Minutes of Meeting
February 26, 2009
To: Town Clerk
cc: CRWA
Members
File
Present: C. Botchis, J. Fournier, A. Tolland, R. Willis, P. Boncek, P. Murphy, J. Senterman,
M. Allen, Associate Member, N. Alfieri, Conservation Agent
There was a motion to accept the minutes of the February 12th meeting with a few changes. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 6-0-1; 6 Yes, 0 No, 1 Abstention.
Mr. Nick Alfieri’s Agent’s Report has been appended to the minutes.
Continued - Public Hearing – Abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation – 27 Forge Parkway - CE159-980
Ms. Cynthia O’Connell, Landscape Architect of Beals Associates, and Mr. Bento Castro, General Contractor for Thermo Fisher Scientific, both appeared before the Commission for resource area delineation at the site.
Ms. O’Connell submitted some delineation data forms and the soil maps, which are the results of the soil survey, for the Commission’s review. These documents were requested at the last meeting.
A site walk was recently conducted by the Commission and the members had concerns regarding a possible vernal pool on the site. Ms. O’Connell informed them that there is a possible vernal pool on the site but this is not large enough to meet the Act as it is not large enough to hold a certain volume of water.
A Commission member informed Ms. O’Connell that when the applicant files a Notice of Intent for this site, snow storage will be a point of consideration in the Orders of Conditions.
There was a motion to close the hearing. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 7-0-0.
Continued - Public Hearing – Abbreviated Notice of Intent – 33 Anthony Road – Weber
Mr. William Weber, the applicant, appeared before the Commission for landscape work and installation of fence at his property. Mr. Weber stated that at the recent site walk conducted by the Commission, it was requested that he install some haybales to shore up a steep drop to the wetlands. He was also requested to grind the stumps so that it does not go into the wetland area.
A Commissioner informed the applicant that some special conditions for the project could be that haybales be installed along the top of the slope and since it will be difficult to grind the stumps because of the angle of the slope, the grinding of the stumps by hand would be optimal if possible. There are 2 clumps that are beyond the haybales where it starts to slope down and the applicant will be requested to cut them down flush to the ground and asked not to disturb any soils as there are 2 storm drains which empty underneath the steep slope. The red maple tree outside of the resource area should be taken down as it is diseased to avoid a future hazard.
There was a motion to close the hearing. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 7-0-0.
Continued - Public Hearing – Notice of Intent – 678 Pleasant Street – Grady - CE159-
Mr. Donald Nielsen, Engineer of Guerriere & Halnon, and Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Grady, the applicants, all appeared before the Commission to raze an existing barn and construction of single-family house.
Mr. Nielsen informed the Commission that at the last meeting, the applicant was requested by the Commission to look at a couple of other options for the Commission’s review. Mr. Nielsen informed the Commission members that he has put together an overview of 5 plan options for proposed work on the site. He presented the Commission with an overview of these 5 options and reviewed these options for the Commission to determine which options they would look most favorably upon.
Mr. Alfieri stated that a site walk should be conducted by the Commission as soon as the weather and ground conditions improve. He also stated that the plans for Option 5 depict the proposed relocation of the septic system and would like to know why the haybale line cannot follow the wall and should be parallel to the driveway.
A Commission member stated that, in his opinion, he perceives Option 5 as the best option as it has the least amount of disturbance to the wetland resource area. He would like to see the amount of impervious surface for the driveway reduced in width. Mr. Neilsen stated that he would narrow it down to 20 ft. in width.
Another Commission member inquired as to why 1-1 restoration was not done as that is what the regulations call for. Mr. Nielsen said he will look into this.
Another Commission member stated that he sees Option 5 as the best and would also like the driveway area reduced in width.
Another Commissioner stated that he sees Option 5 as having the smallest amount of impact on the resource area and all the other Commissioners agreed with this.
A site walk will be conducted by the Commission on Sunday, March 8th at 10 a.m.
There was a motion to continue the hearing until March 19th. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 7-0-0.
Continued – Public Hearing – Notice of Intent – 15 Vine Street – Minihane - CE159-971
Mr. Steve Donatelli, Engineer of Shea Engineering, and Mr. James Minihane, the applicant, both appeared before the Commission for construction of an addition to existing single-family house, garage and driveway. Mr. Donatelli submitted revised plans for the Commission’s review depicting the elimination of proposed construction of an addition to the house.
