Minutes of October 18, 2001

[Approved 11/15/01]

Present: Bob Boisselle, Paul Locke, Peter Mortimer, Nancy Naslas, Bruce Rider

Voted: to accept the minutes of October 4, 2001.

Voted: to pay the secretary $48 for services rendered in September and registration fee of $70 for Bob to attend the MBPT conference.

Correspondence

Ell Pond Fall Cleanup - Sat., Nov. 3 - 9 a.m. - 12 noon; raindate, Sunday, November 4. Ell Pond Committee meets on the 1st Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Melrose Library, 2nd floor, Trustee's room. All are welcome.

Letter from Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. They are pleased to announce that Governor Jane Swift has made additional bond funds spending cap available to the Executive Offices of Environmental Affairs, enabling the division of conservation services to conduct a special self help and urban self help grant round this year. This additional funding round is authorized in accordance with the rolling grant round provision of 301 CMR 5.05 (5). The filing deadline for this special grand round will be Friday, 1/4/02 and will be for conservation and parkland acquisition project only. Be advised that a DCS approved Open Space and Recreation Plan is a prerequisite to your community's participation in this grant round.

Nancy: Regarding the Urban Self-Help Grant, the cities of both Melrose and Malden have both repeated awards under that already and are putting together the field at Pine Banks. This is a notification that there is still money left.

Mass Audubon Society -we have our brochure from evaluation of the site at Towners Pond & Swains Pond. It talks about the ecology of the area and also the plant life, soils and bedrocks, and gives a map of our trails,. It is a nice brochure. We have the disc for it and it is going to be called the Towners Pond and Swains Pond Recreational Area, opened dawn to dusk and please do not litter.

The MACC Conference this past weekend: Protecting the Habitat and Biodiversity. This is for land acquisition and stewardship and regulation. A series of documents were given to us including a bio map, and also concerning invasive plants and Fact sheets. We also have an aerial photo survey of potential vernal pools on disc, which was passed around. We can probably load that disc up on our computer. The number of topics include "Understanding Biodiversity", "Planning Assessment of Conservation Planning", "The Open Space and Resource Planning Guidance Document", and "Managing Conservation Land for Biodiversity". They also had topics on amphibians, travel distances, vernal pools; they talk about the bio map here, communities, adjacent vs. isolation of wetland areas. Bob states it was a very interesting meeting. There were a lot of state people there, talking about some of the grants we passed around tonight, and it was very informative. He also picked up a number of brochures for possible purchases of pamphlets, documents, books that will come to us later on and to get an okay to purchase some of these.

Voted: That the meeting be opened up for participation regarding conservation items other than Mt. Hood while waiting for the public hearing scheduled for 7:45 p.m.

The status of the concession stand at the soccer field was questioned.

Ray Blanchard: the concession stand at the soccer field was approved pending walking the site and planning out the exact location. The size was still up in the air.

There was no further participation

Voted: to close the open forum.

Mt. Hood Restoration Golf Course Wetland Project - Notice of Intent

Public Hearing
This is a public hearing City of Melrose Conservation Commission in accordance with the provisions of Mass General Law Chapter 39 Section 23D. The Melrose Conservation Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday, October 18, 2001 at 7:45 p.m. in the Mayor's Conference Room, 2nd floor, City Hall. The purpose of this hearing is to discuss the Notice of Intent submitted by the City of Melrose Parks Department for the discussions of the Mt. Hood Golf Course Wetland Restoration Project. Any interested person wishing to be heard in this discussion should appear at the time and place that is designated. Melrose Conservation Commission, Melrose Free Press 10/11/01.

