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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCONSERVATIONminutes04142008-20080507185416 f"'\~-'. _......." h~~~ f"~ j t '5=-D i\Lt,..t.,vt S Oi=":; ICE - """ 1 ~ 1 Present: Joe Mulkern, Chairman; Paul Boyden, Vice Chairman; Caroler,*~~~pw~Cindy Ostrowski; Jack Smith; Linda Falk; Derek House; Michele Grenier, C6IisetvMiOn lana=' b: f 3 Environmental Planner. Conservation Meeting April 14, 2008 1. Meeting called to order at 7 :03 pm. 2. Discnssion with John Sullivan-School Street Sewer Interceptor. John Sullivan, Town Engineer, was present. The School Street sewer interceptor was discussed; John told the Commission the [mal phase of the School Street Sewer Interceptor Project is now being done. No further action required. Paul made the motion to reaffIrm the vote, taken on a previous date, to approve the Stormwater Management and Land Disturbance By-law. Cindy seconded. Passed 7-0. Discussion ended at 7: 10 pm. I 3~ Request for Determination of Applicability: Jeff Rich, 6 Carol Road~ . Jeff Rich, the applicant, was present. The Request for Determination of Applicability was fIled for the placement of a modular shed on existing lawn within 100 ft. of bordering vegetated wetlands. Because of the size of the shed, a building permit is not required. The shed will be located approximately 40 ft. from the wetland line on existing lawn. Michele performed a site visit on March 13th. No excavation is necessary because there will be no foundation; Jeff Rich told the Commission the shed will be placed on railroad ties. Cindy noted this is a property with a very small back yard and that the owner can never expand the yard. Paul would give approval of the fIling but would ask for an as built for location purposes. He would like the footage from the wetland line to the shed location re-measured. Paul made the motion to issue a Negative 3 Determination for 6 Carol Road. Michele will check the fInal location of the shed and will re-measure from the wetland line to the shed. Cindy seconded. Passed 7-0. Hearing ended at 7: 16 pm. .4. Request for a Certificate of Compliance: Stephen McSweeney, 16 Keli Lane. #211-0790. . Michele told the Commission she received a request for a Certificate of Compliance from a lawyer; the property is being sold and it was discovered the Order of Conditions was never dosed out. The Notice of Intent was filed January 22, 2007 for a 24x16 addition off the back of the garage and an 8 ft. addition to the back of the house. The property is within an Estimated Habitat and an ACEC, the Canoe River (the house was built before the by-law of 1999). The applicant was required to put up signage to read "Environmentally Sensitive Area- Do Not Disturb" on the 25 ft.line and add a roof drain; The following conditions were added to the Order; no further work in the 25 ft. - no clearing, no disturbance such as pools, storage structures, swing sets, etc. Paul felt the Commission does not have enough information concerning the property at this time. Cindy agreed with Paul. Paul made the motion to table the request for further discussion, that the Certificate of Compliance not be issued until the site has been investigated further. Cindy seconded. Passed 7-0. Hearing ended at 7:20 pm. I 5. Land Disturbance Permit Application: Old School,LLC, 315-339 School Street. Stephen Major of Allen & Major, and Ted Hoppe of Pinnacle Partners were present. The applicant filed an RDA March 27,2007 proposing to construct a single 8,250 sq. ft. building on approximately 1.88 acres. Stephen Major told the Commission they have purchased an additional parcel of land and have combined and closed on the 3 parcels. John Sullivan and Michele reviewed the Land Disturbance Permit application and found the Stormwater Management Form was missing. The applicants also are proposing to use V ortechs 2000 and Contech V orsentry Hs48 in place of the Stormceptors the town favors. All necessary paperwork has now been provided. They were also asked to provide data showing the V ortechs 2000 and Contech V orsentry Hs48 are comparable to the Stormceptors as far as stormwater treatment capability. Michele said Rick Alves has now received all this information and the engineering department is reviewing the data. 2 Cindy asked about the land disturbance application; the application is associated with stormwater management. Is that why it is being applied to this case? Michele: "The state in its wisdom decided every town should have a stormwater/land disturbance by- law. Mansfield is one of the few towns to put one together. The only time you get a land disturbal11ce application is when applicants are not required to file a Notice of Intent because they are not within 100 ft. of a resource area but are disturbing more than an acre of land/' Cindy made the motion to accept the plan as drawn and to accept the Land Disturbance Permit Application as submitted, reference of the plan dated 1-18-2008, project #1475- 02C for School Street, Mansfield Common. An addendum to Cindy's motion: the applicant needs to get an approval letter