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Town of Rutland
Conservation Commission
Minutes: February 5, 2019
Meeting Opened: 7:09 P.M.
Attendance:
Board Members Present: Joseph Dell’Aquila, Peter Craine, Willard Cannon, Melissa Danza, Eric Bigelow
Board Members Absent: Shawn Moore
Guests: Maria Firstenburg, Jennifer McGinnis, Skip Clark, Carl Hultgren, Ann Gwyther, John Gwyther, Tom Olson
Application Submissions:
None
Votes:
Motion to accept meeting minutes from January 15, 2019—Motion made by Peter, seconded by Willard; vote unanimous at 7:10 P.M.
Motion to approve Order of Conditions: New England Power Company, 29 Campbell Court/Oakham Town Line—Motion made by Peter, seconded by Melissa; vote unanimous at 7:15 P.M.
Motion to approve Certificate of Compliance: JM Soucy Contracting, Inc., Lot 4 Pommogussett Rd.--Motion made by Peter, seconded by Willard; vote unanimous at 8:46 P.M.
Motion made to close the meeting--Motion made by Peter, seconded by Melissa; vote unanimous at 8:56 P.M.
Hearings:
Under Chapter 131, Section 40:
Notice of Intent: New England Power Company, 29 Campbell Court/Oakham Town Line Opened: 7:11 P.M. Closed: 7:14 P.M. Motion made by Peter, seconded by Melissa; vote unanimous
at 7:14 P.M. Notes: Hearing continued from January 15, 2019 to wait for DEP to issue a number. Number was issued along with a few comments including: the NOI needs to be updated to reflect areas of impact and a reminder that a 401 water quality certificate will be required if there will be soil removal during borings. Maria said this should not be necessary. Board voted and approved the Order of Conditions.
Amended Order of Conditions: CB Blair Development Corp., Bear Hill/Grizzly Dr./Brintnal Dr. Opened: 7:18 P.M. Continued to February 19, 2019 at 7:10 P.M. Motion made by Peter, seconded by Melissa; vote unanimous at 8:06 P.M.
Notes: Carl Hultgren presented on behalf of Quinn Engineering as a third party review of the amendment to plans resulting in the need for an amended Order of Conditions (there were no representatives from CB Blair Corp. present). Blair is proposing 3 box culverts in Brintnal Estates, but there is no delineation of the stream bank. Carl recommends flagging the bank and that the ConComm should do a site visit to approve the flags. The banks are shown as straight lines on the plans, but that isn't true of the streams in actuality—that will need to be corrected. An alternatives analysis was submitted, suggests the board should review it. They
went from minimal filling to a proposed 20,000+ sq. feet of wetland filling. Overall, the layout is remaining the same and only the crossings are changing. Carl proposes they could narrow the roads from 24 feet to 20 feet to decrease any disturbance to the wetlands. Joe said that the fire department may have concerns with that. QE recommends extending the retaining wall at the wetland crossing to avoid the need for fill. With regard to replication standards, they suggest the board ask for alternatives to proposed elevations. Blair delineated some new wetlands and QE recommends the board confirms the lines. QE also recommends that the replication be overseen by a wildlife specialist or botanist, as well as ask for a time frame for the replication once the building starts. They suggest using a weed free mulch cover instead of the proposed wildflower seeds. Blair will also need to include info on the plans on how to finish inside the box culvert. There are some streams inside of Zone
A—detention basins are typically outside of Zone A, but that is not the case with this project. Given this, QE recommends that the board verify all calculations and size of basins. The DOT recommonds culverts be designed to their standards (wider than 10 ft is considered a bridge). Proposed culverts are 12 & 14 feet wide. Other smaller culverts are 2 feet wide. Board may want to suggest erosion control other than hay bales for benefit of the surrounding area. QE also outlines all permits that will need to be obtained. Jennifer McGinnis from the DCR was present and asked if the detention basins in Zone A are new—no, they are on the original plans and were approved by planning board with an order of conditions already in place. As of this meeting, Quinn Engineering had not heard back from Blair regarding these suggestions. The board will need to further discuss if an amended order of conditions is appropriate or if a new one will need to be issued. Hearing continued to
February 19, 2019 at 7:10 P.M.
Discussions:
John & Ann Gwyther and Tom Olson, all residents of Finn Park Rd., attended the meeting to express concerns with the Golden Hill Solar Farm off of Pleasantdale Rd. They are concerned with the washout of the road during severe storms and they attribute this problem to the solar farm. Joe said that he and other board members have been up to the solar farm recently and did not see any issues. All of the plans were approved by engineers prior to construction. They found no evidence of flow coming off of the site, but Joe offered to reach out to the solar farm and bring the concerned residents onto the property to take a look for themselves. There is nothing more that the ConComm can do regarding this issue.
Reviewed mail
Respectfully Submitted,
Tomeca Murphy
Secretary
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