to remove sediment. Under Mass. Contingency Plan, evaluate local existing conditions and see contribution. Those sites have established local conditions. Water quality testing done? Fran has documents Groundwater monitoring will be done by developer. Brad suggested he submit some draft language with stages listed and levels of approval. Dave Pickart discussed need to do additional borings off-site to complete the NOI for the improvements on Walker's Brook Drive. Commission agreed Administrator can sign off on that work as coming within the previous RDA. Pat Lloyd moved and Doug Greene seconded a motion that the Public Hearing be continued until Wednesday, July 18, 2001 at 8:00 p.m. at the request of the applicant with no further notice to abutters. Vote: 4-0-0 10:10 pm. - Old/New Business Commission consensus was to inform the Town Manager and Board of Selectmen they would like the 4 %2 acres in Quannapowitt Park transferred to the Conservation Commission pursuant to Chapter 40, Section 8C, in mitigation for Walkers' Brook project impacts. Approval of ,Minu_ tes: Doug Greene _.moved_and_Pat Lloyd seconded_a motion to___ approve the draft minutes dated March 14, March 28, April 25, and May 16, subject to correction o f typographical errors. Vote: 4-0 in favor. Minutes June 20, 2001, Conservation Commission 5 Pleasant/Wilson Street: Housing Authority House - Administrator asked if they can put furnace in crawl space. Will Finch said he thought it was designed as flood storage. Fran wants to know if water level was correctly identified. Standing water in there in June, maybe water level wasn't identified. No specific conversations about furnace on 3rd floor. Nancy remembered discussion of units on 1st floor. Never envisioned anything in basement. Fran will review Order of Conditions and discuss with Building Inspector. Adjournment: There being no further business, upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Nancy L. Eaton, Chair, from notes taken by Patricia Lloyd, Commissioner