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Conservation
Commission |
MELROSE CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Minutes of January 17, 2002
Present: Nancy Naslas, Bruce Rider, David Valade, Paul Locke
Voted: To approve the minutes of December 6, 2001
Voted: To pay the secretary for services rendered in December for a total of $113.40.
Nancy Naslas, Newly Elected Chairperson: Fimiani’s Request for Determination of Applicability will be our first item based on recommendations I received from Paul Locke. This was advertised in the Melrose Free Press. Since we have 5 minutes before this hearing should commence, we will put it on hold and ask Bruce to update us on what is going on in Malden regarding 197 Olive Ave. Ext.
197 Olive Ave. , Extension
Bruce: Just to recap, the last meeting we had a letter from Mr. Kennedy, DEP, who said there was a possible violation on the Wetlands Protection Act at 197 Olive Ave. , Ext.
I picked up the letter and contacted Mr. Kennedy, who recommended that I contact the Malden Conservation Commission. I attended their meeting and they had some detailed plans and site layout of the 197 Olive Ave. Ext. and they were going to investigate and then issue a Cease & Desist until they could have the owner at 197 Olive Ave. Ext. come in. I contacted our people in Engineering, and Mr. Rick Cantone, the Melrose City Engineer, went out and visited the site, and he looked at all the work that has been done and he said presently it is all on the Malden border. It is not in Melrose yet. What I recommend is that we keep this under observation and we issue a letter letting the Malden Conservation Commission know what we found, also ask them to work with us on 197 Olive Ave. Ext., and I would also send a letter out to the Department of Environmental Protection and let them know what we are going to do. The disturbing issue with 197 Olive Ave. Ext. is it backs up to that piece of property that we had approved, that road for that sub-development for Maple Terrace. The people of the sub-division were going to give to us property containing the wetlands that back up to the property the owners, the Trust at 197 Olive Ave. , have. The property contains approximately 36,000 sq. ft. of land that backs up to the sub-division at Maple Terrace. What they are asking of the Malden Planning Board was a variance for frontage. They have about 56 ft. inside of Malden , and 61 ft. in Melrose frontage on Olive Ave. Ext.
Nancy : Is that a real street yet?
Bruce: No, and that is one of the things they were going for, a variance. If I could, I would like to ask our friends from the Malden Conservation Commission, if they have anything to add.
Robert DeMarco: I am Chairman of the Malden Conservation Commission: We issued a Cease & Desist on the property to prevent further work being done. The Cease & Desist Order requests that the owner of the property come in and meet with the Malden Conservation Commission in order to determine exactly what the extent of work he wishes to do is. The property, as you said, is 36,000 in Melrose and 4,000 in Malden . All the work that is currently done is in Malden , what we have seen as well. We believe at this point he has filled in one brook that runs through the land, and he has done some work that the DPW requested of him, which we don’t find fault with as of yet. However, the filling of the brook was a major concern. We would like to find out exactly what he did there. We have also requested he had an environmental engineer go out to mark the areas of the wetlands. Am I correct on that?
Mr. George Molasky (Malden Conservation Commission member): I don’t think she has gone out yet. She had taken a look at one point.
Mr. DeMarco: We want to see what her findings are before we proceed further. So at this point it is a status quo until we get more information. The Cease & Desist Order was issued in order to stop work being done until we discover further what is going on. We have had some conjuncture that with such a large piece of property which has a very long back end and a very short frontage, it would work out well if he put a road right where he is told he is putting the house. We are concerned that he is going to put a house there and take down the house once he has the street approved, the Olive Ave. Ext. approved, put in a street going back a piece of land which is the majority of the land, and most of which is in Melrose, and then would like to put in 3 or 4 houses which is big enough to take on, and that is what our main concern is right now, that he is looking to set precedent so that he can move further on down the line. It is good to know that Melrose Conservation Commission hopefully will be taking ownership of the piece of the land he backs up against so he can’t make a connection into the new development at Maple Terrace. That was another concern which was cleared up.
Nancy : Which brook is filled in? Where does that drain?
Bruce: That drains right into the backyard of Mr. Rose.
Nancy : So it is the one that comes along side of his pool.
Mr. Molasky: It goes by Mr. Green’s property on Maple Terrace, between Mr. Green’s and Mr. McFalls.
Nancy : It eventually comes down around and goes under that new Hemenway Ave. ?
Mr. Molasky: You people own that paper street in there, you people own that wetlands on both sides of the street.
