TOWN OF RUTLAND
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
MINUTES: APRIL 15, 2014
MEETING OPENED: 7:45 PM
TONIGHT’S MEETING STARTED LATE DUE TO A MANDATORY TRAINING THE BOARD ATTENDED.
Attendance
Board Members Present: Joe Dell’Aquila, Chairman; Scott Landgren; Shawn Moore; Willard Cannon; Eric Bigelow;
Nancy Nichols
Guests
Julian Votruba; Rebecca Budaj, DCR; Adam Hawley; Robin Peters; Clealand Blair, Jr.; George Kiritsy; Richard Helle; Chris and Marsha Warrington; Joy Liptak; Matt Hubert
Application Submissions
Request for Determination of Applicability, Rutland Land Conservancy, Walnut Street
Determination to create 2 bog bridges
Votes
Minutes from April 1, 2014 – Motion to approve minutes made by Willard, seconded by Eric; vote unanmious at 7:48 PM.
Motion to sign Negative Determination of Applicability for Rutland Land Conservancy, Walnut Street – Motion to sign made by Eric, seconded by Scott; vote unanimous at 8:01 PM.
Motion to close meeting – Motion made by Scott, seconded by Shawn; vote unanimous at 9:24 PM.
Hearings
Julian Votruba, Brice-Lemon Estates
Hearing opened at 8:12 PM. As a matter of disclosure, Counsel from the State Ethics Committee asked Eric to read a statement disclosing that 20 years ago he was part of a mortgage with his brother on a house in this area. There were no objections to Eric continuing as a Board member.
Julian stated that they are redesigning an approved project, and this is why they are coming before us. They are trying to avoid building 3 bridges and instead build crossings. There will be 3 crossings. The one in the middle will be just like Crossing 1 with a 12” pipe. There is no water in these areas. The project will be done in phases. Hay bales and silt fencing has been put in and the cuts and fills will be balancing each other out in each phase. Not a lot of fill, if any, will be brought in. Julian will be giving a color copy of the wetland plan. Chris Warrington had asked where the old cart roads were on the map that was being shown. Julian pointed them out.
Total projected disturbed wetlands for the whole project are 3,188 square feet and they will be doing 5,287 square feet of replication. Phase I will be the Charnock Hill area.
Eric is concerned about the wood frogs that were heard on the site walk by the excavator. Wood frogs generally live in vernal pools and not wetland areas, and Shawn asked if there were any vernal pools in the area. Julian said there were no registered vernal pools in the area. He also said that because they were in the wetland areas they will not be touched. Robin Peters asked who would look into the vernal pools. Joe said that MassWildLife would be the group that would look into it. Marsha Warrington wanted to know who has jurisdiction to review and see if there are any protected habitats. Joe said that would be under the MEPA filing that they would do.
Joe wanted to inform everyone that we will be invoking 53G which means we will give Mr. Blair 3 choices and he would choose who we go with, because he would be paying for them. Eric said last time they were at a site walk they were stopped at the wetland lines and perhaps a professional should look at it to see where the wetland lines are now. Richard Helle wanted to know how quick we would get them their choices and Joe said it would be done tonight. The 3 choices are: Quinn Engineering; EcoTec; and . Mr. Blair said he would like to use Quinn Engineering. Quinn is also doing the review for the Town for the Planning Board and they will be familiar with the project. Eric is concerned that perhaps it should be someone other than Quinn because they are working for
the Planning Board; he thinks maybe they should go with someone independent of that. Marsha agrees with Eric. Mr. Kiritsy stated that Quinn is who Mr. Blair has chosen and that is who they are going with. Richard asked if there would be a public discussion with Quinn Engineering and Joe explained that the public hearing and discussion is what is happening tonight. Chris would like to know if Quinn would be doing the delineation. Mr. Blair said that Quinn is an engineer and would be the best choice to review the project, especially because of his familiarity with it already. Rebecca said that she believes what Eric’s concern is that he wanted someone who is a wetland’s specialist.
Marsha asked how long the whole project will take to build, and Mr. Blair said approximately 3 months. She also wanted to know about a 1,000 foot regulation. Joe said he knew what she meant and that would fall under Planning Board and not us, so that could not be discussed.
