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Conservation
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Meeting minutes of 4/4/02Present: Nancy Naslas, Paul Locke, Bruce Rider, David Valade, Susan Murphy, David Carpenter Crescent Lane/Malden/Melrose lineNancy: Mr. Arnone phoned me a couple of days ago and asked if he could come in informally to see which direction we thought he should take regarding property that is on Crescent Lane on the Malden/Melrose line. Mr. Arnone: Included in the packet is a copy of the plot plan, the proposed tax, a copy of the elevations of the house, and a copy of the original approved sub-division plan that has been recorded. As Nancy has mentioned, I was in the process of trying to obtain a Building Permit from the City of Malden Building Inspector, and he had some concerns regarding some areas in the back of the site that was actually located in Melrose which regarded conservation, and he asked that I get a letter from the Conservation Commission from both Malden and Melrose, saying that they had no concerns and that it would be okay to build. Being that the property has both jurisdiction in Malden and Melrose, I spoke with George Laskey from Malden Conservation Commission who said that I should probably come here first, being that there is no building actually in Melrose. All of the building is in Malden. Nancy: There is an existing building on Sheet 2, Lot A. Mr. Arnone: Actually, there is nothing there now. There is a small garage which I am going to remove. I owned it all. What happened is I bought the whole parcel and I sub-divided it into two parcels and sold the existing wood dwelling. Nancy When you say this property is jurisdictional, what do you mean by that? Mr. Arnone: What I mean is obviously both Malden and Melrose have interest in the site. Nancy: Where is it wet? Mr. Anone: Where it is highlighted in Melrose Nancy: Is there a little stream or something off back of the property here? Mr. Laskey: I have one thing in question, was the brook that comes from Swains Pond, at some point culverted, I am not sure? In the Malden end I know it was culvert, but in Melrose I am not too sure. Mr. Anone: Nothing exists on the site with regard to any culverts. There are no easements in my deed. Mr. Laskey: Maybe the culvert is on the property on the Swains Pond Ave. side. David Valade: I am not sure exactly where Crescent Ave. is. Mr. Anone: Do you know where the Richdale Store on Lebanon St.? Right before Richdale, if you are coming from Malden, the first street you hit is Mt. Pleasant, the next street is Swains Pond. Take a right on Mt. Pleasant, and actually Mt. Pleasant turns into Crescent. It is dead end. It is a narrow street that goes up hill, is not very long. Mr. Laskey: This property is almost directly behind the old wood Ripley School that is on Swains Pond Ave. PauL: It is not quite as far as the Hemenway Court. It is that same wetland stream that comes down off the Rose’s property, the wetland beside the house that we are having the hearing for later today, it is that wetland behind there. David Valade: Have you been to the site? Mr. Laskey: I walked there today and anything that is a wetland is on the Melrose side. Where he is putting the house, it is all dry. It is all high ground. That is why I recommended that he come to you first. Dave: The yellow shaded area. Could there be wetland there? Mr. Laskey: It is kind of in this area. He would be in the buffer zone, but I don’t believe anything on the house would be in the wetlands. Maybe you could go on the negative, as long as he doesn’t go into the wetlands. David Valade: But if this is the wetland, and it says 1 inch of 20 ft. ….. Mr. Anone: No, this isn’t the scale. I expanded this actually on the computer and made a copy of it just so you could see it better. David Valade: So this is bigger than the original scale? So that means it is even closer. Paul: It is 125 ft. on the right and 120 ft. on the left. Nancy: So what that means is that if this is a wetland in jurisdictional area, it doesn’t look like you are building in that area, but your entire project would be in the buffer zone for that wetland. So at least one or two types of formal paperwork would need to be submitted to us to get something in writing back from us. Paul: How deep is the lot? Mr. Arnone: It is 125 ft. on the right and 120 ft. on the left. Nancy: So what that means is this is a wetland, a jurisdictional area. It doesn’t look like you are building in that area, but your entire project would be in the buffer zone of that wetland. At least one of two types of formal paperwork would need to be submitted to us, to get something in writing back from us to you. There are two routes that we could take to do: the request for determination of applicability to see how the Wetlands Protection Act applies for this property or you could just skip that test. The outcome of that step is quite often that you need to prepare a Notice of Intent; or you could go just straight to the Notice of the Intent. Mr. Arnone: Now, that would be through Melrose, so therefore I wouldn’t be doing it in Malden? Nancy: That is an issue that I would say to ask the other commissioners. We have another question on that coming up as well for the Olive Ave. Extension which is just around the bend from you. David Valade: We have never