David: It is actually an intermittent stream they are building. I assume if it is now dry, then it is not running. If it starts running is it dammed in such a way it is going to hold the flow?
Mr. DeMarco: What we think is going happen, we don’t know if it hasn’t gone yet, is that it will simply back up and transfer the low areas off to maybe the left of the property and go further into the Melrose wetlands that are right there, but eventually if it builds up enough it will spill down below this Olive Ave. area.
Mr. Molasky: The reason why they were doing the work is they put a pumping station into two existing houses, and it pumped the sewerage, and for the new house I believe. I am glad they put a pumping station in for the sewerage because that was the problem with Mr. Green and a few others, the septic systems were all running into that little brook.
David : Was he under an Order of Conditions, and then he exceeded it?
Mr. Molasky: No, he never came in and got them.
Mr. DeMarco: We have as not yet met with the landowner. That was the reason for our Cease & Desist.
Nancy : For the records, we received in the mail a notice from the Board of Appeal in the City of Malden . Of all the items on here I believe the one that relates to us since we are adjacent property owners, is the petition, which says has been tabled, regarding this property at 197 Olive Ave., to construct a single family dwelling that you described. It says it has been tabled. I think it was going to be on their agenda January 24.
Mr. DeMarco: What we discovered was the visit from one of your representatives was that he had not noticed neighbors that bordered his property about what he was doing with the Planning Board, and if he hadn’t even come to us. There was no reason for notice anyone on our side, but he hadn’t notice for the Planning Board properly, and discovering that you were neighbors. We asked the engineer who was at the meeting to make sure that notice got out.
Nancy : So it sounds like, as Bruce has told us, that our commission should wait and see at the moment. We will hopefully get updates from you regarding at least when the brook is going to be cleared up and if anything starts impinging on our property.
Bruce: One other thing I asked of the city engineer was to check our property since it borders him presently on two sides, and possibly on the third side when they put in that sub-development, if there are any paper roads that connect and go through our property that he could conceivably tie into.
Nancy : Bruce, I am starting our file with this notice from the City of Malden Board of Appeals, as well as the two Email summaries of the meetings that you attended. It looks like a lot of effort on your part. Thank you very much.
Mr. Molasky: Will you keep us posted on what is going to happen on Hillside , in that area?
Nancy : Absolutely.
Mr. Molasky: I understand it was going to be a 15 house subdivision and they cut it down to 8.
Paul: By the time it came to us, the first time we saw it, it was down to probably 5 up at the top and then 1 down at the bottom.
Mr. Molasky: Several people on Olive Ave. Ext. are afraid it is going to be hooked together. We try to reassure them of what is going on in the area.
Bruce: The minutes of the meeting are on the net, plus we have the plans right back here in the office.
David: I believe our Order of Conditions was appealed to DEP by one of our abutters.
Bruce: What we talked about with them was solely the access road, which was a single road up and had a circle at the top, and we conditioned that, and also that no building outside of what the house footprints that are presently on that map could be done unless they notified us.
Nancy : In follow up you will you send those letters? Mayor Dolan has joined us this evening. I didn’t know if you wanted to stay for our whole meeting?
Mayor Bob Dolan: I met some of you, I haven’t met all of you.
Nancy : These two gentlemen are from the Malden Conservation Commission, and right now they have some common issues for us on the border over near Maple Terrace area.
76 Bay State Road
Nancy : The second item on our agenda tonight is Mr. Fimiani has submitted a Request for Determination of Applicability. The following was advertised in the Melrose Free Press: “ Legal notice of Public Meeting City of Melrose Conservation Commission: “In accordance with the provisions of M.G.L., Chapter 39, Section 23B, the Melrose Conservation Commission will hold a public meeting Thursday, January 17 at 7:45 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the Request for Determination of Applicability submitted by David Fimiani for construction of a 3-season porch at 76 Bay State road.” Paul Locke, our commissioner, has visited the site already with Mr. Fimiana. Would you like to summarize this for us.
Paul Locke: As described in his Request for Determination for Applicability, there is an existing porch with footing presently at the location. It is some distance from the wetland area at the end of Damon Ave , but it falls within the floodplain. It is an area that historically has had a lot of flooding problems, and it is described in his request that he wants to convert this porch which is elevated 14 ft. It is off of the 2nd floor, the first floor which in the back is elevated, taking that porch and turning it into a sunroom because he has basically lost the use of the basement area due to continued flooding. The plans called for are minimal construction or disturbance on ground level. It would be supported by existing footings and perhaps one additional small footing with no excavation in the area. Thee will be no effect on flood storage capacity. I would suggest or recommend that we find a negative Determination of Applicability.
