Berlin City Planning Board
March 12, 2008
Androscoggin Valley Hospital
Members Present: Chair Fran Cusson, Aline Boucher, Nicole DeCosta, Lucien Langlois, Laura Jamison, Ralph Collins, Ernie Allain, Sue Tremblay, Councilor Tom McCue
Members Excused: Richard Cassidy, Dave Morin, Julie Cooney, Dick Merrill, Andre Duchesne
Others Present: Councilor Tim Cayer, Pat MacQueen, City Manager: Mike Perrault, Public Works Director; Roland Viens, BWW; Chris Dwinal, Wright-Pierce; Barbara Tetreault, Berlin Daily Sun; Pam Laflamme, City Planner
Chair Cusson appointed Ms. Jamison & Ms. DeCosta as voting members for the meeting.
City of Berlin - Wastewater Pump Station project:
Mr. MacQueen told the board that the City was in the process of designing a new pump station that needed to be built for the Federal Bureau of Prisons project. The proposed location for the pump station is on City owned property on East Milan Road that is currently managed by Berlin Water Works. During the past few weeks with all of the focus on the wellhead protection area for other Planning Board projects, it was noticed that the pump station location may fall within the wellhead protection area.
The Zoning Ordinance has a chapter for the wellhead protection zone. That chapter covers the permitted uses; uses permitted by special use permit; and prohibited uses. One of the prohibited uses is Wastewater and Sewerage treatment systems. There was a question if the pump station is just part of the system or if it is to be considered in isolation. There was also question about the exact bounds of the protection area. The City Manager then turned over the discussion to Chris Dwinal from Wright-Pierce, which is the company working on the sewer design for the City.
Mr. Dwinal reviewed portions of the Provan & Lorber study done for the City in 1993, which detailed the bounds of the Wellhead Protection Area and was the document used to formulate the permitted and prohibited uses for the ordinance. He then discussed the design on the pump station, which is to be a good sized pump station, concrete structure built below grade. There will be brick above grade. The pump station will be designed for mechanical screening. He shared with the board the plans for the size and outer design.
The board started asking questions and discussed worst case scenarios involving overflow into the protection area. It was pointed out that while the pump station may be on the fringes of the protection area, it is outside of the wellhead protective radius (400 feet) as determined by NHDES. Chair Cusson asked a question about the extra containment measures. Mr. Langlois wanted to know if there would be a discharge line for extra overflow that could be done through a cross connection.
Mr. Viens suggested listing options and sorting through the options. He thought a location on the south side of the access road was a good location. Mr. Allain suggested adding a culvert to the south side of the access road or possibly earthen dam or berm. Mr. Dwinal indicated that the pump station on Watson Street had something similar and that maybe that would work here.
Councilor McCue asked if other locations had been explored thoroughly. Mr. Dwinal indicated that other parcels had been reviewed and they each had challenges. This parcel seemed logical because the City owned it. Mr. Langlois told the board that he felt GeoInsights should be hired again to determine whether the project was an acceptable use within the wellhead and whether the project as proposed had any negative implications for the wellhead and aquifer.
The board discussed the need for a third party to review the plans and for the City to review other sites. Mr. Langlois went back to his suggestion of hiring GeoInsights and Mr. Collins seconded the motion with the board voting unanimously to support the motion.
Mr. Langlois made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:55PM, seconded by Ms. DeCosta with everyone voting in the affirmative.
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