dealt with a base that looks like what I see here, the wetlands in Melrose, but the buffer zone is in both communities. I don’t know, we would have to look in the book and figure it out. Mr. Laskey: It is just the opposite way of the house. The man that is going to build the house, most of it is going to be in Melrose, but the only way into the lot is the Malden side. David V: What I probably recommend is to get a wetland biologist to come in and look and slide where he thinks the boundary is. From there you can tell us where the 100 ft. buffer zone is and then we will be able to assess the impact of what it means. If the wetland biologist tells you that you are in the 100 ft. buffer zone, then if you file the Request for Determination of Applicability, we are going to look at it and say yes, you have to file a Notice of Intent. Mr. Arnone: What would the Notice of Intent entail, just some things I would have to do in terms I would have to put up to assist in the building? Paul: We are assuming it is something relatively straightforward. In general, we would expect to see delineation of the wetlands, protecting wetlands by putting roads and hay bales, silt fence, conditioning the work to make sure that you don’t store heavy equipment to the wetlands, and no change in oil, etc. Bruce: And one of the things we are going to recommend is that somehow you mark where the city boundary is so we know which side is the Malden side. David Valade: The things we look at are “will the regrading going to deprive the wetlands of water that is currently going to it?”. It doesn’t look like it is, but that is the kind of question we ask. Are you going to put so much water in it that you change the wetland into a pond? In essence, we want to make sure you don’t change the nature of the wetland as a result of what you are doing. Mr. Arnone: I never anticipated having this problem trying to get a permit for this. How long is this process going to take? Paul: That is one of the benefits of going directly to a Notice of Intent. Based on the impact that if it turns out to be wetland, then we are going to find this jurisdictional, and we would ask you to come back with a NOI, so you might as well go directly there. We meet twice a month. You would have to publish in the paper with adequate contour to give notice to the abutters, so probably the fastest it could be done, not the next meeting, but the meeting after. David Valade: The preference would be if you can get the filing to us by the next meeting, and then we can put it in the paper, we can walk the site as well, and it would give us time to do both, and then if it is all straight forward and there are no questions that are unanswered, it may be resolved at that meeting when we have the hearing. Mr. Arnone: So the first step would be to get the guys out there and flag it, and get the paperwork over to you as soon as possible. Nancy: In the meantime we need to resolve the Malden/Melrose on the border issue, because this is coming up on another question that Bruce and I are supposed to talk to with other members of the Malden Conservation Commission about, so we need someone to champion that cause and follow up as to how the procedure goes when one lot straddles two cities. Paul: I will volunteer to do that. Nancy: Can we have a joint meeting? Mr. Laskey: That is usually what we do on the Medford side, we have a joint side, and on the Everett side we try to have a joint meeting. David V: So you have dealt with things in two municipalities before, so could you give us some direction as to how you handled it? Mr. Laskey: In both cases, we have dealt with communication parts for Malden and Everett. We have gone to Medford, and we have gone to Everett. We can either come here or you can come to Malden. David V: So is it just one filing and one Order of Conditions? Mr. Laskey: We try to get together and make the same OOC. Paul: Do you have a single filing? George: You can do it within one and in most cases it is easier. Dave V.: Do we have a copy of the standard conditions that we use? It would probably be useful to give it to Malden to know if we find it in the affirmative. Paul: We can Email them. Mr. Laskey: What if all the properties in one city or the other are in the buffer zone, how do you want to handle that? David V: My personal opinion, if it were all in Malden, but the buffer zone for a wetland was in Melrose, I think it is fully in your jurisdiction, but I think it would be good to let us know and have someone attend the meeting and just take a look at what you are doing. Nancy: To look that up is a good idea. When the actual property is on both, a joint meeting is probably the most reasonable way to deal with it. Paul, if you could follow up on that if there are any other requirements regarding do they have to send a double fee or not. If would seem to me if they were just paying one fee and doing one meeting, they would have one Order of Conditions, agreed upon by both commissions. Mr. Laskey: The only thing on this property, if you could have your city engineer let us know exactly where the brook or culvert goes. I am not sure whether it is on this water or the Swains Pond Ave. side. I wouldn’t want to see someone building on top of it. He would be having problems. Nancy: Okay, I will do that. David V: Make that based on the statement that