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Minutes of the Conservation Commission
February 23, 2009
Present: Chair Brian Marques, Vice Chair Neil Kelly, Commissioners Steven Turner, Marla Isaac, Ernest Enos, Robert Newhall, and Renwick Chapman.
Motion to approve the minutes of February 9, 2009, RN, second EE, ST voted present.
Motion to have RC step down, ST, second RN, so voted.
Hart Street – Chateau Estates
A meeting was held with the abutters, there was much discussion. The property owners are not present tonight because nothing new was done or decided as of yet. They gathered information from the abutters at the meeting and are going to go from there. Charlie Dutra’s spouse Jane of 85 Hart Street, spoke about what occurred at the meeting. She said lots of new things were brought to light. A civil engineer was present who also happens to live on Williams Avenue. At the meeting he was offered a job working with the property owners there to correct the problems on this site and the affects they are having on the abutting properties. MR said they are waiting for better weather to go out and check out Mr. Replenski’s property. Motion to continue to May 4, 2009, ST,
second MI, under discussion: RN would like them to come back with something for the TCC on 5/4/09. MR said she will have something to report because she will have walked the area and Mr. Replenski’s property by then.
(RC back)
Continued Public Hearings:
1. Kilmer & Bliss Streets, DPW, (NOI), SE73-2369 A field report was read stating that in January MR wrote: “This project is an after-the-fact NOI for maintenance work consisting of the installation of two catch basins, 12” ductile iron pipe, rip-rap, and the clearing of trees and brush along the bank at the corner of Bliss Street and Kilmer, and crossing under Kilmer. It also included replacing a collapsed 15” culvert with twin 12” pipes crossing under Kilmer Avenue. Work involved a number of private properties and the DPW acquired signed “Right of Entry” permissions from homeowners
prior to the commencement of work. Copies of these documents are in Appendix D of the NOI package. Prior to this work, water was restricted crossing Kilmer Ave., due to the collapsed culvert, and would flood the adjacent properties. The road was also subsiding due to the collapse of the culvert. Work at the corner of Bliss and Kilmer and continuing along the banks of the brook at #60 Kilmer included cleaning the channel and cutting trees hanging over the brook; at #63 Kilmer reinforcing the right-angle turn with rip-rap and clearing the channel. The work done along Bliss Street will alleviate flooding and icing over of the river that has occurred due to the velocity of the brook as it took the right angle turn.” The commission recommended that As Built plans be drawn up for this project and MR received revised plans for this project on February 17 which were sent out as PDFs to all Commissioners. MR received a second set of
revised plans today showing a paper street (Belvoir Ave) and lot numbers for #48 Kilmer Ave. No other changes were made. MR spoke with Chris Ross for DEP regarding whether the ACOE should be notified of the work along Bliss Street and he seemed to think that it did not kick in a 401 WZ cert nor hit the 5000 sf disturbance. The City Engineer reviewed the work and stated that it was completed satisfactorily. MR recommends that the TCC issue an Order of Conditions with the attached Special Conditions. Present was Angela Saunders and Joe Frederico with BETA Group, and Tony Abreau from the DPW. RN felt work done in haste, did not follow proper procedure. This is wetlands protection was not upheld and that is what the TCC is here to do. He is concerned the rip rap and other work out there was not done properly and will eventually lead to more problems down the line if it was not installed the correct way. Just because it
is the city doing this project, doesn’t mean they don’t need to follow up with proper filing for a project. RN also does not feel this was such an emergency that it couldn’t wait to be done until after an actual emergency order was filed. He said he saw nothing filed saying this was an emergency or anything done as follow up to the initial phone call to MR. RN also questioned where the water from sump pumps was going, it can cause issues in the areas of the Cobb Brook and eventually it all goes out to the Taunton River. Joe Frederico said they are pumping a gallon per minute from two houses and that is during a rainstorm. Angela Saunders spoke of the plan that they had at the meeting tonight. It is properly stamped. She showed how the plan dictates the rip rap- two catch basins and one manhole outlet. They used 2 12” pipes instead of 1 20” pipe. Tony Abreau defended his call on the work done