Bob: I received a test concerning the test borings that were done at the Mt. Hood Golf Course. This is a testing of Central Artery fill materials proposed recreational area of Mt. Hood Golf Course property, Melrose, MA. The following was written to Mr. Ray Blanchard: "In accordance with the acceptance of a proposal of 7/31/01 to the Honorable Richard Lyons, Mayor, City of Melrose, Simons & Environmental Services have completed a sub-surface investigation of soil brought to Mt. Hood recreational area from the Central Artery Tunnel. The intent of the sub-surface investigation was determined if the Central Artery Tunnel, now known as CAT, still contain contaminants of concern that were above the most significant or stringent threshold for notification and management within the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) and if the analysis of this fill was consistent with the provisions of 40.00323B of the MCP. The latter requirement effectively prohibits reuse of urban fill in area where existing concentrations of oil or hazardous materials are significantly left in concentration of these contaminants in the material being reused. To address these concerns, Simons Environmental Service proposed collecting and analyzing soil samples from four main areas where the CAT fill has been reused. This included a proposed soccer field, proposed baseball field, proposed 12th tee in the area proximate to the stockpile CAT fill, and in addition, three background area locations where the CAT fill has not been placed or identified and samples for similar analysis. A total of 17 borings were placed throughout the areas where the CAT material had been placed. These borings were advanced, using a truck mounted vibrator hammer" (this letter continues with discussion on the collection procedures). "Table 2 summarizes the results of these analyses. In general, the results of the total petroleum hydrocarbon analysis for the CAT fill were below the laboratory method of limitation of detection and all were below the most stringent reportable concentration thresholds for residential or recreational areas at 200 mgs per kilogram. The CAT results also appeared to be consistent with the total petroleum hydrocarbon results for existing background conditions. It is noted that laboratory methods used EPA method 418.1. Results from the four composite samples for the PAH which is a poly nuclear aromatic hydrocarbon which is also done for heavy metals which included arsenic, cambium, lead and mercury, were below laboratory method limits of detection for all 17 of the borings within this category. Similar to TPA results, the PAH results for the CAT fill are consistent with those recorded for background. With regard to the 5 metal analysis, the results for each CAT composite were significantly below the respective reportable concentration thresholds. Moreover, the results are clearly consistent with the background concentrations of this analysis in this suburban area. Based upon the results of this subsurface investigation, Simons Environmental concludes that the concentration of oil and/or hazardous materials within the CAT fill brought to the Mt. Hood area are substantially less in concentrations for residential recreational scenarios that would require notification and management under the MCP and the concentrations of analytes with the CAT fill meet the requirements for VU as provided within Chapter 40.00323B of the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP)."

Bob: At this point the analysts show there is no problems concerning oil or hazardous material within the CAT fill at this time. There was a check list that was sent to Ray Blanchard this past week which consisted of general information, a construction sequence plan, hydrology which were referring to calculations, etc., a grading plan, top soil plan, a planting plan, the erosion control plan, invasive obnoxious specie plan, a monitoring plan, and an assessment plan. Are we ready to go through this?

Ray Blanchard, Interim Supt. of Parks in Melrose: This is Colin Duncan from Epsilon Associates and Tom Henaghen from Camp Dresser & McKee. We are going to walk you through the process of the engineering and environmental clean-up aspects to clean up the situation at Mt. Hood. I am going to let the experts talk because that is what they are here for. I am just going to give you a rough idea of what this map shows you so everybody understands where we are. The round dot would be the Mt. Hood Tower. This flat area would be what was proposed as the baseball pad. This area right out in here would be what was proposed as the soccer pad and we will refer these areas as the baseball pad and the soccer pad. The Haul Road that was used to enter the site from Route 99 runs right along the top here adjacent to the ILSF right up in here. That is where that Haul Road is from Route 99. This area right along here is the 12th hole of the golf course, this being the new tees that are out here and this being the 12th green. Another point of interest is this circle right here which is the 11th green. The wetland areas that we are talking about, ILSF north here behind the baseball field, the 2nd ILSF south is over here on the other side of the baseball field. This would be the lst wetland area and the 2nd wetland area down adjacent to the green. This would be the 3rd pond here. Is everybody acclimated to where we are on the map? What we are proposing to do is come in and stabilize some slopes, this area right in the back here in the baseball pad, this area here is all sloped area. This area here right now is existing between the 12th fairway and the upper hill soccer pad, this is another large slope area, and another large slope area is right along the 12th fairway adjacent to this 1st wetland. What we are proposing to do is come in, stabilize these slopes to manageable slopes which are 3 to 1, 2 ½ to 1, to get them down to an area where they won't erode. Right now they are a much greater slope than that. A couple of retention ponds are being implemented, this is going to be a retention pond on top of the soccer pad, there is another one on the left side of the 12th fairway, and a 3rd one on the right hand side of the 12th fairway. So that is basically where we are as far as that goes. This green line here outlines the tree line as existing. We are making every attempt to save all this tree line. There is some fill loaded in there that we are going to have to take out so there may be some dead or stress trees in there now, but every effort will be made to save this tree line. Again, we are going to come in, stabilize the slopes, and the finished product is going to be all this upland area. This line right here designates the tow of slope which is the bottom of the slope. Everything from here up is up hill, will be up here, the 12th fairway will be down below. So everything on this upland area will end up being sand, loam and seeded for grass. There will be a couple of areas, this area here right in the corner, this area here which will be modified rock fill and that is because of run-off situations we need the modified rock fill to dissipate the speed of the water going into the ILSF's. The 12th fairway will be sand, loam and sod, and the reason for that is we can install it in the spring and hopefully be able to use the 12th fairway at the end of late summer next year. Sod only requires one growing season, any seed would require two growing seasons. I will let the experts talk to you about the runoff, how that is going to go and the areas right adjacent to the wetlands.