there was no easement. We suggest it is not on here because everywhere we have seen it before there was an easement for it. Paul: Maybe on that stream, but one of the things in looking over the file on Sibley’s Street where the culvert runs behind the property, there is no easement on the Sibley’s property. David V: Is it in the paper street that there is though? Paul: No, it runs along the back of the property. Part of the development, they were in fact, giving easements to the city for the existing culvert. David V.: So we won’t assume that. Mr. Arnone: I will get someone out there to flag it and we will get this paperwork started. Nancy: As I say, Mr. Arnone, maybe if we get a little more information for our next meeting two weeks from tonight, someone will give you a call if you should submit to one above. David V: Going on the exception that it is just one. Mr. Laskey: Based on where I walked it today, I am assuming roughly that most of the wetlands, or almost all of it, is in Melrose, that is why I bring it up to find out which way you want it. Mr. Arnone: I believe you have answered all my questions and I have some homework to do. Nancy: George, did you have anything else you wanted to speak with us about tonight. George Laskey: The only other thing is how do you want to handle Olive Ave. Extension. Nancy: I think the same way, once we just get a few more logistical details worked out. From what I personally heard from the applicant’s engineer, they are going to be submitting their NOI two weeks from tonight to us as well. Since Malden doesn’t meet again this month, if people are submitting NOI’s to us, maybe then our joint meeting can be in early May to do both NOI’s if that is the way it is going to work out. Mr. Laskey: People from Melrose came to the Malden hearings. Nancy: Malden meets the first Tuesday of the month. We will have to find a time we can all do the joint meeting. They meet once a month and we meet twice. David V: We have to be aware if we do it at a different time than our normal meeting, we have to do postings downstairs because it is a public meeting. Nancy: On our agenda tonight, we will first have the hearing regarding Mr. Senier’s Notice of Intent proposal for his pool on Hemenway Ave., and then following that we will have our Request for Determination of Applicability by Mr. Ordway regarding Lewis-Monk Field Improvement.
5 Hemenway Ave. pool/Senier There was a legal notice published in the Melrose Free Press: “City of Melrose Conservation Commission. In accordance with the provisions of Mass General Law, Chapter 39, Section 23B, the Melrose Conservation Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday, April 4, 2002, at 7:45 p.m., the purpose of the hearing is to discuss the Notice of Intent submitted by Robert Senier for installation of an in ground pool and patio in sense. Any interested persons wishing to be heard in this discussion should appear at the time and place designated.” Nancy: Typically, we will have a short presentation if you would like to show us the plans and what you are proposing. Has anything changed in your plans from what you submitted? Robert Senier: No. I have a couple of copies of the plans. I was here before to present my plans and basically I want to put in a 15 x 32 in ground pool totally fenced in the yard. I want to do a retaining wall to hold in the pool, which will be about 4 ft. tall. You can see the basic walls right around the outline of the pool, and the proposed dry wall for the front left corner of the pool. That is it, basically cut and dry. Nancy: I have been out to this property. Right now it is a lawn area that they are talking about altering. David V.: The only regrading you are doing is from the 100th ft. line up to the wall that you are putting in? Mr. Senier: When we dig for the pool, we will put the wall in first and then when we dig in, we will move back toward the house. Nancy: So you didn’t include the picture of the dry well with your submittal? Mr. Senier: No, I did not. Nancy: The dry well sketch that I shared with you is from a neighbor’s file. Is that the plan construction that you are doing? Do you still have that? The new commissioners may not be familiar with the neighbor’s property, but you are not allowed to discharge our pool water to a storm sewer, and discharging to the storm sewer there is in fact directly discharging to the wetland, which is why at that site (the Dantona pool) we requested that they put in a dry well so as to infiltrate that water to run more slowly before it gets to the wetland. Mr. Senier: Actually, I gave that copy back. I thought you just wanted it for the survey to draw it on, I didn’t know you wanted it submitted. Nancy: Well if the construction details do not include it, maybe we might have to attach it to your letter of conditions to keep it on the record that is what you are planning to do. A lot of it is original silt fence and hay bale. It is still in place from your previous work. When were you planning to start assuming you get approval? Mr. Senier: Once we get our hay bales up and do the wall. We were scheduled for April. Nancy: Just so you understand you would contact us so we could come and check your site prep before you dig the big hole. David V.: Don’t do the digging till after the hay bales are in place. David Carpenter: Directly out from the