from John Sullivan, stating the engineering department approves the use of the V ortechs 2000 and Contech V orsentry Hs48 in lieu of the Stormceptors the town normally uses. Linda seconded. Passed 6-0. Jack abstained. Hearing ended at 7:40 pm. .6. Request for a Certificate of Compliance: Peter Fontanini, 1301 East Street. #211-683 . . Michele performed a site walk on April 9, 2008. An as built as been submitted. Mr. Fontanini has complied with all conditions (the Order of Conditions was issued October 8, 2003). She reported that there are two areas Mr. Fontanini is still cleaning up, the area where there is a woodpile and the side of the roadway where telephone poles used in Mr. Fontanini's garden (the garden is outside the 100 ft. buffer) have been stored. The telephone poles will be removed off site; except for these two areas, the rest of the site is very clean and neat. She recommends issuing the Certificate of Compliance. Carole thinks the pond on the property might contain an uncertified vernal pool. Michele does not think it is a vernal pool; Mr. Fontanini told her it never dries up and there are fish in the pond. Michele told the Commission Mr. Fontanini has many bluebird houses on the property and has built a platform in the pond for the painted turtles. He plans to enlarge the platform because of all the turtles. There are also ducks nesting in the area of the pond. Cindy made the motion to issue a Certificate of Compliance for 1301 East Street. Carole seconded. Passed 7-0. Paul amended the motion to include the DEP reference #211-683. Hearing ended at 7:55 pm. 3 7. Request for Determination of Applicability: Philip & Carolyn Burnham, 35 . Smith :Q.oad.. . The Request for Determination of Applicability was filed for an above ground pool. The back yard is grassed and has a 3.5 ft. stonewall along the back of the yard. The wetlands are located approximately 3 ft. behind the wall. Mr. Burnham told the Commission he also owns several acres beyond the stonewall. Michele performed a site walk on March 13, 2008. Cindy asked about the filtration system. Mr. Burnham explained he purchased a used pool and it has a back flushing system, requiring the use of chlorine. Joe would like the applicant to look into a self-contained filter system to eliminate the need for the chlorine; so there is no danger the treated water would go into the wetlands accidentally. Paul would like the applicant to provide the information on the filtration system to Conservation. Carole asked if it would be possible to move the pool behind the swing set, moving it further from the wetlands. Michele said the area where the pool would be located is level; the rest of the yard is on a slope. The best location is approximately 3 ft. from the stonewall. Mr. Burnham told the Commission he chose the location so he would not have to disturb anything; the only excavation would be for the installation of the pool and no trees would need to be taken down. The deck will conform to the slope of the yard. Paul told Mr. Burnham if he does not intend to keep the excavated dirt, it would need to be removed off site. If he is going to keep it, it will need to be protected, because of the slope of the land, to prevent run-off into the wetlands. Carole: "If the pool can't be moved to another location away from the wetland, at the very least the applicant should be required to have a self-contained filtration system." Cindy made the motion to accept the plan as drawn and issue a Negative 3 Determination with the following stipulations: the applicant will use a self-contained filtration system and win move the filter away from the stone wall to the house side, to the uphill side, positioning the system as far away from the wetlands as possible; top soil is to be taken off-site or if the applicant wants to keep the top soil, it must be protected to prevent run- off into the wetlands-any excavated soil must be stored away from the wetlands; hay bales must be installed along the back of the work area. Michele will certify the hay bales; the applicant will submit to Conservation [mal specs on the filtration system and a revised plan showing the hay bale line to Conservation. Michele will do a site inspection to make sure everything is in compliance. Linda seconded. Passed 6-0. Jack abstained. 4 Hearing ended at 8: 15 pm. "::,:" -. '. , ,:.' .