Nancy : There is no change in footprints, and there is no net change in fill on the property.
Paul: On the ground there is no change with the possible exception of one additional small footing. It will be in the ground. No change in elevation.
David: No cubic ft. of storage space?
Paul: Not even that.
Nancy : We have a recommendation for a negative finding. Any comments or motion?
Paul: I move to have a negative of applicability.
Bruce: I move the public to speak before a vote.
Voted: The public is to speak before a vote.
No public comments.
Voted: Public comment is closed.
David: We may want to look at the sheet because it sounds like from what you have described, I think there is an option that says, “If it is positive it is jurisdictional, but we don’t require further filing.”
Paul: It is jurisdictional, but it will have minimal impact.
David: I agree with what your intent is, we just might want to check a different box.
Nancy : For the records, you can read the items that we would check.
Paul: In the negative Determination for Applicability, the choices are: 1) the area described in the request is not an area subject to protection; 2) the work described in the request is within an area subject to protection under the act, but will not remove, fill or dredge or alter that area, therefore said work does not require the filing of the Notice of Intent, and that is what we have checked off.
Voted: In the negative Determination for Applicability based on the finding that it is jurisdictional, however the work will not have an impact.
Nancy Naslas: We will clarify that on the form and sign it. Your projects can go forward. We just need to give you the appropriate paperwork for you to bring to the Building Department.
David Fimiana: They wanted to know how quick they can get it because Kathy in the Building Department needs to fax it to the company so they can order these materials to get things rolling.
Nancy : We got a call from the company as well, the Three Seasons Porch people.
Paul: We will fill the form out tonight.
Nancy : You are welcome to wait or you can pick it up here tomorrow.
Paul: I can drop it off at your house.
David Fimiana: Thank you.
Nancy : We have two resumes to consider for the vacancies on our committee. We have three openings.
David: One of which we need to fill with an attorney. We are required to have an engineer and our Chairperson, Nancy Naslas, is an engineer.
Mayor Dolan: These prospects look like exceptional candidates. There are a few more people that have expressed their interest in parks or conservation, etc. I would like to move forward by the first meeting of February and make an appointment with them.
David: Currently two members of the commission are also Fidelity employees, so we can’t legally have a quorum when Pembroke wants to come before us with the current makeup.
Nancy : In the past we have advertised, gotten some resumes and invited people in, and then recommended candidates to you. Should we work that same schedule or do you have another idea?
Mayor Dolan: It is a fine idea. We want to make it open so the public knows it isn’t a chosen group by individual members and I want to protect against that. You have all certainly done an exceptional job and I feel totally confident.
Nancy: Between now and two weeks from tonight, just collect as many resumes as are interested, and then invite potential candidates to come February 7 and meet with us for a short interview. At the end of that meeting we can make our recommendations or you are welcome to sit with us and we can discuss it together.
Mayor Dolan: I will be here in the evening.
David: What we have done too in the past is we had a couple of candidates that were very good and in one instance Bruce Rider, one of our commissioners, ended up becoming an associate member which lasted almost 2 months before he became a full member because we had a resignation. That is what we have typically done if someone is interested to try and keep them working with us.
Mayor Dolan: I will be bringing forward a new Park Commission on Tuesday. We need a joint meeting to talk about each other’s roles. I hope you will work very closely together. It has to be very different. We have no other option. I am calling a joint meeting with the Board of Alderman and School Committee, and you might want to follow suit and call a meeting with you and the Park Commission and informally discuss some ways in which you can relate more closely and make some changes there.
Nancy: Is the Park Commission all selected and signed up?
Mayor Dolan: Yes.
David: When we talk to them, something I will definitely bring up is concerns about 1st Pond. It is very, very overgrown. It is not a pond that we have control over. We maintain Ell Pond, Swains Pond and Towners Pond, and have budgeted money to do raking and some chemical treatments to keep a level of weeds down. It will be worth long term at trying to get some money budgeted to get that pond in better shape.
Mayor Dolan: These people as of November 27 were on my Mt. Hood transition team, so they have had intensive study of Mt. Hood twice a week, so that learning curve will certainly be a lot, but will be minimal in terms of what we are dealing with on the forefront. I understand the history. Bob was the one who informed the board. I think we can move forward in a better direction.