pool, the hay bales don’t extend around that way? The wetland doesn’t go directly out in there? Mr. Senier: The hay bales kind of stop right where the 99 marker is, right kind of where the wall starts, so I would have to continue it down. That was as far as we had to bring them on the original porters, right there. David Carpenter: I mean further out, beyond the pool. Mr. Senier: The wet is mainly over here; right here is totally dry. Nancy: There is a vicinity plan on the top corner there. Mr. Senier: It goes back up hill about where the end of the hay bales is. It dips down and goes back up. Bruce: When you have a rainstorm, how far up does the water come? Mr. Senier: On that side, it goes down. It is almost like a wall coming down, following the hay bales here, it doesn’t come up over here at all because mainly it is coming down and doesn’t climb up. Nancy: So when those wetlands are the fullest of water that you have ever seen it, does that water get up as high as your lawn? Mr. Senier: In the back there? Oh, no. David C.: The lines of hay bales, that is the base of lawn right now - where the hay bales are proposed to go? That is grass. Mr. Senier: Well, where the hay bales are going to go really is not grass. Nancy: But it is right at the edge of your lawn. That makes it all sense where to put it. Voted: to open the meeting to the public. Nancy: If you are in favor of the project, please speak first if you are so moved. Adele Dantona: I am a neighbor that has a pool. I am obviously in support of the Seniers building that. We did everything that we were supposed to do. We did the dry well. People have come up from the Conservation Commission and looked at it and everything has worked out fine. Voted: to close public participation. Nancy: That reminds me of a discussion we had when I came out to see your property regarding the chemicals that you were proposing to use, or not use, you weren’t planning the chlorine treatment. Mr. Senier’s pool contractor: Normally, we use an automatic chlorinator, high concentrated-slow dissolving tablets attached to the filter so it is putting it in slowly into the pool. Nancy: This is not a pool that is going to receive a lot of use, so it is not going to require a lot of chemicals. David V: And that is the key reason we asked for the dry well so it won’t discharge the chlorine directly into the wetlands. Voted: to approve this project pending issuance of an Order of Conditions. Nancy: We will be sending you an Order of Conditions.
Lewis-Monk Field Improvements Nancy: We have a legal notice for a public meeting: “City of Melrose Conservation Commission. In accordance with the provisions of Mass General Law Chapter 39, Sections 23B, the Melrose Conservation Commission will hold a public meeting Thursday, 4/4/02, in the Mayor’s Conference Room, 2nd floor, City Hall to discuss the Request for Determination of Applicability submitted by Churchill American Little League for Lewis Monk Field improvements.” We have Mark Ordway, the president of Churchill American Little League here to present his RDA. Mr. Ordway: I am Mark Ordway, the League President of Churchill American Little League, and what we are proposing to do is take an existing cage that has been down there for the last fifteen years or greater and we want to enclose that cage and put a roof over it. Nancy: A roof that is made of fence. Mr. Ordway: Made out of chain link fence. What we want to do is, structurally it is better to take out what exists and put a new fence there. It is cheaper and it is more aesthetic. Nancy: Is it in the same footprint? Mr. Ordway: It is in the same footprint, yes, and we want to add a top part to it. What we would like to do is have a hard pack surface there. Right now it is loose dirt, gravel or stone dust as you might call it, and it tends to puddle up with water, so we are proposing putting a pack surface in there, an Astroturf type of surface inside the cage to get more use out of it. We are not looking to increase any elevations. Any fill that is brought in for packing would be removed equivalently by an outside contractor. We are currently looking at the Cleveland Fence. They have given us a very attractive quote on this job, but obviously we have no contract with them because we have no approval. What we are planning on doing is we work closely with the Ell Pond people, as well as our in-house Parks people. We have the Ell Ponds approval. They like the idea of us cleaning up that area, and then adding some shrubbery or some bushes on the Ell Pond. They are so supportive of this project, David Dickinson, the Ell Pond Committee Chairperson, is willing to donate his funds to enhance this project. We are basically replacing the fence that is there, same footprint and then putting a cap over it. We would like to consider putting a harder surface down there to avoid the kids digging it up and puddles generating, which takes it out of service when the puddles are there. Nancy: A harder surface meaning the Astroturf inside the footprints of the batting cage. Mr. Ordway: Right. We are going to be adding some trees that would help absorb any water that we lose with the hard pack Astroturf surface. Nancy: Any trees and shrubs that you add would be in conjunction with the Ell Pond restoration? Mr. Ordway: That is correct. Nancy: Any seeds that you use, we need to