MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairperson Elizabeth Warren, Audrey Delnicki, Philip Forzley, William Grace, Carol Heffler, Barbara Kelly, Richard Muller, Jack Phillips and Audrey Wasik
ALTERNATES PRESENT: Donald Gates
STAFF PRESENT: Jeffrey H. Folger, Environmental
Planner/Conservation Officer
Debbie Reid, Recording Secretary
Motion to: change the order of the agenda in order to hear Other Business before the Public Hearing.
Was made by Commissioner Phillips
Seconded by Commissioner Heffler
The motion: carried
The vote was as follows: unanimous
ITEM: Other Business
Wapping Fair relocation
Town Manager, Matthew Galligan came before the Commission to discuss the location that the Town Council is looking at for the Wapping Fair. He explained that staff has looked at different parcels in Town and the location that was felt to be best suited for this type of activity is the Wildlife Sanctuary. Mr. Galligan would like the Commission to give this some thought and get back to the Council with their comments. This location would not be used until September 2004 and would only be used once a year for this function.
Answering questions from the Commission, Mr. Galligan explained that the other locations that were looked at either would have too many disturbances to the wetlands or other plans have been suggested for the parcel.
The present use a this location is agriculture. A small area of the agriculture use would be disrupted in order to install grass that will be better suited for parking. Mr. Galligan stated that a more extensive list of parcels will be established and he will return for the Commissions input.
ITEM: Public Hearing
Appl. #03-35W – Town of South Windsor – Clark Street
Attorney Guliano told Commission members that he would not be involved with this application. The Town has retained two attorneys. Attorney Peter Alter will be presenting this application to the Commission and Attorney Tom Fahey would represent IWA/CC if needed.
Chairperson Warren stated that a petition to intervene was received. Attorney Alter felt that the Commission could accept this.
Motion to: accept the petition from Pavilions at Buckland Hills, L.L.C. to intervene on appl. #03-35W – Town of South Windsor – Clark Street.
Was made by Commissioner Phillips
Seconded by Commissioner Heffler
The motion: carried
The vote was as follows: unanimous
Commission members had a brief discussion regarding the time frame for this meeting. It was decided that each application would be allowed 1 ½ hours for their presentation. This will allow the Commission to end the meeting at the 10:30 p.m. deadline.
Attorney Peter Alter came before the Commission representing the Town of South Windsor. He explained the Town is before this Commission for the construction of the trunk sewer line. The gravity sanitary sewer line is proposed to be approximately 3,970 linear feet of line. Testimony will be presented tonight that will demonstrate the best alternative of installation has been used and the most feasible and prudent alternative has been used. The trunk sewer line will service 500 acres using a gravity sewer line. Manholes will be used for access to the different areas of the line. This type of sewer line has low maintenance and lasts for a long time period. There is four areas of wetland disturbance proposed.
Ms. Michelle Carlson from Fuss and O’Neil came before the Commission to explain the activity that will be taking place for the installation of the sewer line. She explained that there are four locations that are being proposed to cross the wetlands:
Wetland #1 – There will be a total of 4,710 square feet of wetland disturbance.
Wetland #2 – There will be a total of 1,715 square feet of wetland disturbance.
Wetland #3 – There will be a total of 4,118 square feet of wetland disturbance.
Wetland #5 – There will be a total of 2,983 square feet of Sate wetland disturbance and 1,743 square feet of Federal wetland disturbance.
There is a total of 13,500 square feet of State wetlands being disturbed and 12,285 square feet of Federal wetlands being disturbed. An application to the Army Corp. was submitted and will be heard on August 6, 2003. The Water Pollution Control Authority approved the sewer line on July 22, 2003. No significant artifacts were found on the site. Ms. Carlson explained to the Commission the restoration that will take place with each wetland disturbance.
Answering questions from the Commission, Ms. Carlson explained that the muck that will be excavated from the wetlands during restoration should stay in place. Construction of the sewer line should begin late August, early September when the water is low. The narrowest area was chosen to install the pipe in the Plum Gully Brook. The life span of the pipe is 50 years. Ms. Carlson felt that the PVC piping is best suited for this type of use. She also pointed out to the Commission that the pipe will be encased in concrete. If there are any leaks, they will be found during the testing period after installation
Chairperson Warren questioned whether the Town would consider construction of a nature trail along the conservation easement?
Mr. Jeff Folger stated that at first he thought this project could be accomplished with a pump station, but after working closely with the Engineers, he agrees that a gravity line is better suited for this project. Jeff stated the following concerns:
Does not want the pipe being constructed under Plum Gully or in the wetlands to create a dam that would stop to cross flow of water within the wetlands.
Vegetation should be maintained every few years.
The disruption of wildlife.
Ms. Penny Sharp, a Certified Wetland Scientist came before the Commission to give a description of each wetland and the type of vegetation found in each wetland. She concluded her presentation saying that she does not feel there will be any long term negative impacts to this area, but is concerned that if the area is not maintained properly, fragmities could take over the area.
Mr. Richard Snarski came before the Commission. He explained that he has delineated the wetlands and gave the Commission a brief description of how each wetland is and how each is proposed to be restored.
Mr. Snarski stated that there is a vernal pool. There will be 12’ logs hand dropped around the vernal pool for protection. Work in the area will be done after the amphibians have dispersed.
Answering questions from the Commission, Jeff explained that coconut fiber logs placed along the stream bank would not be used to their full ability. There are other materials that could be used which would be more effective. Mr. Snarski stated that netting could be an alternative.
