MINUTES OF PLANNING BOARD CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING
METRO/PCS APPLICATION FOR SPECIAL PERMIT AND SITE PLAN REVIEW
AUGUST 27, 2008
PRESENT: Chair Pat Halpin, John Baker, Karen Paré, Lawrence Salate
ABSENT: Vincent Vignaly
OTHERS PRESENT: Wayne Amico (VHB), Karla Hanna, Kyle MacCallum, Simon Brighenti, Eric Phelan, Stanley T. Johnson, Robert Johnson, Michael Coveney, Ron Pong, John Westerling
Ms. Halpin opened the continued public hearing at 7:10 p.m. A revised set of plans for the driveway improvements on the West Boylston Water District property that will service the cell tower was sent to the board via email on August 26th and this revision was under discussion. Mr. Westerling, the Directory of Public Works, asked to speak first because he needed to attend another meeting in the building. Mr. Westerling reiterated that the DPW's concern is the question of adequate capacity in the drainage system on Lawrence Street. He is concerned that the current system functions "marginally at best" and has asked that the design engineer provide documentation that they have looked at the downstream capacity and that the system will be able to handle any additional inflow. Mr. Westerling was not
satisfied that the numbers provided by Infinigy showed this information. Mr. Westerling then left the meeting.
Mr. MacCullum informed the board that a representative from Infinigy, Mr. Coveney from the West Boylston Water District and Mr. Pong from Tata and Howard conferred today regarding this revised plan. Mr. Coveney reported that this new plan was not satisfactory to the Water District and that it was a result of miscommunication between Infinigy, the Water District and the Planning Board. Mr. Tucker, from Infinigy, is located in Albany, New York. This revised plan, which had hoped to reflect the engineering discussion that took place on June 23, reverses the flows to the south side and requires additional re-grading but this is not what was intended. Mr. Coveney provided copies of the West Boylston Water District Minutes of the meeting on June 23, 2008 as requested by Ms. Halpin.
Mr. Pong, from Tata and Howard, the Water District's consulting engineering firm, described the results of today's meeting. The plans will be revised to return the majority of the flow from the driveway to the rock swale on the north side of the road as was shown in the July 3rd revision of the plans. The swale on the south side of the driveway will be changed to a shallower grass swale.
Mr. Amico asked Ms. Halpin to get clarification on who is designing and stamping the plans. Mr. Pong responded that Tata and Howard were involved in the original design concept but that Crown Castle picked up the surveying costs. Infinigy will be stamping the plans and Tata and Howard will review for the Water District.
Mr. Pong described how the early draft of the plan had most of the runoff flowing to the north side of the drive as it has done historically. There is a natural swale that directs the flow down to a drop inlet on the street. The driveway takes a 90 degree turn up the hill to the south. Runoff from this upland area will not be collected into the swales on the main drive, but will be directed into a natural hollow on the south side, inside curve. Mr. Pong has recommended that the south-side swale, which will only collect runoff from a small portion of the drive, be made shallower and covered with grass, rather than rock as shown on the current plan. The south-side catch basin has a shallower invert and this will be sufficient to handle the flow. The plans must be modified to show the drainage
structures that will divert the upland flow into the hollow, the section of the southerly swale that is in the inside of the curve will be removed and the southerly swale will have the contours changed and shown as grass instead of rock.
Mr. Pong does not expect that the flows to the north side catch basin will differ from the current stormwater conditions and that the erosion we see on the south side is the base of the road breaking down. Mr. Salate asked whether with these changes that the water will still run down the street and onto the neighbors properties. Mr. Pong explained that the water running down the hill is not making the corner into the drop inlet. The plan is to lessen the severity of the angle into the drop inlet and direct the flow there.
Discussion of the north-side drop inlet brought up the question regarding the existing electrical pole that will be in the middle of the swale directing water to that catch basin. Mr. Pong reported that the Municipal Light Plant was not worried. Mr. Coveney reported that he spoke to Darryn Goodnow of the MLP regarding this pole. Mr. Goodnow indicated to him that the MLP will move the pole if necessary, but that Verizon also has cables on the pole and that it is difficult to get Verizon to move their cables. Mr. Goodnow was confident that he can protect the bottom of the pole. Ms. Halpin read an email from Mr. Goodnow into the record that confirmed that the MLP has no concerns with the location of the pole on the proposed plan.
Mr. Amico returned to the question regarding whether the drainage system on Lawrence Street is operational. He reported that the drainage calculation numbers provided by Infinigy show that the catch basin itself can handle the flow into it, but not that the downstream system can handle the flow. The board needs some documentation that Infinigy has at least down a visible inspection of the system, that it is functional and mathematically can handle the flows. Mr. Pong reported that the north side drop inlet must be cleaned. Mr. MacCallum said that he understood that the system was cleaned earlier this year. Ms. Paré said that she had reported in an earlier meeting that the DPW truck was seen on the street, but that it needs to be verified. Mr. MacCallum said that cleaning that northerly drop inlet
was part of the scope of work for the drive construction.
Mr. Pong expressed some concern regarding the location of the southerly catch basin, since it requires work on property owned by DCR. Ms. Halpin noted that DCR had reviewed the location of the catch basin on the plan that was submitted to them and that their only recommended change was the installation of a cascading grate on that basin, which has already been done on the current plan.
Mr. Amico commented that he was not part of all of the discussions recently and asked whether, if the plans were modified based on the discussions today, would that address the concerns of the Water District. Mr. Coveney asserted that it would. Mr. Amico agrees that the changes will address the handling of stormwater and the impact on the neighbors.
Mr. Robert Johnson, an abutter, requested to speak. Mr. Johnson said that he agreed that most of the water should be directed into the north swale as that is how it has functioned in the past. He asked Mr. Pong if the upland drive to the south will need to be re-graded to have the stormwater drain into the woodlands and would this cause any problems to the abutting neighbors on the south side. Mr. Pong reported that most of that drive will not be modified and that only the small section that will be newly paved will drain into the hollow. There should be no impact to the neighbor. Mr. Johnson reported that during the storms of past couple of week there was a river of water coming down the drive and it was bypassing the north-side catch basin. Mr. Pong stated that the new design will direct the flow
into that basin. Mr. Johnson reported that even the second catch basin down the street was being by-passed during these storms. He reported that when the sewer work was done, the catch basin seemed to be relocated and isn't doing its job. Mr. Pong felt that this was an issue for the DPW.
Following a question from the board, Mr. MacCallum stated that the plans could be modified to show these changes "tomorrow." Ms. Halpin questioned him on when the verification of the downstream drainage system would be complete and Mr. MacCallum asked about getting a meeting in the field.
Upon a motion by Ms. Paré and seconded by Mr. Salate, the board voted to continue the public hearing until September 10 at 7:00 p.m.
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