be careful about what is put in there, and with their wetland expertise know which to plant. Mr. Ordway: That is a good statement, something I wasn’t sure of, but now I am clear. We will let the Ell Pond people pick out what bushes we buy. Nancy: And I think any trees we might want to confirm too with our tree warden. She also would know the appropriate species to plant in that area. Mr. Ordway: Yes that is something we do want to coordinate if this gets approved. David: Do one of these areas already have a chain link roof over it? Mr. Ordway: Yes, with the color photos I passed out you can see that. The red is the one we are kind of adding. There is always a batting cage there. It is enclosed. We just want a secondary area. David Carpenter: We are adding this fencing to the outside area right now. Is this currently fenced in? Mr. Ordway: Yes it is, it currently has a 3 ft. high fence there, and what we want to do is raise it up and enclose it. So you see that the footprint, 33 ft. across on the existing plan, and 33 ft. with our new plan. My picture is incorrect with respect to that there should have been roof over this section right here, but now we want to put a roof over here. Mr. Ordway: The thought is this area right here behind the cage, enclose that for a soft toss area. David C.: Is there currently a fence in this area? Mr. Ordway: There is no fence there. Well, there is a fence here alone Tremont St., because there is a basketball court. David C.: And that goes all the way to here? Mr. Ordway: Yes, we are talking about this basketball court fence right here; it runs along that whole wall there. So we are not looking to put a fence here, that exists. Paul: The area that is down here between the stream and the batting cages, that is where this stream is. There is an area here which will be the soft toss area coming out from there going towards the stream. Right now it is just overgrown vegetation. I guess that is a practice area. Mr. Ordway: That is correct. David C.: And there is already an existing fence that runs down the side. Mr. Ordway: It runs all the way to that stream that this gentleman was speaking about. Paul: Just within 3 ft. Mr. Ordway: Right where the basketball hoop is right here, you can see within 3 ft. of the stream, but we are not going to encroach along the stream. Paul: This area, which is now overgrown, vegetated, will be cleared and probably leveled because I think there are some mounds of soil. Mr. Ordway: In that area there are mounds, are you saying 2 ft? Paul: It looks like in the path it is where excess dirt had been moved there. Mr. Ordway: Yes, I don’t deny that. I think there might be something in there. Occasionally, the balls will go in there because of the open area. David C.: Do you have the Astroturf specs out at all? Mr. Ordway: I am flabbergasted with the cost. Nancy: It is really expensive. David: And I think normally when you put that down, you pave it first and put it on top. Nancy: Some significant excavating does have to occur before they can put in the surface for the drainage. Mr. Ordway: We are not looking to do that. It is unfortunate it is not as easy as rolling out. Nancy: You should see what they use in the playgrounds just underneath the play structure. Mr. Ordway: I do stress we would like to do something. The Astroturf just means that I have to put $12,000 and I told the guy that I couldn’t do that. David C: Are the kids going to be coming in and out of this area with their spikes on, because if so, you are going to want have a pretty sturdy surface if they are going to be coming off the fields and off the diamonds and heading into the batting cage with spikes on. You might just have to save money by putting down a surface that is not going to get ripped to shreds. Mr. Ordway: At this level the spikes with the rubber cleats that they use in the soccer fields are what they have; you could walk around in your kitchen with these cleats. I think the key thing I want to stress here is that we are not planning on raising up the elevation. David C: I am just thinking for your benefit because any other surface you are going to put down is going to be more expensive. If you leave it as a natural surface the drainage will be easier. Mr. Ordway: Dave Dickerson said that ¾ minus hard pack stone, which he uses on this path, would be something that I should really consider. Quite frankly, I am thinking that is about what we can afford. David V: I am kind of leaning towards suggesting we do a positive determination, but no further filing option. Before we do that, I prefer to know what the surface is actually going to be that you put in here, whether it is going to be that type of stone or if someone happens to come up and say here is $12,000 to put down Astroturf and that is what you get to go with. Nancy: Could you tell us that it will definitely be Astroturf or it will be definitely ¾ inch stone, it won’t be anything else or you will come back before us. Mr. Ordway: I don’t mind coming back before you if you think this project is just heard on the merits on the soil…… Nancy: We just need to know what it is you are asking. We can approve one or two options tonight that you can chose from, or you can come back later. David V: If he agrees to it, we can continue it to a future date when you come back, and I don’t even know if he would