Answering further questions, Mr. Snarski stated that he felt there would be no overgrazing of the introduced plants to this area because where the gravel is being placed will be like a wet meadow. The vernal pool is approximately 30’ away from the disturbed area, so the vernal pool should not be effected at all.
Ms. Penny Sharp stated that she had remarked that is would be useful to remove some of the reed canary grass from wetland #2 and the multi-floral rose from wetland #2. If the Commission would like the invasive species removed from the wetlands, it could be made as part of a condition. In wetland #5, Ms. Sharp stated there is so much bittersweet that removing it from one small area would be futile. The Commission should concentrate their efforts on the west side of the brook. Ms. Sharp gave species of birds that she felt would utilize the site. She also explained that in her report she did incorporate a list of animals that are expected to utilize different habitats.
Ms. Carlson told Commission members that natural clay stops will be placed along the sewer line in order to prevent groundwater travelling along the pipe.
Mr. Tim Friend, the Plant Supervisor for the Department o f Pollution Control for the Town of South Windsor came before the Commission. Mr. Friend explained that the sewer line would service from the east side of Buckland road to the west toward Clark Street. The Town tries to use gravity lines when possible versus pump stations. There are less impacts for gravity lines than for a pump station. The Town tries to maintain the sewer lines every 3 to 5 years. The Town maintains trees, small saplings, etc. away from the sewer lines and the path will probably be maintained with an oversized weed whacker with a blade.
Attorney Alter concluded their presentation stating that they feel this plan presented to the commission represents an extremely prudent and feasible opportunity to construct a significant benefit for the Town with a minimal temporary disturbance to the wetlands.
Jeff explained that he would like a more detailed explanation of the stream crossing.
Attorney John Mallin came before the Commission to speak in favor of this application. He stated that he would like Mr. Gustofson of VHB to address the Commission with regard to the review of the plan presented to the Commission.
Mr. Gustafson came before the Commission on behalf of Evergreen Walk LLC & Poag & McEwen. He explained that he conducted a full review of the gateway trunk seer line. Mr. Gustafson also reviewed the wetland report prepared by Richard Snarski & Penny Sharp. Mr. Gustafson concluded that the proposal as presented conforms to applicable statutes and regulations applicable to wetland disruptions. Mr. Gustafson also stated that he found this wetland application to have proper protection of the interests of the Connecticut Inland Wetland and Watercourse Act and the Town of South Windsor Wetland and Watercourse regulations.
Chairperson Warren stated that the intervenor would be heard at the next scheduled meeting. The public hearing was continued until September 3, 2003 meeting.
Appl. #03-41W – Environmental Services, LLC – Brookfield Street
Attorney Wayne Gerlt came before the Commission to represent this application. He explained that they would like to request the following three items:
allow the existing pipe put in without a permit to remain in place.
Allow buffer zone around the existing stream.
allow the construction of a transfer station.
The business conducts clean ups of contaminates. The contaminate are placed in double barrels which are sealed and transferred back to the site. The contaminates stay on site for one or two days and then they are transferred to another site out of State.
The site consists of 18 acres with 3.3 acres of the site being used for this project. There will be a disturbance of .3 acres of wetlands. These requests would allow for a more efficient transfer from smaller trucks to larger trucks. There were no other alternatives found that would not disturb more wetlands.
Chairperson Warren stated to the applicant that she is very concerned about this site. She felt it would be more feasible to correct the problems on the site before doing more damage. Her concerns consist of:
The pipe that was constructed without permits.
Storage of buses and the leakage from the buses to the Podunk.
The tanks should have containments around them.
There are a number of dumpsters on the site.
The pipe that crosses the driveway.
The unsafe banks.
Attorney Gerlt told the Commission that he would answer all the Commissions concerns at the next scheduled meeting.
Mr. Tomek Grajewski, a Professional Engineer with Soil Resource Consultants came before the Commission. He explained that the applicant intends to eliminate most, if not all of the deficiencies that were described. Mr. Grawjewski described to the Commission the different engineering aspects that are being proposed for this project.
Answering questions from the Commission, Mr. Grajewski stated he does not know the strength of the 46” pipe being used, but knows that there is a sufficient amount of cover to protect that pipe.
A representative from Environmental Services explained that the facility presently has 800 drums. The Federal Government allows 10 days to store drums, but the State only allows 72 hours. The weight of a tractor trailer is 80,000 pounds and a box truck is 67,000 pounds.
Mr. George Benson stated that the site needs to be cleaned up. The culvert there is 20 years old and there is no reason to remove it. The stream shows improvement as it goes downstream.
Answering questions from the Commission, Mr. Benson stated that the Attorney does have a mitigation plan. There are fish in the river even though it is very shallow.
Items that the Commission would like to see at the next meeting:
Impacts from stabilization.
A good mitigation plan in writing.
Facts about site and specific timeframes when this will be done.
Property boundaries in place.
Mark the wetlands.
Permanent protection.
Mark where facility will be located.
Timeframes for mitigation.
Structural analysis to be done on metal pipe.
Demonstrate that all activities on the east side can not fit on the west side (prudent and feasible alternative).
Information on fill placed onsite? Has there been any testing of the soils done?
ITEM: Adjournment
Motion to: adjourn the meeting at 10:30 p.m.
Was made by Commissioner Phillips
Seconded by Commissioner Wasik
The motion: carried
The vote was as follows: unanimous
Respectfully submitted
_________________________________ ___________________
Deborah W. Reid Date Approved
Recording Secretary
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