Mr. Donatelli stated that there is no disturbance in the 0-50 ft. buffer zone and within the riverfront area. There is a 12 ft. wide driveway proposed that will provide access to the existing parking area located on the south side of the house.
There is approximately 752 sq. ft. of disturbance within the 50-100 ft. buffer zone. There are 5 maple trees that will be removed. The driveway will be located approximately 85 ft. from the edge of the wetlands.
A Commission member stated that these revised plans do not satisfy the intent of the Notice of Intent which was for a garage. The applicant informed the Commission that he has abandoned the addition as it being constructed on the south side of the house is not an alternative that he wishes to pursue.
There was a motion to close the hearing. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 7-0-0.
Continued – Public Hearing – Notice of Intent – Lot 1, 1084 Pond Street – Schultz - CE159-976
The Commission Chairman opened the public hearing and stated that a letter has been received from the applicant’s representative requesting a continuance of the public hearing until April 2, 2009.
There was a motion to continue the hearing until April 2nd, 2009. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 7-0-0.
Continued – Public Hearing – Notice of Intent – Lot 2, 1086 Pond Street – Schultz - CE159-977
The Commission Chairman opened the public hearing and stated that a letter has been received from the applicant’s representative requesting a continuance of the public hearing until April 2, 2009.
There was a motion to continue the hearing until April 2nd, 2009. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 7-0-0.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Minor Buffer Zone Activity: 15 Echo Bridge Road
The applicant would like to construct a three-season porch on the rear of the existing single-family house. This porch will be constructed on 6 sono tubes for support. This will be located approximately 80-90 ft. from the edge of the existing wetlands.
There was a motion to issue a Negative Determination with 5 Special Conditions. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 7-0-0.
Discussion: DelCarte Dam Study
A Commission member informed the Commission that he, another Commission member and Mr. Alfieri met with Jeff Nutting regarding the DelCarte site. One of the Commission members has prepared a power point presentation and it was reviewed with Mr. Nutting and reviewed the options of the Commission.
The overall result of this meeting was that the Commission would meet with Pare to determine what costs would be required to engage in an engineering study for feasibility of these options and to select the best one.
The options would be to: repair all the dams, do nothing, partial removal of the dams or to remove all of the dams. The question is which partial dam removal would be optimal. The Commission would need to request funding from the Town Council to pay for the study and return to the Council with recommendations and also the total cost for this proposed work.
Mr. Alfieri informed the Commission that he has spoken to Attorney Cerel, Town Attorney, and Norma Collins, Purchasing Agent, and was informed that we can retain Pare for additional work under an amended contract with no more bidding.
One of the Commissioners stated that he will contact Pare to outline the direction that the Commission will pursue and request that they prepare a draft scope of services for review by the Commission and also a budgetary estimate for the study.
The Commission can then present the Town Council with a formal presentation regarding the scope of work.
Discussion: Definition of Disturbed Area
There was a discussion among the Commission members regarding the definition of disturbed area. Mr. Alfieri informed the Commission that he has spoken with Attorney Cerel regarding this document and he is in agreement with its content.
The purpose of this is to clarify the regulations especially the Do Not Disturb Area as there has been significant issues with applicants over disturbed areas. This would be added to the “Definition Section” in the Regulations. The Commission is then required to hold a public hearing regarding this matter.
This public hearing will be scheduled for the March 19th Conservation Commission meeting.
Permit Decision: Wachusett Street Roadway – CE159-979
There was a discussion among the Commission members regarding the issuance of Orders of Conditions for this project.
There was a motion to issue Standard Linear State and Local Orders of Conditions with 1 Special Condition. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 5-0-2; 5 Yes, 0 No, 2 Abstentions.
Permit Decision: Populatic Street Roadway – CE159-975
There was a discussion among the Commission members regarding the issuance of Orders of Conditions for this project.
There was a motion to issue State and Local Orders of Conditions with 3 Special Conditions.
The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 5-0-2; 5 Yes, 0 No, 2 Abstentions
Signed Orders of Conditions & Determination of Applicability
Orders of Conditions – Populatic Street Roadway – Town of Franklin – CE159-975
Orders of Conditions – Wachusett Street Roadway – Town of Franklin – CE159-979
Determination of Applicability (Negative) – 15 Echo Bridge Road - Donovan
There was a motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded and accepted with a vote of 7-0-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathleen Celorier
Conservation Secretary
| 
