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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCONSERVATION-05182015_201508061229Town of Mansfield Conservation Minutes May 18, 2015 Present: Michael Healey, Chairman; James Turnbull, Vice Chairman; Christopher Marcheselli; Matthew Rieth; David Hobaica; Katelyn Merrill, Conservation and Environmental Planner. 1. Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm. 2. Abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation: Joseph Lynch, 271 Branch Street, Map 34, Parcel 100, 101, 102. DEP SE 211 -0941 Ms. Merrill said she walked the entire line of the site with the representative, Jim DeVellis, P. E. and Brad Holmes, Professional Wetland Scientist of Environmental Consulting & Restoration LLC on May 8, 2015. This site was originally delineated in December 2011 but the line was never reviewed or approved by the Commission. Mr. Holmes re- evaluated the line in January 2015 before the ground was fully snow covered. She said there is a small Isolated Vegetated Wetland within jurisdiction and a larger Bordering Vegetated Wetland. This is a vacant lot that was part of a manufacturing site, Compo Chemical that was shut down in the 1980s. Ms. Merrill said there have been hazardous waste clean -up activities in the past on this site and currently there is an Activity Use Limitation (AUL) on a portion of the site. The site has been re -zoned Residential and Industrial and part of the property is still paved and is overgrown with shrubs, mostly invasive species with wooded uplands, vegetated wetlands. She does not have any issues with the delineation and all DEP field forms have been submitted with the filing. Mr. Turnbull made the motion to approve the ANRAD delineation as approved in the field by the Conservation Agent, the administrative authority, for Joseph Lynch, 271 Branch Street, Map 34, Parcel 100, 101, 102, DEP SE 211 -0941. Plan "Plan of Land in Mansfield, MA, dated July 11, 2008, revised July 11, 2008 and May 26, 2015, prepared by RIM Engineering Co., Inc. Mr. Rieth seconded the motion. Motion passed 5 -0 -0. 3. Request for Determination of Applicability: Columbia Gas of MA, West Street, public roadway layout. Columbia Gas of MA is proposing to replace an existing gas main within a portion of West Street. A portion of the replacement will fall within the 100 -foot Buffer Zone of Bordering Vegetated Wetlands and the 200 - foot Riverfront Area, the Rumford River and Bordering Land Subject to Flooding. The proposed project will be within the existing paved roadway and /or the edge of paved roadway and there will be no impacts to the wetland resource areas. The line will be installed using an open trench method with the work limited to what can be completed in one day so no opened trenches will be left overnight. Work areas will be cleaned as the work progresses and no soil piles will be left overnight. Work will not be conducted during rain events. There is a construction sequence included in the project narrative. Erosion controls, straw waddles, will be installed between the proposed work and the wetland resource areas (Section 4.0 of the project narrative). 11 Mr. Turnbull made the motion to issue a Negative Determination for Reason #3, work will not alter Resource Area, to Columbia Gas of MA, for replacement of a gas main West Street with the following Special Condition that limit of work is to be inspected by Agent prior to the commencement of work. Mr. Marcheselli seconded the motion. Motion passed 5 -0 -0. Plan "Wetland Delineation Overlay Plan ", dated April 2015. Hearing ended at 7:20 pm. 4. Request for Determination of Applicability: Gary W. Troilo, 15 Sean Drive, Map 12, Parcel 57. The application is for the installation of a 24'x54" above - ground pool within the 100 -foot Buffer of Bordering Vegetated Wetlands (BVW) and a potential vernal pool, located within this BVW. She said she does not have any issues with the proposed project; the pool will be installed on previously disturbed lawn area. Ms. Merrill noted because of the size of the pool and existence of a potential vernal pool, this filing could not be approved under Administrative Review. Ms. Merrill inquired about the filtration system for the pool. It will be a Diatomaceous Earth (DE) filtration system. Mr. Hobaica said a cartridge filtration system should be used for this application because a DE filtration system would require backwashing. Mr. Turnbull made the motion to issue a Negative Determination for Reason #3, work will not alter Resource Area, to Gary W. Troilo, 15 Sean Drive, with the following Special Conditions: