TOWN OF RUTLAND
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
MINUTES: MARCH 17, 2015
MEETING OPENED: 7:08 PM
Attendance
Board Members Present: Joe Dell’Aquila, Chairman; Scott Landgren; Shawn Moore; Eric Bigelow; Nancy Nichols; Peter Craine
Board Members Absent: Willard Cannon
Guests
Jennifer Howald, DCR; Rob McNeil; Beth Tivnan; Paul Tivnan; Denise Boyer; Bill Gonzalez; Neil E. Kauppila; Sean Harrington, Nexamp; Alan Clapp, Nexamp; Eric Las, Beals & Thomas; Ann Gwyther
Application Submissions
NONE
Votes
Motion to extend ANRAD for Ralph Takala for 3 years - Motion to extend made by Eric, seconded by Shawn; vote unanimous at 7:12 PM.
Motion to sign Order of Conditions for Demond Pond Watershed Association – Motion to sign made by Scott, seconded by Peter; vote unanimous at 7:20 PM.
Motion to reimburse Peter and Eric for MACC Training – Motion to approve made by Nancy, seconded by Shawn; vote unanimous at 7:21 PM, with Peter and Eric abstaining.
Motion to approve payment to Quinn Engineering out of 53G account – Motion to sign made by Scott, seconded by Eric; vote unanimous at 7:22 PM.
Minutes from March 3, 2014 – Motion to approve amended minutes made by Scott, seconded by Shawn; vote unanimous at 7:27 PM.
Motion to approve Order of Conditions Extension, 7 Welch Avenue – Motion to extend made by Eric, seconded by Shawn; vote unanimous at 7:35 PM.
Motion to close meeting – Motion made by Scott, seconded by Peter; vote unanimous at 8:24 PM.
Hearings
Golden Hill Solar, Swartz Avenue, DEP #277-0449
Green cards received. Hearing opened at 7:35 PM. There is a 115 acre parcel by Turkey Hill. There are fields and Woods around the property. They have already flagged the wetlands. There will be no tree clearing within the buffer zone.
At the southern end there will be a few locations with clearing in the buffer zone. All work is outside the 100’ buffer zone. The panels they are using are made to make minimal grading. Grading is on Swartz Avenue and other access roads. The grading by the cart road is because they are moving the access road away from the cart road and away from the wetlands. Quinn Engineering reviewed the plans for the Planning Board and they have made changes because of Quinn’s comments; because of this there will be new plans submitted to us, mostly lessening the tree clearing on the south side. There is a culvert on Swartz Avenue and they are putting in poles to Pleasantdale Road for the tie point. Eric asked about the electrical lines now and if the lines that are there currently will be maintained.
Eric also asked about the stone wall area. The small infiltration will be removed and they will be maintaining the 2 basins. As a result for the review they won’t need it anymore. There will be no stump removal and they will keep it at 20. The water will drain away from Swartz.
Beth Tivnan abuts the property on the south side, and asked about the trees because that is an extremely wet area. She asked if this will be harmful to the animals; Nexamp replied it is not harmful. Joe told her that Nexamp is the company handling this project and they are also the company that did Pleasantdale Road if they would like to drive by and look at their work. She asked about the time frame and noise. Nexamp believes less than 7 months. Joe said that if anyone wants to go there then they should call us before going and we would plan a site walk. Ann would also like as much buffer as they can get. She would like to know if they can see the project from the dance hall. The clearing will be minimal and it will be approximately 500 to 600 feet away from the dance hall. Beth
asked when they plan on starting; Allan thinks late summer depending on all the permitting.
Eric asked about the outlets for the basins – they are very shallow. It will be a gravel road and that will be why they are putting in the detention pond.
Joe suggested we continue the hearing because of the new plans coming and because of the snow for a site walk. The planning board’s site walk is on April 28th. The site walk with Conservation Commission will be Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 9:00 AM meeting at Swartz Avenue. Motion to continue to April 21, 2015 at 7:15 PM made by Eric, seconded by Scott; vote unanimous at 8:10 PM.
Discussions
Rob McNeil, Ralph Takala Pond, Extension of ANRAD
Current extension expires May 5, 2015. He has RDA’s already approved by DCR and BOH. The homeowner is not ready to do anything, but Rob feels that may change soon. The homeowner is also looking into a Land Preservation Trust. He is looking to protect the asset at this point.
Demond Pond Watershed Association Order of Conditions
We should add a Condition on the removal and drawdown. DCR is also having a hearing on this, so we should let them handle the drawdown of the lake, etc.
Extension of Order of Conditions, Welch Avenue
There is a vernal pool across the street, and no major changes have been done. Joe sees no issue with extending the Order.
Reviewed Mail
Respectfully Submitted,
Karen Wamback
Secretary
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