MONSON CONSERVATION COMMISSION
MINUTES APRIL 3, 2013
MEMBERS PRESENT: Leslie Duthie, Audra Staples, Glenn Colburn and Davis Johnson.
7:05 The Commission signed the Order of Conditions for 32 Cushman Street, Paper City Partners, LLC with conditions that included store fuel, oil or paint or other hazardous materials in a secondary container and remove from the site to a locked indoor area with an impervious floor during non-work hours; refueling of vehicles shall be outside the 100 foot riverfront area; excavated material shall be stored on a 6mil tar and enclosed with a silt fence or stored outside the 100 foot riverfront area at all times; weekly status reports will be sent to the Monson Conservation Commission to report of the amount of contamination found at the site while the project is active; the restoration will be monitored during the growing season for two years and a report on the success of the planting will be supplied to the
Commission.
7:20 Leslie Duthie stated she called DEP and spoke with Karen Hirschberger regarding 268 Palmer Road, Ray’s Mobile Home Park specifically the Enforcement Order issued May 23, 2012. Ms. Hirschberger said that if the Commission asked for a restoration plan that is what must be submitted, not a Notice of Intent to allow the work that has taken place but a restoration plan to restore the area. Ms. Duthie stated she called Mr. Lavallee’s attorney and left a message with him that the Commission wanted a restoration plan.
7:25 NOI Sutcliffe Road Dean Pond, Mass DCR continued. Leslie Duthie stated she has spoken with Robert Hartzell the consultant on the project. The Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing the project for a 404 water quality certificate. DEP has finished reviewing the project for a 401 water quality project. The review by the Army Corps will hold the project up for 120 days because it is considering this as an individual project and wants more information. If the project is made smaller less than 5000 square feet of material removed it will fall under the threshold and no longer require a 404 water quality certificate just notification. The Army Corps is looking at this as an individual project because of the proposed drawdown and the excavation, essentially two notices of intent.
The discussion now includes a wet excavation on an area approximately 70’ x 70’ reaching in and dredging the area, a curtain horseshoe dam would be installed around the excavation area. Ms. Duthie stated she questioned Mr. Hartzell how the Brimfield Conservation Commission felt about a wet excavation? Mr. Hartzell was of the opinion that the Brimfield Commission preferred the wet excavation to the drawdown method. Ms. Duthie questioned if the Commissioners had any questions or concerns?
Davis Johnson questioned the time it would take for the turbidity to settle?
Leslie Duthie stated it was proposed to remove approximately 12 inches of material to remove the plants and roots and to complete this before Memorial Day.
Davis Johnson suggested a condition of the Order of Conditions should be that both the Monson and Brimfield Conservation Commissions should monitor the project for the turbidity and determine when the curtain should be removed. He questioned if the wet excavation would take place at the same time as the weed control in the pond?
Leslie Duthie stated she did not think so.
Davis Johnson questioned if swimming would be permitted simultaneously to the treatment of the pond for weed control?
Leslie Duthie stated she believed swimming would have to be suspended during the pond treatments. She stated she would speak with Mr. Hartzell regarding the time it would take for turbidity to settle.
7:45 NOI ANRAD Boston Road, Antonio Fernandes. Michael Mocko, consultant to the applicant stated the purpose of the filing is to identify the resource areas on the property. Mr. Mocko submitted copies of the water shed calculations.
Leslie Duthie stated DEP has issued a file number DEP 228-0352.
Michael Mocko stated the property is zoned General Commercial and is located on Route 20 (Boston Road) on the opposite side to K-Mart. It is a treed site with a small section of Bordering Vegetated Wetland (BVW) located on the adjacent property owned by ExxonMobile and a small intermittent stream. The purpose of the ANRAD is to confirm the delineation of the wetland boundary in order to develop the property and to confirm the status of the stream as intermittent. Mr. Fernandes has an interest in purchasing the property but must confirm prior to the purchase that there is adequate land to develop. The Massachusetts Wetland Regulations use the USGS map as the primary source for stream delineation. In this case the USGS does not show a stream and the presumption is it is an intermittent stream. Mr. Mocko stated they looked at the drainage area to the property and calculated approximately 182 acres anything with a drainage area under 200 acres is usually presumed to be an
intermittent stream because it is not large enough to support a perennial stream.