The Agent is to contacted once the pool is installed; Applicant is to install a cartridge filtration system for the pool; no pool water is to be drained into the wetland; pool can be drained over the lawn area. This application is for a pool only. Mr. Rieth seconded the motion. Motion passed 4 -0 -1 5. Request for Determination of Applicability: Paul Butler, 10 Cavan Crossing, Map 41, Parcel 143. This filing is for an addition to an existing deck on footings within the 100 -foot Buffer of Bordering Vegetated Wetlands and a potential vernal pool. An existing shed is included with this application. Homeowner Paul Butler was present. Ms. Merrill said she went out to the site after the building application was submitted for the expansion of the existing deck associated with an above - ground pool. The footprint of the proposed addition had already been staked out so she contacted the contractor to indicate a Request for Determination of Applicability (RDA) needed to be filed. On a second visit to the site, she found that the contractor had already begun to excavate the footings and asked that he stop the work until the RDA was reviewed by the Commission. Ms. Merrill said the work will be on an existing lawn area and 72 feet closer to the Bordering Vegetated Wetland and the Potential Vernal Pool. There will be 12 new footings; this work is to be done without the use of any machinery. She asked that an existing shed built without a permit be included as part of the RDA as an after - the -fact filing. 2 Ms. Merrill inquired about the pool filtration system. Mr. Butler said it was a Diatomaceous Earth (DE) system; this system requires backwashing. Ms. Merrill said there should be no backwashing of chlorinated water into the wetland system. Because the proposed deck was over 200 square feet, this project could not be review under Administrative Review. Mr. Turnbull made the motion to issue a Negative Determination for Reason #3, work will not alter a resource area, to Paul Butler, 10 Cavan Crossing, with the following Special Conditions: Applicant is to contact the Agent once the pool in installed; no pool water is to be drained into the wetland; the pool can be drained over lawn area; due to the close proximity of the resource area, a cartridge filtration system should be used. Mr. Marcheselli seconded the motion. Motion passed 5 -0 -0. 6. Correspondence: 7. Old Business: Continued hearing: Request to Amend the Order of Conditions: Jeff Waterson, 190 Mill St, Map 43, Parcel 83. DEP SE 211 -0879 The original Notice of Intent was filed for the construction of a 30'x70' garage, new driveway (on the northern side of the property), retaining walls, finish grading and landscaping within the 100 -foot buffer zone of Bordering Vegetated Wetlands (BVW) and restoration of altered Bordering Vegetated Wetlands, and received an Order of Conditions in June 2005 (DEP SE 211 -726). A Certificate of Compliance was issued in 2008. In October 2011, an After - the -Fact Notice of Intent was filed after an Enforcement Order was issued to this property for violations of the Wetland Protection Act and the Mansfield By -Law for work done within 100 feet of BVW. An Order was issued in February 2012 to bring the property into compliance; Ms. Merrill has been working with Mr. Watterson to bring this site into compliance with the 2012 Order of Conditions. The work has been postponed because the garage was involved in a court case for use issues under the zoning Bylaw. The case has since been settled. Mr. Watterson filed a Request for an Amended Order for clarification. A 3 -foot berm of fill behind the garage on Town -owned land within 50 feet of the wetland that was originally order to be removed by the 2012 Orders, has re- vegetated and is stabilized. Because of the impact to the area if the fill is removed, Ms. Merrill recommends leaving the fill in place and adding plantings. Since the April hearing, the concrete slab has been removed (as part of the original Order), and a silt fence installed around the earthen berm ramp and the earthen berm ramp has been removed. A wildflower seed mix has been added to this area. The hay bales that were pushed down the embankment from plowing have been removed and the area has been cleaned up. A silt fence has been installed along the top of bank at the bottom of the south side driveway. An earthen berm, as a stormwater structure, will be placed on the southern driveway to prevent erosion, preventing water from going over the retaining wall and into the wetlands. 