Salem Conservation Commission
Minutes of Meeting
Date and Time: Thursday, April 9, 2009, 6:00 p.m.
Meeting Location: Third Floor Conference Room, City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street
Members Present: Chairperson David Pabich, Michael Blier, Kevin Cornacchio, Keith Glidden (at 6:15 pm), Amy Hamilton
Members Absent: Rebecca Christie, Carole McCauley
Others Present: Carey Duques, Conservation Agent
Recorder: Andrea Bray
Chairperson Pabich calls the meeting to order.
1. Approval of Minutes – March 26, 2009 Meeting
Blier: Motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Hamilton. Passes 4-0.
2. Continuation of a Public Hearing – Notice of Intent – DEP #64-484 – DeIulis Brothers Construction Co, Inc. 31 Collins Street Terrace, Lynn, MA 01902
Pabich reads the legal public hearing notice, which states that the purpose of this hearing is to discuss the construction of a cul-de-sac extending the existing Circle Hill Road, subdivide the land for two additional lots and construct three single family homes within the buffer zone to bordering vegetated wetland at 40 Circle Hill Road.
Engineer Scott Patrowicz explains that he has modified the design since the last meeting and he moved the driveway on the lot #3 and they now have 25 feet between the limit of work line and the wetland (a 25 foot undisturbed zone). He says they will create a berm that will straddle lots #1 and #2 to prevent the runoff.
Duques states that there is a draft Order of Conditions in their papers. She calls attention to the third paragraph, which identifies the area of work.
Blier asks what the driveways will be made of.
Patrowicz states that the material has not been defined yet.
Pabich says he would like to have a tool for the person doing the construction on lot #3 to report to the Commission prior to work.
Patrowicz states that they would typically go before the Commission if the plan differs from that approved by the Commission.
Pabich makes a suggestion for new language in the Order pertaining to the builder for lot #3, to be sure that he come before the Commission prior to work, and the members agree.
Pabich opens to the public. There are no questions or comments.
Cornacchio: Motion to close public hearing, seconded by Hamilton. Passes 4-0.
Cornacchio: Motion to approve the Order of Conditions as amended. Passes 4-0.
3. Public Hearing – Request for Determination of Applicability – City of Salem, 120 Washington Street, Salem, MA 01970.
Pabich reads the legal public hearing notice, which states that the purpose of this hearing is to discuss the construction of a v-notch weir to monitor stream flow in the Forest River.
Pabich states that this item has been continued until April 23, 2009.
4. Continuation of a Public Hearing – Notice of Intent – City of Salem, 120 Washington Street, Salem, MA 01970
Pabich reads the legal public hearing notice, which states that the purpose of this hearing is to discuss repairs/improvements to an existing seawall at the end of Hubon Street.
Duques states that the City Engineer cannot make the meeting but the Commission reviewed this already and they were waiting for a DEP number. She adds that they now have the DEP number, which is 64-488.
Pabich says the site looked good today when he visited and he recommends a condition for a guardrail or granite block.
Cornacchio suggests the condition for snow management.
Duques clarifies that they wish to have an actual intent for the snow management.
Pabich opens to the public. There are no questions or comments.
Cornacchio: Motion to close the public hearing, seconded by Hamilton. Passes 4-0.
Duques review the special conditions, which include:
· A guardrail or granite block will be placed at the edge of the parking area.
· The applicant shall submit a plan for snow management.
Hamilton: Motion to issue an Order of Conditions with the above listed special conditions, seconded by Cornacchio. Passes 4-0.
Old/New Business
5. Request for an Extension to existing Order of Conditions #64-396 – National Grid (KeySpan Facility) beach capping Waite and Pierce Streets
Duques states that she received a request for extension from Arcadis because they need to have new wetland monitoring programs.
Kenneth Lento, project manager, explains that they planted native species and several other species, including clover, came back and they would like to have the extension to replant the native species.
Blier: Motion to grant the extension, seconded by Hamilton. Passes 4-0.
6. Update on the Status of 485 Lafayette Street, the former Chadwick Leadmills Site
Duques states that she prepared an outline of the timeline, which in the members’ packets. She reviews the timeline from the time of the discovery of the violation. She confirms that she and Pabich visited the site on April 3 after the work on the failed section of the seawall was completed. She explains that they have not yet received a plan confirming that the remainder of the wall has been inspected and is in adequate condition.
Ted Tobin, representing the applicant, states that the wall was inspected and they didn’t find any areas of concern. He introduces property owner Richard Bain.
Glidden arrives.
Duques reviews the findings of Mark Roberts, who determined that an LSP was not required on this site.
Tobin explains that this is because the river is contaminated as well as the wall and a piece of the wall fell into the river that is already contaminated. He adds that there were mussels and shells at the high water line.
Pabich states that the discovery of the shells and mussels explains why there is a mound indicating the limit of work. He asks about the remediation.
Tobin states that they will use a method called monitored natural attenuation, and a page 3 was filed, stating they will clean up all of the land within the retaining wall but they will not clean up the water.
Pabich expresses concern about the material that has come through the wall. He states that he would like some spot sampling in the immediate vicinity of the clean up.
Tobin states that there was sampling taken from there prior to the work.