Glenn Colburn questioned if they looked at the water coming from across the street because he thought that was also feeding this wetland area?
Michael Mocko stated he did look for storm drainage to the site but did not see anything
Glenn Colburn stated he thought it went from the pond west of K-Mart under street to the used trailer business and then to this property.
Michael Mocko stated in the Wetland Regulations if the USGS map does not show it as a stream it is presumed to be intermittent. If it was shown on the USGS map as a perennial stream the applicant would be obligated to presume it is perennial. He stated he also looked at the USDA soil mapping and that did not indicate a stream was there, significant streams are picked up by the USGS maps and USDA soil mapping.
Glenn Colburn stated he was surprised it did not show up on the USGS map as there always seems to be flow there.
Leslie Duthie stated she had access to a substantial size topo map of this area it does not show anything perennial or intermittent. After looking at the site she would have to say this is not a pristine wetland, but if it was on the USGS map that would be different.
Michael Mocko stated Mr. Fernandes would have to come back to the Commission with a development plan. He stated he would agree with Ms. Duthie the site has been disturbed and changed over the years by the grading and drainage improvements done by ExxonMobile and the railroad.
Glenn Colburn stated the wetland flags appear to be accurate and he would have to say it was an intermittent stream because nothing is shown on the USGS map.
Glenn Colburn made a motion to accept the wetland lines as depicted on the plan as accurate.
Audra Staples seconded the motion.
It was so voted, unanimous.
8:15 NOI Cornerstone Power Monson, LLC Macomber/Upper Palmer Road. Leslie Duthie stated she spoke with Jeff D’Arrigo, consultant to Cornerstone Power about a site visit to look at the wetland line. Mr. D’Arrigo was hoping to set the visit for sometime in the next couple of weeks. Ms. Duthie stated that because nothing is growing at this point in time she told Mr. D’Arrigo that the Commission would put the site visit on hold until there is something to look at.
Glenn Colburn stated he agreed with Ms. Duthie.
8:25 MAIL
- Copy of a letter to Quaboag Riders from the Army Corps of Engineers.
- NOI Park Road, Town of Monson work proposed is improvements to roadside drainage along the side of Park Road.
- NOI ExxonMobile Fenton Road work proposed is maintenance of the existing pipeline.
- MACC Spring and summer workshops.
- Copy of letter Leslie Duthie wrote to the Board of Selectmen regarding the land that the McCray family would like to give to the Town.
Leslie Duthie stated the land is situated on Carpenter Road and the McCray family gifted some of it to the Town a few years ago. The remaining land is approximately 18 acres split into three lots. Each lot has a deed restriction on it because it is in rare species habitat, which makes the building envelope fairly small. The McCray family through its consultant Jerry Gates has expressed an interest in gifting the remaining three lots to the Town. Ms. Duthie stated she spoke with Mr. Gates who indicated his clients desire to complete the transaction as soon as possible. Paperwork must be completed in order to take a request to Town Meeting for authorization from the residents of Monson to accept the gift of the land. Of the three lots, Lot 3 is the most appropriate for building and in
order to provide some revenue for the Town Ms. Duthie stated she proposed taking Lot 3 separately from the other lots so that it could be sold for development.
- Copy of a letter from NHESP re: Forest Cutting plan Moulton Hill Road/Wales Road for Philip & Lillian Plumley. Based on current information almost all of the harvest area is designated habitat for the eastern box turtle and to avoid a take operation of motorized vehicles shall occur only during the time period beginning December 1st ending March 31st.
- Various building permits.
Davis Johnson moved to accept the minutes of March 13, 2013 with a correction to the spelling of his last name.
Glenn Colburn seconded the motion.
It was so voted unanimous.
Leslie Duthie stated she looked at the Elguero property on Lakeside Drive and although there is a lot of material there and it does not look pretty hay bales have been installed along the driveway and a silt fence has been perfectly installed going around and tying in at the well. The contractor has installed all of the erosion controls requested by the Commission and appears to be maintaining them in proper order.
The Commission reorganized and Leslie Duthie moved to nominate Glenn Colburn to take over as chairman.
Audra Staples seconded the motion.
It was so voted unanimous.
8:45 Leslie Duthie moved to adjourn.
Davis Johnson seconded the motion.
It was so voted unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda A. Hull
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