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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Comm. 09/30/2024Town of Mansfield .Ap�p1N 6 Pat Ro;v, Alansfield, Alarsaeburetls 02048 e Conservation Commission A, nnoo+ o nai.,..+o� a an ?ma Mr. Aaron Roth and Ms. Katelyn Gonyer, Conservation and Environmental Planner Not Present: Mr. Aaron Gallagher Guests: Mr. Craig Cygawnoski, RIM Engineering, Ms. Emily Miller, and Mr. Matthew Barry, Project Engineer, Tata & Howard Minutes: Sharon Varricchione 1. Call the Meeting to Order: Mr. Michael Healey, Chair, called the meeting to order at 6:11pm. 2. Land Disturbance Permit application from FOD, LLC for the construction of aschool building, parking lot, utilities and stormwater improvements at 19 Knight Way, Map 003 Parcel 51 resulting in one acre or more of land disturbance. Ms. Gonyer told the Commission that the property is not within their jurisdictional wetlands however there was over an acre of land disturbance for this property therefor the applicant has filed a Land Disturbance Permit. Mr. Cygawnoski explained that this project started many years ago with Phase I of the project which was a smaller school building referred to as Baker Building along with the associated driveway. There is an existing house that has occupied the property for many years. Phase II of this project would include a new parking lot and a new school building which would be replacing the existing school on Creedence St. He then explained that this Phase 11 project has been approved by the Planning Board and the Stormwater Management Plan was approved by the Town Engineer Mr. Rick Alves. The parking lot would have 18 spaces in the rectangular area and 14 in the circular drop off area. What appears to be the back of the building is really the front where the students will enter. The drainage system is designed with three catch basins, two manholes with inspection chambers to the West side of the parking lot with emergency flow that goes behind the existing house. The total disturbance would be 2.09 acres. Ms. Gonyer stated that she had been working with Ms. Miller for years and she had no issues with the Stormwater Management Plan. Mr. Healey stated that there are two ways to analyze Stormwater under the state regulations, static and dynamic, and it's something the Commission needs to look into for the future as they get their own regulation policy set up to implement higher performance standards Motion: To make a motion to issue a Land Disturbance Permit, under Chapter 185, The Mansfield Stormwater Management Bylaw, to FOD, LLC for the construction of a school building, parking lot, utilities and stormwater improvements at 19 Knight Way, (Map 003, Parcel 51) resulting in one acre or more of land disturbance. This LDP shall include the following conditions: Mi C 1. RECORD ORDER 2. PLAN OF RECORD cou Clrn 3. LIMIT OF WORK w rrlc 4. STABILIZATION 5. _ROOF RUNOFF Nri 0 cnn 6. CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE r- ov 7. START WORK NOTIFICATION. -a -4 8. PRE -CONSTRUCTION MEETING Cn w m; 9. COC WITH AS -BUILT. 10. REVISIONS TO BE REVIEWED 11. STORMWATER O&M to be on -going after project is completed. Ms. Gonyer added that once the project is complete, there will be ongoing operation and maintenance requirements that will need to continue and she noted that these requirements are enforceable. Passes:5:0 (Roth /Hedlund) 3. Notice of Intent (NOI) SE 211-1015, Cathleen DeSimone, City of Attleboro, 250 Balcom Street, Mansfield, MA, proposed construction of a municipal water treatment plant with access road, site work and all associated utilities and site work. The work also includes partial demolition of structures of the existing water treatment plant within 100-foot buffer of an Inland Bank and within the 200-foot Riverfront Area. Mr. Barry the Project Engineer from Tata & Howard stated that this was Phase II of this project. Phase I was conducted was a few years ago when the City got an emergency certification to construct a temporary PFAS building. The temporary facility is still under constructions constructed and will treat about 1 million gallons of water a day. The plans for the new facility will treat about 2 million gallons of water a day for the City of Attleboro. Phase 11 of this project includes a new Water Treatment Plant/Building that is designed to hold all the equipment needed to meet the current water quality MASS DEP standards. The existing water facility has no filtration, whereas the proposed plan will have two methods of infiltration, one for organics and one for removing Manganese and the third treatment process would be the removal of PFAS. A 2023 site study was provided that looked at three different locations for the new treatment plant on this 65-acre parcel of land owned by the City of Attleboro. One location was off of Jewel St and due to the size of the proposed building/ existing access this location was not suitable, the second location is the one proposed in this filing for the treatment