-'-> :- ~ 8. Request for Determination of Applicability: Richard & Deana DeSilva, 3. Kybren Circle. Deana DeSilva, the homeowner, was present. The applicant filed the Request for Determination of Applicability to clear brush outside the 25 ft. no disturb zone. Michele reviewed the wetland line on April 7,2008. She told the Commission the applicant is maintaining the 25 ft. no disturb area. New plans were submitted tonight; 3 wetland flags needed to be moved. At this time the flags have not been physically moved. Paul wanted to know why there are no pictures of what the applicant intends to do. The tree line on the plan is not accurate; there are only a few trees, mostly pine, and there is an easement on the property with a 75 ft. restriction for no tree clearing that will be maintained. The restriction is there because the property abuts Oak Street, which has been designated a scenic way. The applicant proposes to level out the back yard to the 25 ft. line and the area will be loamed and seeded. Cindy wanted to know what would be removed. Deana said the area to be cleared has a few saplings, the rest of the area is bramble bushes, brush and weeds and logs from trees that have fallen. There will be no clearing beyond the 25 ft. Deana told the Commission they are clearing the area to make the area into a more usable surface. Michele will call Deana DeSilva to set up a time for a site visit to measure and fmd out just what is to be cleared. Cindy would like the area to be cleared marked off and the 75 ft. easement clearly marked. Paul made the motion to continue to the next meeting, April 28, 2008. The hearing was continued with the approval of the applicant. Derek seconded. Passed 7-0. Deana DeSilva will not be able to attend the next meeting. Guerrini Landscaping Co. will be doing the work. Deana will ask if someone from the company can come to the April 28th meeting. Cindy would like to go with Michele when she does the measurements. Hearing ended at 8:32 pm. 5 9.. Abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation: Mark Blanchette, 655 North Main street. #211-0811 Ralph Maloon of RIM Engineering was present. Revised plans were submitted tonight because when the delineation was done what was thought to be a wetland is actually an existing drainage ditch. Michele had Ralph remove the wetland flags from the drainage ditch area. There are wetlands in the back of the property and they have been flagged accurately. Cindy asked why the existing drainage ditch is not flagged as a wetland. Michele: "there is no wetland vegetation present. Under the Wetland Protection Act, stormwater ditches are not included. They are not protected as wetland areas are." Cindy: "what if you are not seeing any species now but in three weeks you do?" Michele: "the area is pretty thick with bamboo; bamboo chokes out everything, the area is gravelly and there are no wetlands on either side of the ditch." Cindy made the motion to accept the new revised plan, dated 3/31/08, as submitted for the delineation at 655 North Main Street, with the following changes: 1.) Have RIM mark where the green wetland line starts at the top of the bank on the fence line with a lA wetland flag. 2.) Remove the two wetland symbols from the existing drainage ditch since there is no wetland species in the ditch; therefore it is not considered a wetland. Linda seconded. Passed 7-0. Michele will not issue the ORAD until a new plan has been submitted with the changes requested by the Commission. Cindy would like Michele to remind the engineers to remember when submitting plans that the plans must be colored to mark BVW line, the 100 ft. buffer zone, 25 or 50 ft. no touch zones, perennials streams and rivers and intermittent streams and all plans must have a locus. Hearing ended at 8:50 pm. l>l().Qtltel"llu,$il1~s~ . Michele and Cindy re-checked the potential vernal pool on Branch Street and decided it is not a vernal pool. Over the last couple of weeks it has totally dried up. Because the area is very flat, Michele does not think it is large enough or deep enough to hold the amount of water for land subject to flooding but it is a wetland and it is flagged as a wetland. 6 Lifting the Enforcement Order for 900 Maple Street: Commission will not lift the EO until the site is revisited to make sure Mr. Epstein is in compliance. While she is on site, Michele will look for egg sacs in the potential vernal pool. Little League - Addendum to the Little League lease contract: will note that 185 ft. of the driveway has now been paved and a maintenance program will be developed for the Little League to maintain it; two 18x24 ft. signs to read "No Motorized Vehicles Allowed", one on either side of the entrance to the wooded path; boulders to be placed at the end of the disturbed gravel road where it makes a 900 turn along the stone wall; the stone wall to be restored. Mike Ahem will be contacted to see about replacing the boulders and stonewall. 10 Millstone Court-#211-0806: Mr. Borah gave permission to Michele to do the certification of a potential vernal pool on site. Michele check the site. 430 Fruit Street: Potential vernal pool across the street from this address needs to be looked at. Suzanne Estates: signage can be put in place now that the land has been given to the town. Joe welcomed Derek House and Linda Falk as new members of the Conservation Commission. Michele will be leading a group of volunteer boy scouts in Great Woods off Oak Street for the Great Mansfield Clean-Up on May 3, 2008. She asked if anyone was interested in donating a few hours of his or her time. Linda will meet Michele in the Great Woods parking lot at 8:30. Minutes were approved - Paul/Carole. Passed 7-0. Ill. Adjournment: .. Paul made the motion to adjourn at 9:30 pm. Jack seconded. Passed 7-0. Next meeting will be April 28, 2008 at 7:00 pm. J$]~ o/-J-.fr-O ~ Date 7