Tom Henaghen, Engineer from Camp Dresser & McKee: We are responsible for most of the design, but also determining how the storm water runoff would be handled under these proposed conditions. First of all, as these areas were regraded to be sure the amount of water that was being sent to this wetland 3 wasn't more than what was being sent there in the pre-fill conditions. The largest mechanisms preventing that, as Ray said, were these two storm water basins here which the storm water basin up here will accept the runoff from this plateau, the soccer area, and when we got the storm water calculations, we analyzed the site for the 2, 10, 25 and 100 year storm, and what that means for example the 100 year storm is the largest rain event that would happen in 100 years. Beside this basin right here, all the runoff that goes into this basin, this basin is large enough to contain the total run of volume from the 2 and the 10 year storm, which means in those events there will be no discharge down into wetland 3. The basin is large enough also to hold the volume for the 25 and 100 year storm, but the outlet from the basin was placed at an elevation so that it would hold the 2 and the 10 and what would just meter out flow during the 25 and 100 year storms at a maximum outflow of 1 cu. ft. per second. The second basin down there was similarly designed with enough storage so that during the 100 yr. storm it would not overflow again while discharging metering the water out at only the maximum of just under 1 ½ cu. ft. per second. After doing that and adding up all the peat flows that come into this basin, areas that would run right in there just overland flow, areas that would run over the fairway into the small catch basin here, the areas again coming from these upland areas, again those peak flows didn't exceed the peak flows that were in the pre-filled conditions for the 2, 10, 25 and 100 year storms. By using these retention basins, we got the runoff from the site back to the pre-filled conditions before all this fill was brought into the site. Over on this side here is not of any storm water controls, basically these areas here will flow into the northerly ILSF, will accept the water from this plateau, and the southerly ILSF will accept the water from this half of the plateau. From that we compared the proposed conditions that are out there right now, the improvements of the slopes, as well as the improvement of the material that is going to be out there instead of that exposed clay material that is out there right now, as Ray said there will be sand, loam and seed out there. That vegetation going to be on these slopes will help decrease the energy of the runoff and also help with water transportation which is the vegetation on the slopes needs our water so some of the water will be infiltrated and evaporated. It also slows down your peak runoffs, it also decreases your volume a little bit. Again, the peak flow that is going into these two ILSF's will be less than what is currently going on right now. For these areas, the flow to these two ILSF and also these small areas that are on off the site, we just compared them to the conditions right now. We did go all the way back to the pre-filled conditions for these areas because of the concerns that people have over the conditions down stream towards Penny Rd. I believe it is. In the pre-filled conditions, this wetland 2 here and wetland 3 over here were hydraulically connected through a stone underdrain which went there and was a storm drain underground that water would filter through that storm drain over to this well in here. Now once the fill is brought in that hydraulic connection between the two is broken, but right now as Colin will explain during his portion of the presentation, because that hydraulic connection was broken the water level in this well has risen beyond its natural level and has actually harmed some of the vegetation in that area so in order to bring back that hydraulic connection, we will install a pipe here virtually flat across here, but what it will do is it will ensure those harmful levels don't return and if water ever rises up that level again it will slowly drain out before it is done in this area here, but it is not expected to be any kind of peat flow or rushing down there in any storm event. It will be gradual and is anticipated only in the greater storms, maybe 25 or 100 year storms. I will talk quickly about this storm water. This basin is only served to retain more infiltrated storm water, basically it is a collection area. As you can see we have a lot of pipes coming out of these catch basins and from these upland areas and also from the area that connects it to wetlands, and what this area will serve to do if you care to look here at the contours, it is sort of baffled through here and its' riff raff outlet is an apron at the outlet of the pipe that will serve to dissipate the energy as the water comes out of the pipe, and then the water will be forced to meander through here before it is released to wetland 3 and the pipe out here also has a similar apron a little bit larger, about 25 ft. wide with a lip on the end, with a detail we can show you afterwards. As the water comes out of the pipes, the flow is dissipated, it will discharge slowly, it will be spread over a wide area as it discharges into the wetland eliminating that one point discharge, eliminating any erosion from the water that comes through here. That is in a nutshell how the storm water is being handled now. You may have been out to the site, as Ray said there are a lot of steep open slopes where water just runs off the slopes building up energy on these high slopes with really no vegetation to speak of until they control that water, so right now there is a lot of high peak flows. The majority of the rain water that falls outside is running off. Right now this slope as it exists today runs from this area here straight up at about 60 vertical feet in the area and relatively steep. To stabilize that slope and to reduce the energy of the runoff that is right now just running straight down the slope and creating erosion paths, we put a bench or a small plateau in this area so water will run down the slope, will get caught in that slope which is pitched back into the slope, there is an under drain here that will catch any water that is in the sub surface and also eventually will catch any water that is on the surface and bring it down to this catch basin right here, and again into the storm water right here. The importance of the bench not only to dissipate the energy of the surface water runoff to prevent erosion, also the under drain here will collect water that runs through the sub surface. What happens is the fill material that is out there right now is a very low permeability and as rainwater infiltrates into the ground into the sand and loam that we are going to put out there in the proposed condition, it will get down through the sand and then it hits the clay material it won't be able to go any further, so it will just run down the hill and as you get down the slope, that water starts to build up and in certain conditions it can get to a certain depth where it starts to weaken the stability of the slope and then that material on top of the fill can wash away, but what we have done here is add this bench here and a perforated pipe in the sub surface so that any water that is running through that sand will go into that perforated pipe and run out, therefore reducing the water and the wearing, further stabilizing the slope.