need to come if we just get something that answers the questions, we could do a letter that says this is what we are going to do. Nancy: We could approve one of the surfaces now and if you change it in writing, we can reply in writing and that would be acceptable. It would give us something to approve. Paul: The thing that still concerns me is this top area where we haven’t had a lot of discussion and a lot of plans. I think if we look in this map, depending on how much of that area between the end of the batting cages and the stream and the pond, the rectangular area which right now is vegetated, a little run off goes into the stream from that area. My concerns would be if you then develop that into a soft toss area which would have a lot of activity, obviously the area out of here gets a lot of use, very little vegetation grows in the grass or cover between the fields and the batting cages. It gets muddy, and a lot of run off. If those same conditions are going to now develop here because there is going to be a lot playing, you are moving it closer to the stream, closer to the pond, and there may in fact be a lot of potential runoff here. One of the things we would want to make sure is that there continues to be a vegetated buffer between the area that is being played on, practiced on, and the stream. Dave V: Do you know how far from the stream it is now; has that been computed at any point? Mr. Ordway: This is Bob McVicre. He is with our league. Mr. McVicre: From where the soft toss area would be? Dave V: Yes Mr. McVicre: It is approximately maybe 80 ft., if not a little bit more. Dave V: Is there anything that happens in the soft toss area now? Mr. Ordway: No, I did this back in November 11. I wasn’t planning on increasing the lengths of this cage right here just coming across with this area here, but you are absolutely correct there is vegetation there right now, but I wasn’t planning encroaching on the stream. Paul: I just want to make sure I understand the soft toss area which looks like a fence. Mr. Ordway: Currently, it is fenced on 3 sides, not the 4th side, and I was suggesting closing it on the 4th side. Paul: Maybe I am just missing how it is going to be used in the soft toss area. David V: It does confuse me because it is 8 ft. x 12 ft., and it might be 17 ft. wide based on this. I can’t tell for sure, but it is 12 ft., and probably 17, so it is not a very large area. Mr. Ordway: And what it is used for is basically as simple as putting a tee on the middle of that 8 ft. area, and then the player swings the ball and puts it into the fence, and that is the hand/eye coordination. That is what we decided we would like to consider because just that muscle memory of swinging a baseball bat and coming through the top of a tee, even the pros do it which surprises me. You don’t need much area. Paul: So that eliminates my concerns after looking at it here in the soft toss area. Mr. Orway: And to get into the baseball drills, it is an offshoot I was with. A gentleman stands right her and just lobs the ball to the kid, so we are in a proximity of 4 ft. That’s all you do is lob to the kid and he swings at it. It is done in a very tight quarter. It is a very common drill now and I apologize using the terminology “soft toss”, and as far as the surface I’ll say today Astroturf. Paul: If we can accept Astroturf, but I think if you move back to something that is more permeable like stone dust, then I think that would be covered. If you do change the surface we can ask you to send an informative letter. Nancy: This and any other changes to what you apply, if you just send us a letter. Paul: In terms of permeability, I think given the material is hard packed right now, it is not very permeable. It is not getting a lot of infiltration of water down through that material. David V: There is no intention to put any sort of closed roof over it? Mr. Ordway: No, just chain link. Nancy: Did the city engineer, Joe Lynch, speak with you about what they are planning on doing in the next six months to a year? Mr. Ordway: Yes, he has talked to me. Nancy: It was going to go through your batting cages, but it might go through your field. I mentioned to him that we had a discussion the day after I heard from you the first time. Mr. Ordway: He called me and I am sure you prompted in that. Nancy: I told him to call you. The thing is what they are doing is part of the Ell Pond drainage improvement now that they have their $400,000 grant and could cause a significant portion of that area to be dug up; new drainage pipes put in and then covered up, so there is no point in fixing some of those areas if they are just going to get dug up next season. Paul: That pipe comes out over around up here somewhere. Mr. Ordway: I have measured all of this out. It comes across the field here, and over here I believe. Nancy: We will take your application as written. There is text in here and I will be happy to read if you like. It is to the effect that there will be no net change in elevation and improving that batting surface, and just the chain link fence in addition on top of the existing footprint. George Laskey: May I just ask one question? Roughly, how much stone are you going to need? Mr. Ordway: My plan here is 2500 sq. ft. x 60. I guess I don’t know how deep you would do it. Nancy: What about along the