Rebecca Budaj asked to clarify if this Notice of Intent is for the road only and then each house lot would be a separate Notice of Intent filing, and Julian said yes.
Marsha asked if Army Corp would be involved and if an application has been submitted to them yet. Mr. Blair said no application has been filed with them. Marsha stated that they have to go to the Army Corp and is insistent that the wetland protections act states any disturbance must do an Army Corp filing. Mr. Kiritsy stated that any filings that need to be done will be done, but that is not under the purview of this Board.
Robin stated that she was concerned about the fill that is being brought in; Julian said there has been no fill brought in yet.
Richard wants to know what the Conservation Commission can do and what is within their jurisdiction. Joe said 100 foot buffer to the wetlands. Depending on the magnitude we may work in conjunction with other companies/boards but our jurisdiction is strictly those lines. Richard then asked if we would have to give a variance. Joe stated that the Conservation Commission does not give variances. Richard asked if we take the builder’s history of disregarding the wetlands into account. Joe said no – each Notice is based on its own merit. Marsha asked if they may follow the Order of Conditions or if they must follow the Order of Conditions. Joe said that they must follow the Order of Conditions. Marsha said that they aren’t even following the Superseding Order of
Conditions that they have now, so who would monitor them. Shawn said that usually we have at least 2 members that keep an eye on any projects that are ongoing. Joe said that the Superseding Order of Conditions is for working in the buffer zones and because they are not working in the buffer zones the Order does not come into play.
Rebecca stated that the first crossing has corduroy put down and Joe said yes, that is an existing crossing. She wanted to know about logging vs. construction. George said that they are working under a “change of use” and they are here now to get an Order of Conditions. The corduroy will still be there when the Order of Conditions is issued; this is buffer work as well and they will be using the corduroy road so as to not impact the wetlands. Marsha stated the forestry was not clear because there isn’t a foresting permit, and Joe said that a permit was not needed and the State Forester had gone out to the site and decided that no permit was needed. Marsha said that they are supposed to give 72 hour written notice to the Conservation Commission per the Superseding Order of Conditions,
and they did not do that. Joe said that the Board was verbally notified prior to the logging starting. Richard wanted to know if there were any “teeth” in our Order of Conditions and if we had the capabilities to fine. Joe said the Town does not have the ability to fine. Eric said yes there are “teeth”, the DEP is the one that does the fining and the Town can bring violations to DEP’s attention.
Marsha wanted it on the record that she was not notified and was not listed as an abutter on the new list of abutters, but was on the old list of abutters from the Superseding Order of Conditions. Julian said that the list is a list of abutters from the Assessor’s office and the list is for 100 foot abutters; she is more than 100 feet away, therefore she wasn’t on the list. Marsha then said that the abutters list says for both Conservation Commission and the Planning Board, and the Planning Board is for 300 feet, which she should have been on. She is concerned that she is not going to be notified about any future hearings and will lose her abutter’s rights. She also wanted to know why in the Notice of Intent the date that abutters were notified was in February but they didn’t give it to
the Conservation Commission until April. Julian said that is because the Conservation Commission asked him to hold off on submission and Joe confirmed that this was the case. Joe asked for an updated abutter’s list.
Motion to close hearing and continue it to Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 7:15 PM made by Scott, seconded by Willard; vote unanimous at 9:18 PM.
Discussions
Simon Davis Road
As an FYI the Board of Health spoke to Joe and let him know that there is a failed septic system on Simon Davis Road.
Rutland Land Conservancy
Joy Liptak came in to discuss the protected land on Walnut Street. There are trails that people walk. Matt Hubert approached them to go for his Eagle Scout award. Joy thought it would be a great time to put in some bridges in on the trail. Matt drew up and designed some bridges. The bridges will just be placed on the trails; there will not be any digging. He belongs to Troop 141. They are going to keep the bridges low and there will be no handrails. He is going to be getting a group of volunteers together to help and hopes to get donations for the materials. They are also going to clear debris and try to maintain the area to its natural state. The bridges will be made with pressure treated lumber and he would like to start as soon as possible, because it needs
to be done before July. The Board decided to issue a Negative Determination so that he would meet his goal.
Respectfully Submitted,
Karen Wamback
Secretary
| 