Pabich states that they represented that there was no level of contamination above that which would allow children to play in that area. He adds that he wishes to confirm that the same condition exists after the material in the wall fell into that area.
Tobin states that DEP is about to comment on the findings of their decision.
Glidden states that the Commission’s concern is appropriate because they see a changed circumstance, so he would like someone to go there now and give an opinion of this method of Natural Attenuation.
Tobin states that DEP may not take any more comments.
Glidden states that the Commission would like a licensed professional to provide a current determination regarding the contamination levels in this area.
Pabich agrees and states that known contaminants behind the wall have breeched the wall and he would like all of the mortar joints closed up to prevent any contaminated material from seeping through the wall, as well as an evaluation by an LSP to determine that this incident was cleaned up appropriately.
Glidden acknowledges that contaminated soil fell into a resource area, and that this should not be viewed as the material falling into a contaminated area, because it is a resource area. He adds that this is a very basic request.
Tobin confirms that they cleaned it up and then stopped filling it in and they had an LSP review what they planned on doing.
Pabich states that he would like them to do additional sampling. He adds that the failure illuminates the fact that the structural analysis on the wall was incomplete or incorrect, so he would like that wall assessed for its ability to hold back any and all contaminants behind there.
Tobin agrees to review this with Mark Roberts. He points out that the people that should have cleaned it up didn’t do the job well and he would like them to do it now.
Pabich states that it appears that there are pot chards on the beach, but the wall itself is a bigger concern than originally determined and he is in favor of changing the Order of Conditions because the condition has change since it was originally crafted.
Tobin suggests that the Commission send a letter to the DEP.
Pabich emphasizes that the owner must be sure that the wall doesn’t fail, so he requests that a professional engineer review the wall. He suggests citing a change in the overall scope of that presented to Commission.
Owner Richard Bain states that he received the letter on March 30, and because they responded as quickly as they did he respectfully requests that the fines be waived.
Pabich states that he anticipated such a request and because the wall is in Bain’s control and the wall failed, he wishes to maintain the fines.
Glidden agrees with Pabich stating that Bain must know what he bought and the responsibility that was required, yet because Bain responded so quickly he would consider waiving the penalties, but not until the wall has been reviewed.
Blier agrees with Glidden stating that the owner contracted with a company to ensure that this site was safe and he did respond quickly.
Cornacchio agrees with Blier stating that the owner did indeed responded quickly.
Pabich suggests they hold the fine issue in abeyance until the wall is evaluated.
Owner Richard states that he doesn’t want to be adversarial about this he just requests respectfully that they consider waiving the fine.
Pabich states that he has no problem using the $2200 in fines to repair the wall.
Pabich states that this issue will be discussed again after the wall has been inspected.
7. Draft design of public access sign presented to the Commission
Duques show the sign design and states that they didn’t get back with the new design with the City seal yet. She adds that it is the City’s standard sign.
She says that if the members are OK with this design she will get some pricing information for them.
The members agree that the design is good.
8. Commissioners to provide feedback on general guidelines for filing with Conservation Commission
Duques states that she updated the list for guidelines, stating that she reworded some of them to be more direct and divided them into categories.
Pabich suggests that the members review this for the next meeting.
Duques agrees to email new guidelines to the Commission.
9. Invitation to attend meeting regarding Peabody’s Flood Mitigation Project, April 13 at 7 pm
Duques reminds the Commission of the meeting date and time.
Glidden states that he wishes that the downstream factor be adequately considered.
Duques states that the City Engineer has been following this project and requested a peer review and they have a consultant on board.
Glidden states that Salem should have a united comment. He suggests scheduling several meetings for this, because commenting to DEP on MEPA may not be enough.
Duques states that DEP helped her craft the letter that she sent to Peabody. She agrees to get a summary of the status of the work.
10. Peabody Street Park Art Component
Duques explains that the art component for the park will be made up of 9x9 tiles, painted by students (5-12 years old), and the that painting will be done at the Salem YMCA on April 23 at 3:00 pm. She adds that the children should be wearing clothes that they can paint in, and the theme for the paintings will be Sea Creatures. She asks the Commission to advise anyone with children within this age range about this event.
Salem Woods Project
Pabich states that he was there on Sunday and he noticed that they put down the GeoWeb filled with ¾ inch crushed stone held in place with boulders and put thick clay-like loam on top of it and that will wear off. He adds that it should be dressed up with gravel and the loam should be removed.
Bob Cappuchio states that he wood chipped that trail about 6 years ago and it lasted for 5 years. He expresses concern about the clay-like loam that was brought into that area. He says that it should be removed.
Pabich states that his primary concern is with the loam on top of the GeoWeb.
Cornacchio suggests stopping the project and bringing them back in.
Pabich says that there will be protests from the Friends of Salem Woods who want this to look as natural as possible.
Much discussion ensues regarding the current condition of the trail.
Blier states that he doesn’t remember the stone border as part of the discussion.
The members agree to a site visit on their own time.
Duques agrees to advise them to stop the work.
…
Cornacchio: Motion to adjourn, seconded by Glidden. Passes 5-0.
The meeting is adjourned at 7:15 pm.
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