pathway, too? Are you going to put any more there? Mr. Laskey: I was wondering if he spoke to Carl Rowe of Rowe Construction, Salem St., Malden on the Revere line. They are in the process of closing down. Probably if you could get a truck down there and you explained it was for the kids, I am sure he would give you the stone. Mr. Ordway: I guess I will take your advice, although I don’t know anything about stone. Mr. Laskey: The only thing is you would have to get transportation/trucks because they are in the process of closing. Nancy: I know our Ell Pond Committee recently won another grant to improve some of their shore front area and to improve taking down that splintered-wood athletic exercise facility there. I will share that information with them as well George, thank you. Mr. Laskey: I am sure if you tell them it is not coming out of city funds, it is coming out of the Little League funds, I am sure they would give it to you if you can provide transportation. David: (reading option for this project): Negative #2: The work described in the request is within an area subject to protection under the Act, but will not remove, fill, dredge or alter that area, therefore said work does not require the filing of a Notice of Intent. Voted: to issue a negative determination of Option 2. Nancy: We have a form that we will fill out to give back to you to approve the work that you are going to do. You don’t have to file further paperwork with us, but again if anything changes from what you have submitted to us, you will need to run that by us, preferably in writing, before you begin work. Mr. Ordway: I will definitely do that. Thank you. (There was an intermittent break at this point to obtain some paperwork). CorrespondenceThe following mail was available for the commissioners to review: Fundamentals for Conservation Commissioners, Certificate Training Course information, Environmental Concerns, Friends of the Middlesex Fells, National Grid Environmental Performance Report, Hydro International, Advance Storm Water Treatment Documentation, and the Acorn Naturalist Catalog. Nancy: We also received internet printouts from Bob Boisselle, amendments to designated conservation land; a software system put out by the Executive Offices of Environmental Affairs to let conservation commissioners center all their information associated with Notices of Intent, etc.; Wetland and Waterways Project update; and drought regulations which might be more pertinent than usual this year.
120 Bay State RoadNancy: We received a notice of public hearing from the Melrose Board of Appeals regarding 120 Bay State Road, Melrose for the construction of a wood porch measuring 8 ft. x 24 ft. to a single family home. I am guessing we received this because we are an abutter, not because of the jurisdictional area. Nancy: Here is a request from the business manager at Valley Environmental Services, asking us if we have a wetland bylaw ordinance. I will Email them back and let them know we don’t have one. Secretary’s ResignationCommission secretary, Nancy Pritchard, presented a letter of resignation as of May 16, 2002 as her husband will be retiring on May 2. Nancy has been secretary for 3 years, 9 mos. She will be glad to review job responsibilities with the next secretary. Nancy Naslas will advertise for a new secretary. Nancy: Paul will follow up on the Malden/Melrose joint Notice of Intent. I received a call from Michelle Doherty, a member of the Malden Conservation Commission. As soon as we know more, we will contact Michelle and Mr. Laskey.
Olive Ave. Ext. Nancy: Bruce, do you want to add anything regarding the Olive Ave. Ext. Bruce: Michelle sent me an Email. What happened to them at the last meeting was potentially Mr. Douglas, the property owner, appeared at their meeting and there was questionable material in this area. He will be removing it and stockpiling it on his land and surround it with hay bales and a silt fence. He will also alleviate a water problem that exists and dig a small trench to allow the natural flow of water, that is present now, to go down hill to the stream. One good thing that she mentioned on the phone was they believe that he did fill in the stream and that is the reason for the backup. He won’t admit that fill came in the land, but it is obvious that something came in and filled in the stream, so they are requesting tests be done to see if they can find a channel and dig that out. David V: We had one like that once before at Maple Terrace that goes to Hemenway past Maple Terrace, and it seriously got filled up about 2 ft. and no one knew where it came from or how it happened. They think it could have come from the development at the top of Porter St. when they dug all the rocks up, but nobody knew. Nancy: Obviously, we will continue to hear about that area with a couple of Notice of Intents coming our way. I think we are through with the Malden/Melrose issues, unless you have anything else you want to ask George. George Laskey: Just to add, he got permission in the City of Malden and put a pumping station and that was what caused the whole thing, the sewer pumping station for the existing house. Nancy: To make it possible to put in another? Mr. Laskey: There was no way, there was a septic system there. He had to pump it up hill. I believe most of the house will be in Melrose. I would like to see him stake it out exactly where he is going to put it because it will make a big difference if it is on the ledge or wetlands on the Melrose side.