facility and the third location was to reconstruct the new plant where the existing water treatment plant is located, which was very confined with a lot of surrounding wetland resource areas and it didn't provide enough land area to construct the large suggested building. The new building will host an office for at least one, eight -hour crew and potentially a second evening crew dependent on what MASS DEP requires. The night time hours will be monitored via satellite by the main treatment plant located in Attleboro. The proposed building is in an upland location and is accessed from an existing access road which comes off of Balcom St.. This access road was installed when the City reconstructed the dam several years ago. This project is located to the west of Blakes Pond which feeds two sand basins and is used for the water supply by the City of Attleboro. This access road is currently maintained for the Water Department to be able to get back to the dam to be able to maintain it. This new plant will use the same access road from Balcom and then veer off to the West The access road will be gated at Balcom St. along with another gate located at the entrance to the plant along the access road per Mass DEP standards for securing the site including a fence that will surround the plant, The site will consist of all of the Stormwater Management System, propane for heat, a generator, a storage tank for residuals from a treatment process, an open-air lagoon for residuals located on the back side of the plant and aseptic system to service the onsite bathrooms. He then mentioned that only part of the access road is within the 100 feet buffer zone while the main building and associated structures are not. This area would need to be paved and plowed in the winter and they need full access for the Fire Department along with various chemical deliveries for the plant which is all designed to Mass DEP standards. He then described how the stormwater support surrounding;'the plant has catch basins around the paved service area, the grading for the stormwater will flow over to the curb line to be caught by the catch basins, then to the manholes to be collected and distributed to the sediment forebay. Mr. Barry then described the basin areas, one in the front of the building and one towards the back which will take some of the run off that is around the lagoon as well as the roof drains around the building. There will`be a third infiltration basin located on the other side of the access road that will take the flow from the access road as well as a wet swale. There is another small drainage area associated with the apron of the access road that will be caught by a catch basin. He then explained; that there was a significant amount of stormwater management associated with this site and that,they have done extensive investigations on this site through test pits/perk tests which have been observed by the Town and they don't have any concerns on how the water will infiltrate. Everything was designed per the Mass Water Hand Book and the basins are designed to handle the peak flow of the 100-year' storm' water. They will use erosion controls to delineate the 'limit 'of work There will be tree removal within the limit of work however a large natural buffer will still remain around the new building.. Parts of the existing water treatment plant on the other side of the street will remain, including the existing brick building and the temporary PFAS building. and the chemical storage building along with the containment system in the back will be demolished Ms. Gonyer stated that she, Mr. Alves and the Board of Health Agent, Ms. Palmer had been onsite with Mr. Barry many times for this proposed project to review the conditions onsite . The biggest concern for her was the Isolated Vegetated Wetlands(IVW) located in the north that has been cited as a potential vernal pool (PVP). Mr. Barry did provide a wetland report from EcoTech that described the presence of this PVP. Gonyer stated that this isolated feature has the physical characteristics of a pool as it has the hydrology of seasonal standing water and will result in a delay in the permitting timeline. She then stated she reached out to Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP) .Typically, the consultant must wait until Spring to see if there is biological evidence of vernal pool, thus making it certifiable. NHESP said that this area is not mapped as Priority or Estimated habitat and there is no record of any endangered species existing in this area, therefore it's not within NHESP;s jurisdiction under MESA. She stated that our regulations do allow for the review of work within the 100 ft of the PVP on a case by case basis, however without oversight of MESA regulations, the Commission would want to keep all new construction as far away as possible from this PVP. She did not want the Stormwater System redesigned to further encroach elsewhere nor did she want the system to be redesigned and be less effective so she recommends