out there. He said the pipe had collapsed and the road was caving in. He called MR and explained the issue and said he wanted to go to work asap and file this as an emergency order so he could go to work on it right away. He said MR told him to do this as an emergency order and file an after the fact NOI. He said that they went to abutters houses and asked them permission before going onto their property to do any work. He spoke of one neighbor who is on the corner of Bliss and Kilmer. Her yard at the corner has the 90 degree angle where the brook turns to head out under Kilmer Avenue. At that corner her whole yard was falling into the brook. She had railroad ties holding up the yard but they too had fallen into the brook over time. He removed that from the brook and had the guys put in rip rap along that edge to protect her property from further erosion. He said he is involved in lots of sewer projects in the city that
are all going on right now, the state and federal agencies are involved too, and that he would never do any work on private property or incorrectly that would cause problems later. He feels he has good communication with MR and that they did things according to an emergency order to get the issues out there taken care of. He said they did put fabric down and then the rip rap at the corner of Bliss and Kilmer. He is not sure if that is the case a few feet further down Kilmer Avenue at the next site, but he will check and if the fabric is not there and put in correctly it will be fixed and done right. RN said his problem with this is that the TCC has liability here, and no emergency order was ever taken out. He understands why it was done but they are in violation of the wetlands protection act. No work is to be done after October 15th, it is the law. This is because after this time the water is too active. His other issue
with this is that no one should ever go work in a brook. He said there are fresh cut trees out on this site and a huge pile of dirt at the edge of the brook. RN said he understands this was an emergency because the road was collapsing but they should have fixed the road and come before the TCC for the rest first. The TCC still has to know what’s going on, and how much water is being pumped out. NK asked if they can from now on, make sure that they come before the TCC first. ST said he did go out to the site and asked and was told that they did speak with MR before starting work out there. RN said the problem is that they didn’t file right away and did not come before the TCC for months afterwards. ST said all city departments have always worked well with the TCC and he does not want to tie their hands with this, he feels that MR and Tony Abreau can make decisions on the field with cases like this, and he feels confident in their
judgment. BM said there is a lesson learned here and to make sure the rip rap is checked and fixed if necessary. Motion to issue a standard order of conditions with special conditions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 19, 21, and correct the rip rap if necessary, EE, second NK, RN opposed, vote is 5 in favor, 1 opposed, motion carries. Abutter (of Cobb Brook) Juanita Gallagher spoke to the TCC and the applicants/COT representatives. She had sent a letter to MR, which she was told is part of the record. Ms. Gallagher said the TCC is accepting liability for this, that she has hired more experts and has more information on this area than anyone here. And she has spent more money. With this construction they are now putting 3 times more water into this area. She has had to triple her pumping since this work has taken place. When asked what she feels should have been done, she said they should have taken care of 100 Oak Street first, that this work
should not have been done until that area was handled. There are contaminants on the site of 100 Oak Street and by forcing this much more water through with the construction on Bliss and Kilmer, they have now pushed those contaminants onto other people’s properties and on into the Taunton River. She feels this was not done maliciously, that these people did not knowingly do it, but in any case it was done. She also thinks its terrible that she was contacted by the head of the DPW for the report on 100 Oak Street because he had no copy of it. If they are doing work around this area, then they should have had this report. ST felt that what Ms. Gallagher started out with was a threat to the TCC and the representatives who worked on this project, because she started off saying she hoped they all had good lawyers. He feels that they should not be threatened, that he backs MR 99.9% of the time and if she wants someone to blame, blame ST because
he agrees with MR and agrees with this work being done. Angela Saunders said that this December has had more rain than we have had in ten years and RN said exactly that’s why you should not work after October 15. But ST and MR both agree that that is fine but if it is an emergency situation then what do you do if the work has to be done. You have to do it. MR did have one last thing to add. She said to take a look at this whole watershed. It is from Oak Street, to between Oak and East Whitehill, and to behind Ms. Gallagher’s property. It is a large system that is not functioning properly. It has issues in each of the areas and they are not functioning properly, not holding water they should, so in turn more issues are arising with properties along the way. It can’t be blamed on one issue, it’s the whole watershed that has problems.