Sibley St. – (formerly 18 Whittier St.) Paul: We received a call for a project on Sibley St. Nancy: It was a paper road off Whittier Ave. Paul: The property is owned by Glen Croul. They have an existing house on Whittier St. The vacant property had been the entire area here, which has been subdivided and now it is 3 lots and Sibley St. has been built, connecting us with Cutter Street. The paper street could continue up this way, but it actually ends right here. The buffer zone is right about here, right at the intersection of Cutter St. It is the buffer zone for the wetlands. This is also Spot Pond Brook and the 200 ft. buffer zone under the Rivers Protection Act at about this far, so about ½ way through the first home is being built, ½ way down the street. We received a call from Mrs. Curran who lives over here and is concerned about fill being brought in on the property. I went out about 1 ½ weeks ago and took photographs of the property. Everything seems to be consistent with the plans. The grade that hasn’t been completed yet, I think which falls out of our jurisdictional area, and Mr, Croul had brought some extra fill in on the property on Whittier St. down here, so again probably another 75 ft. outside of the 200 ft. Wetlands Protection Act’s buffer zone. He doesn’t quite know how he is going to finish that grading, but it is non-jurisdictional for us, but you can see in the picture here, he hasn’t graded it back down to his house yet, so it is clearly right now higher than it is going to be, and Mrs. Curran is concerned about the runoff from that, really questioning how much he is going to be filling beyond that, but that is outside of our jurisdiction, and also the final grading isn’t complete yet. It is not quite clear where it really ends here, a significant addition to the level of his yard. Everything else which is within our jurisdiction, the elevations from looking at it appeared to be correct. They put in the street so that elevation is set, and it is limited by how far it goes up on the properties to the east or it is not possible to build that up much higher than the plan, in fact they indicated it about 8 inches lower than indicated on the plan, and it is fairly level going across. Just eyeballing it, the elevations are consistent with what is in the plan. It clearly meets up with Cutter St. and Whitter St. without any changes in elevation from there. There are a couple of stormwater drains at the intersection of Cutter St. and Sibley St., which are discussed in the Order of Condition, once they are constructed they have to be protected by hay bales as they drain directly into the underground concrete culvert which takes Spot Pond Brook and eventually goes to the Malden Canal. I talked to Mr. Croul and put those hay bales in. As for the wetlands being protected and also Sibley St., it is up hill so there is relatively little danger of sediment being carried into the hay bales and the silt fence that are in place clearly protecting that vegetated area beyond here where paper street which has not been impacted at all by any of the work. It is fairly straightforward with the addition of the hay bales around the storm drains, it looks like it is on track. They have built one house and will probably be excavating for the second house later this spring. Penny RoadDavid will call the assessor’s office and hopes to have something to report at the next meeting. Nancy: I read in the paper today that the work at Mt. Hood is scheduled to start on May 17, although Ray Blanchard, our interim Parks Supt., is resigning as of next Friday. I think that at least two of us need to be overseers on this work and I am willing to be one, to go up once a week and see what is going on and really follow up with their Clerk of the Works, and we need to find out who that is. Is anyone so inclined to work with me on this? David: I can go up regularly, I don’t know if I can do it once a week. Nancy: We can work together; and we can Email who will go when. Mt. Hood Arbor Day – May 11Nancy: I need another volunteer regarding Mt. Hood Arbor Day, which has been proposed on May 11. They are going to plant 300 trees up there and that is the date they are going to do it, but they are having a meeting in the Mayor’s Conference here next Tuesday, April 9 at 3 p.m., and they would like a representative form the Conservation Commission to at least give them some feedback regarding our interest and concern. They want to make it a big city wide family invited carnival type, get everybody up there, do something good for Mt. Hood and help plant the 300 trees. I think they are getting the trees for $1.00 a piece. I know I am not available for the meeting and May 11 day. Susan Murphy: I can attend the meeting, but I can’t do the May 11 day. Paul: I can probably do May 11, but not the meeting. Nancy: We have a team! Please call Beth, the Mayor’s assistant. Her phone # is 781-979-4440 to confirm you will be attending that meeting. Two weeks from today at our next meeting, I will be out of town, but Paul has indicated he can chair the meeting. Voted: to adjourn the meeting at 8:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Nancy Pritchard Conservation Secretary |