3 Ms. Merrill and Mr. Watterson discussed the slope from the northern driveway (to be abandoned) Mr. Watterson would like to terrace the slope to slow runoff and stabilize the slope which already has a natural cover. Ms. Merrill agreed with the terracing to make a more gradual slope using two 3 -foot retaining walls (she noted that a 4 -foot wall would require a structural drawing). She does not want to introduce additional fill to this property. There will be an infiltration trench and earthen berm installed along the northern edge of the retaining wall. Mr. Watterson would like to connect the trench to the existing drywell to collect rainwater. Mr. Hobaica was concerned that without drainage the runoff would drain towards the neighboring property. Ms. Merrill said there is not enough volume of water that this would occur. Mr. Watterson said there is a row of arborvitae shrubs with an 8 -foot high concrete wall and a 2 -foot high stone wall in front of the shrubs. Mr. Turnbull suggested 6 to 12 inches of gravel be added to the trench. Ms. Merrill said a time line has been set for all the hardscape to be done by August 2015 with loam and seeding to stabilize the disturbed areas. She recommended that the hearing be continued. She stated that a new plan'wit4,need to be submitted showing the current conditions at the site. Mr. Turnbull made the motion to continue the hearing for the Request to Amend the Order of Conditions for Jeff Waterson, 190 Mill St, DEP SE 211 -0879, to June 15, 2015. Mr. Hobaica seconded the motion. Motion passed 5 -0 -0. 8. New Business: Discussion regarding Town Meeting Warrants: Lou Andrews: There was some discussion and concern from the NRT regarding the proposed Variance Procedure to go in front of Town meeting. Mr. Andrews stated that they were concerned to allow a variance to section 2.6 of the Bylaw (section regarding NHESP habitat and Potential Vernal Pools). Mr. Andrews stated that several taxpayers were not in favor of this idea. The Commission and Mr. Andrews, along with two other residents, discussed the procedure of Town Meeting. The Commission showed some concern about the timing of this concern, since Town meeting was the following night. After much discussion, the Commission agreed to support the amendment to omit section 2.6 from the Variance Bylaw. Mr. Turnbull made the motion for the Conservation Commission to support the amendment at the annual Town Meeting, as revised : Section 8.1 which shall be re- written [Commission, at its discretion, may grant variances from strict compliance with any provision of the Wetlands By -Law other than Section 2.6. Such variances shall be granted only in rare cases and only in accordance with the provisions of this section. No variance may be granted for Section 2.6 of this By -Law. Under 8.2, the word "AND" was added to clarify the section. Mr. Hobaica seconded the motion. Motion passed 4 -1 -0. YMCA Community Garden Extension of License Agreement: The license agreement to use town -owned (Conservation) land expired December 2014. The Community Garden would like to extend the agreement for three (3) more years. THE YMCA has added a shed and fencing and in the future may do a farm stand. 2 Mr. Turnbull made the motion to extend the license agreement between the Town of Mansfield, Conservation Commission and Hockomock Area YMCA for the Community Garden on Essex Street for three (3) years. Mr. Marcheselli seconded the motion. Motion passed 5 -0 -0. Discuss GPS unit purchase: The Conservation Department now has a volunteer intern who is a GPS /Geography major at Clark University. The current GPS unit has become obsolete and will need to purchase a GPS unit that can be updated and will interact with the Town's GIS. Ms. Merrill said the Town and Conservation Department will share the cost to purchase a new unit; Conservation Department's share would be approximately $3,500.00. She said the funds can be taken from the Mansfield Crossing Gift Fund . Mr. Hobaica asked if there are leasing or rental options. Ms. Merrill said after discussing the possibility of renting a unit with Xia Jin, GIS Manager, and Sacha Zlatkova, MIS, it was decided that it would not be possible because the unit would not be on site. Mr. Turnbull made the motion to allocate funds, to be taken from the Mansfield Crossing Gift Fund Account, in the amount of $3,285.00 for the purchase of a GPS unit for the use by the Conservation Commission and other town departments. Mr. Hobaica seconded the motion. Motion passed 5 -0 -0. 9. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn at 9:25 pm: Marcheselli/Rieth — Motion passed 5 -0. Next meeting will be June 15, 2015 at 7:00 pm. Michael Healey, Chairman" Date 5