2. West Water Street, DPW, (NOI), SE73-2370 A field report was read stating that in January, 2009, MR wrote: “This project is an after-the-fact NOI to replace a culvert on West Water Street near the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The road was subsiding due to a broken metal pipe which was also casing flooding on West Water Street after each rain event. The existing 12” corrugated metal pipe was replaced with twin 12” ductile iron pipes. Work was done within bordering land subject to flooding, land under waterbodies and waterways, bordering vegetated wetland and bank. The project qualified as a
limited project under 310 cmr 10.53(3)(k). The work was done to improve the culvert and restore the flow capacity of the waterway. The wetland was protected by haybales and silt fence similar to a job done in East Taunton along Caswell Street last year. Work within the wetland areas included excavating silt from the edges and building a new headwall for the twin pipes. MR received an As Built plan, per the request of the TCC on 2/17/09, and sent each commissioner a copy via email. The city engineer reviewed the work and stated that it was completed satisfactorily. MR recommends that the TCC issue an Order of Conditions with the attached special conditions. Motion to approve the NOI for this project and issue a standard order of conditions with the following special conditions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 19, and 21, ST, second RC, RN opposed, 5 in favor, 1 opposed, motion carries. Under discussion: RC said if they replaced 1 12” pipe
with 2 12” pipes, if water flow starts increasing down gradient, they will have more water problems down there. Angela Saunders said there is nothing between this area and the Taunton River but wetlands. RC asked if it flowed to the wetlands, Angela said yes. RC Then it shouldn’t be an issue with water problems if increasing the flow. RN said this area has had problems for years, there is no reason why this work couldn’t have waited until they came before TCC with a filing. No reason they could not have filed first. BM asked if they were in contact with MR during this, Tony Abreau answered yes. He said these two areas (Kilmer & Bliss, and West Water) happened around the same time. RN said the law and the Wetlands Protection Act say that they should file and this goes against the law and the act. MR said she was looking at safety and made the call regarding the safety of fixing this right away or waiting. RN said he understands that safety is the most important thing, but
this has been a problem for years, they could have filed first.
Violations:
1. 655 West Water Street. Present owners Shawn Moore and Gary Silvia. They have with them a book from Green Seal, the company they have hired to help them with resolving this violation. The ANRAD is to come before the TCC and then they will file for the NOI. RC wants topo on the ANRAD. MR checked the plan and there are 2 ft contours on the plan. The owners are looking at what the problems are and what to do to take care of them. ST told them to make sure through this whole process they keep in contact with MR. They do need someone to review the site. RN said they should hire a consultant to do
this so any issues that come up can be handled by the consultant who has more of a broader background with things like contaminants, etc. ST said if MR feels comfortable doing the review, he would rather have her do the review before hiring a consultant, which could run the owners thousands of more dollars. They have already had to let 17 employees go, they are doing things to take care of the violation as they get the money, why put more strain on them. RN said there could be HAZMAT issues out there, may be better to hire a consultant. RC respects RN but TCC is for conservation issues not 21E issues. ST feels they should have MR go out to review, save the owners money and help them get out of this violation. BM stated the review under the ANRAD is only specifically for wetlands. RC stated again that the TCC is not regulators of hazardous wastes. We don’t regulate hazardous materials, it is not in our jurisdiction. He said
the ANRAD is part of the process to resolve the violation but he doesn’t believe the owners will need to remove the violation before they can come forward with the NOI. RN said to do the ANRAD and NOI together. The TCC asked the owners if 3/23/09 sounded ok to them, or if they felt they may need more time. MR did say if the TCC recommends that they do both, file the NOI to include the ANRAD, it does change the scope of the project. More discussion was had on how to handle this situation. Motion to continue the violation to April 27, 2009, have MR work with the owners and Green Seal, the owners can request to come in earlier if they are ready to file the ANRAD and NOI at the same time (at that time they can talk about the violation, ANRAD, and NOI) ST, second NK, so voted.
(NK out)
2. 70 Weir Street. MR spoke of what went on during demolition and had pictures on hand for the board. RN asked if they can put cement blocks, 2 high to protect anyone getting in there. ST asked how much the fines had accumulated to? MR said about $35,000.00. MR told Will Flanagan about the attachment. ST said to take the money out of the fines owed to secure that area appropriately as RN had stated earlier. More discussion was had on what to put there for protection. Motion to put a chain link fence (6 feet high) around the property, RN, second ST, so voted. Motion to get a report back from Will
Flanagan of where the TCC’s fines are with this site, and his recommendations on it, RN, second ST, so voted. Motion to continue this to March 9, 2009, ST, second RN, so voted.
(NK back)
Other Business:
1. Boyden Refuge. It is not being maintained. Motion to have Marilyn Greene at the next meeting of the TCC, 3/9/09, to discuss this matter, MI, second ST, so voted.
(BM stepped out, NK acting Chair)
2. DIRB Meeting. ST asked about the meeting that is to take place regarding a dog training facility out on (Old?) Tremont Street and MR’s feeling on it. MR’s recommendation is going to be that the plans are not clear. Not much else regarding her end of it.
3. 147 Winthrop Street. Court did not do anything regarding the fines. Mr. Freire
has to do the work. Motion to send a letter to Will Flanagan, find out where the fines stand regarding this site, how much the fines total, can they attach to Mr. Freire somehow, when is work to commence, RN, second ST, so voted. MR does need to get a plan by 7/1/09. RN said why give him 2/20/09 to 7/1/09, when 7/09 to 8/09 are when the work needs to be done?
Motion to adjourn, ST, second MI, so voted. Meeting ended at 8:45 p.m.
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