to go with the plan as proposed and just keep work out of the 100-foot buffer. She realizes that this is a municipal need and suggested a review from EcoTech to determine if there are endangered species in that area. Ms. Gonyer then let the Commission know this meeting was to present the project and to answer any questions or concerns. She is hoping to address all of the Commissions concerns and be able to issue an Order. The Commission asked about the treatment process and how the waste is captured and removed as well as the flagging for the resource areas. Ms. Gonyer asked Mr. Barry to give the Commission a review of the infiltration system and he pointed out that the catch basins will work well with the type of soil that is currently there. Ms. Gonyer pointed out that they wanted to keep infiltration the same near the PVP as to not alter the hydrology. Mr. Barry then added that they are willing to work with the Town to make this the best site possible. Mr. Roth added that it would not benefit to test the potential vernal pools now as they are dry and Ms. Gonyer stated that she is looking for an assessment of the potential impacts of the current design would have on the endangered species/potential vernal pools and how could we mitigate that. Mr. Hedlund asked if they needed to wait for MEPA approval and Ms. Gonyer stated they did not as she does not think they will need to complete an Environmental Impact Report. Mr. Barry stated they should have the MEPA certificate in place by October 181h, that they will share at the next meeting. Mr. Healey asked about the 75% stamp on the plot plan Mr. Barry stated that he will be submitting a 100% Conservation stamped plan for the October meeting. Mr. MacDonald asked who would be contracted to remove all the trees. He noted in the past there had been wetland violations Mr. Barry stated that after State approval that they would put this out to bid and that they would share what trees would be removed with the Town of Mansfield for their review. Motion: To continue the hearing to the 10/28/24 hearing. Passes: 5:0 (Hedlund/MacDonald) 4. Administrative items: • Correspondence • Conservation Updates o Conservation Fee Schedule: Ms. Gonyer stated that last year they reviewed increasing Conservation Fees and creating new fees for work they had not been charging for. The Town Manager wanted her to go back and review some of the metrics. She noted that they recently have reviewed these updated fees with the Assistant Town Manager, Mr. Violette and he was very supportive. The updated fees will be put in front of the Commission for their approval and then then eventually in front of the Select Board for their approval. o Renovation of Corporal Hardy Memorial Sign Update: Ms. Gonyer informed the Commission that residents on social media had commented on the disarray of the Corporal Hardy Memorial and we met onsite with a local Mansfield group, the Helping Hands of God (HHOG) who asked to take on the task to update this Memorial. She mentioned that some of Corporal Hardy's relatives still live in Town and we will be having a rededication when they job is complete. Our retired Fire Chief Boldrighini will be assisting with this as he is involved with a lot of the Memorials in Town. We also met with Mr. Littig from our DPW Department as his team will be doing a lot of the prep work. We are hoping to have this completed before the winter. o Open Space and Recreation Plan Update: Ms. Gonyer stated that we are in the end stages of the plan. A draft of the plan will be given to the Conservation Commission to review and comment when SPREDD has it ready. The plan will most likely be released in the Spring of 2025. There was also a very successful survey with over 1,000 responses that were received. o Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP): Ms. Gonyer stated The HMP Plan was supported by the FEMA grant money and was going well. She mentioned that they were working on this with SPREDD. We just had our V HMP Committee meeting on September 241h which covered Conservation issues like drought, climate change issues and any other types of hazard and how we would respond. We will be holding an HMP Public Workshop on October 1711 at the public safety building and a flyer will be sent out to advertise for this meeting. There will also be an HMP survey that the Town will be advertising that has a OR code to take you directly to the survey, this will run to the end of November. • July 2024 minutes for review and approval • Motion: To approve the July 2024 minutes. • Passes: 4:0:1 (O'Hara/MacDonald) Roth abstains Next Meeting Dates: 0 10/28/24 at 6pm o Ms. Gonyer requested to have the November 181h meeting at 7:30pm to be changed to November 25th at 6pm. The Commission will confirm their attendance soon. o Ms. Gonyer recommended canceling the December meeting but would let the Commission know if a filing came in that could not be moved into 2025. S. Adjournment: Motion: To close the meeting at 7:45pm. Passes: 5:0 (Roth/MacDonald) Date