360 Swains Pond Ave.
Nancy Naslas: Mr. Schaepe is interested in doing a Request for Determination of Applicability. Is that correct?
Matthew Schaepe: - 360 Swains Pond Ave. Yes, I filled out the forms, but unfortunately I don’t have my site mortgage plan or my plot parcel. I also have architect plans at home that I can submit. Is it possible to turn this in without everything here tonight?
Nancy: Absolutely. If you could just summarize a little bit of what you are trying to do and why you are here tonight.
Mr. Schaepe: The property is on Swains Pond Ave. There is a sun porch off the existing sun porch off the back of the cape and the cinder block foundation is starting to collapse. It is over 19 years since something has been done. That is part of the plans my wife and I are going forward on, renovating different parts of the house and the sunroom is one of them we have to fix. I went to the Building’s Inspector’s office and I found out that I have to come to the Conservation Commission before any work can be done.
Nancy: Is it because there is a wetland adjacent to your property or on your property?
Mr. Schaepe: There is an underground brook running behind our property. It is on the mortgage plan.
Nancy: Can you see it?
Bob Boisselle: No, it is underground. If you look at Swains Pond, it is part of one of the outlets for the stream that comes up from the hills that goes under the roadway, goes across under your property and comes out the rear and then goes into the Swains Pond area.
Mr. Schaepe: The footprints are going to stay the same as far as we know at this point. It wasn’t done properly the first time I had it done, so I want to do it right this time.
Nancy: We will put you on our agenda for the first meeting in February. We will advertise the public meeting with a legal notice in the newspaper.
David Valade: I am away this weekend, but I will give you a call when I get home for a site visit.
Nancy: Finish filling out the form and address it to the Conservation Commission and I will put it on their mailbox in the Planning Department.
Correspondence:
Nancy: Bob would you like to tell us about what you dropped off in our box?
Massachusetts Municpal Association Training
Bob Boisselle: As part of the training to become an Alderman, the Massachusetts Municipal Association had a training session for new aldermen and new selectmen, new counselors, etc. and they had close to 200 vendors of all varieties. I have packages that I collected and dropped off to every department within the building, 12 lbs. of materials. Part of these are environmental consultants who do reviews of plans for the Conservation Commissions and other engineering departments also. There is a small package that I dropped off for the commission staff.
36 Slayton Road – Notice of Intent
Nancy: We received an Email addressed to Robert Boisselle from Theodore Regnante regarding the NOI that we discussed and had at our last meeting. This correspondence states: “Dear Mr. Boisselle, This will confirm my all agreement with the Conservation Commission last evening that Mr. Confalone offers and agrees voluntarily to install a sprinkler system acceptable to the Melrose Fire Department on the house to be constructed on the rear lot referenced in the Notice of Intent. I wish to thank the commission for its cooperation and patience in working with us throughout this process. I would like to wish you the best of luck in your position on the Board of Alderman for the City of Melrose.”
Bob: I make a recommendation that we include this in the Slayton Road packet in the files.
Budget Report
Nancy: We have the City of Melrose year to date budget report as of December 2002; the amount remaining in the conservation accounts payable is just over $2,000; our contractual which includes advertising, printing, conservation maintenance of our ponds mainly, and professional services in the amount of $20,113; supplies and materials $359; and dues and membership conventions and meetings $1,195; for a total year to date budget as of December 2002, $23,813. We also have the budget packet just received from the City of Administration . I haven’t even looked at it yet. It is dated January 16, 2002 : “To Department Heads: Attached is your fiscal year 2003 budget package. Signed: Mayor Dolan”. The payroll worksheet of the budget must be completed and returned by February 1, 2002 , and the rest of the budget package is due on February 15, 2002 . We don’t have a payroll, so our deadline is February 15. The procedure is to fill out the recommended budget and then present it to the commission, and then we vote on it and turn it in. The first Thursday meeting I will have a preliminary budget completed for our department and we can discuss it then.
Bob: You may want to include Aquatic Control proposal letter.
David: I will say once again, we should get a guardrail at Swains Pond.
Nancy : We should take the 2 resumes home. I think they are both qualified candidates. I would like to invite them both into our next meeting, and if we receive anymore, I would just invite them all.
Voted: to adjourn at 8:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Pritchard
Secretary