Colin Duncan: Epsilom Associates, Wetland Soils Scientist:
I have a DEP File #217-0122
I prepared the wetland restoration plan that deals with removing the sediments that have accumulated within the wetland resource areas and providing a restoration plan, replanting plan and stabilization plan in conjunction with all the other work that is going on within the site and the buffer zone, etc. As was mentioned to start with within kind of the envelope of the stabilization project there are 4 wetland resource areas as two isolated lands subject to flooding northerly and southerly, and 2 wetland areas that were delineated and approved under an RDA with the city conservation commission. Call this wetland 2 and wetland 3 simply because the flag numbers vary, and then a 5th area of concern that has been looked at is 3rd pond, but that would be another area that we haven't mentioned as something we are going to be monitoring and stabilizing. The NOI package narrative that you have goes into quite a detailed step by step construction sequence in addition to the general site sequencing that CDM has prepared. I can answer any questions regarding that specifically. Basically, within the NOI package, there are 4 figures and those figures indicate specific treatment for areas within each resource area. The two ILSFs have approximately 2 in. of sediment that have accumulated within them as a result of being washed from the side slopes. There are also deeper areas of sediment on the shores, so to speak, of the ILSFs that will be removed, the previously existing grades will be re-established and soil will be treated and amended in such a way that it will mimic previously existing conditions with a wetland leaf layer type of top soil, and vegetative plantings to replace substantially what was there before and destabilize the very edge of the water in the areas that will be re-established on the slope. As we mentioned previously, the northerly ILSF is very infrequent, but it has a low area that would almost be considered a swale that has a relief valve from the ILSF in the event of large storms which is an accumulation of water over a season. That drains down through a vegetated swale for a portion and then that swale becomes, as it steepens, towards the southerly ILSF and will be treated with riff raff as we mentioned to make sure that the sediment doesn't re-suspend and cause an erosion problem unto itself. The southern ILSF will be for this part of the water shed which is basically split through this tree stand and this ledge area. Everything from here north has always been contained within that area, so this ILSF will contain water running into it. It shows long term evidence of being pretty fluctuating at water level elevation, and the soils will be stabilized around it for planting plan, and there are trees in here which are viable and have survived and will remain. The two wetland areas with sediments that have accumulated along the edges of the wetland area 2 will be removed. The bumper area is within the first 20 ft., and we have a cross section showing what happens between the wetland and the first break in slope, and then going up into the fairway area, any sediment that has accumulated in that zone will be removed, soil stabilized, woody plantings will be placed in there to replace what has been in there in the past. It will be a little bit wetter system than what was there before just because it will be utilized to store water up to an elevation of 137 ½, and that will be an area that will be like more of an isolated wetland that has an outlet. Wetland 3, the 2nd wetland area near the 12th green, is an area that has received quite a bit of sediment over the past year and there is a stream channel that emanates along and through this wetland, and I went back in there and determined how far back that sediment went that could be measured and removed, and that area will be cleaned out. There is a side area closer to the front of the wetlands, closest to the green, that will also be removed, however it is very well vegetated and established right now, so we want to minimize the disturbance going forward and the sediments that are there now has not repeated any growth this season. You wouldn't even know there was sediment there by looking at it and standing next to it, so we want to minimize that but we do want to remove the extent of sediment possible. It will now receive this season's die off and be just worked into the natural soil, but we will remove the sediment in the stream using a method that I have indicated in the document and machinery that will be used I have provided follow-up memorandum with the figures showing a typical planking or construction or swamp map type thing, as well as some other items that you have indicated on the check list, and so any access that has to be gotten into this wetland with machinery, we will be using those types of maps to prevent sinking of equipment, etc. In Monitoring Plan - Section 4 of the NOI document has a monitoring plan laid out with time line for recording to the commission, in other words at the end of the growing season within a certain time frame after the planting, etc., and part of that monitoring plan as amended by this memo will specifically include looking for identifying invasive species and dealing with those immediately. I must point out that there are invasive species such as purpose loose strip that are dominate in here, or at least present, and it is going to be pretty much impossible to keep out invasive species entirely, but we will do our best to ensure that we don't bring in and introduce any more invasive species in the wetland application area. We can provide a thickness vegetated cover right away.

Bob: Do you want to talk about the wetland application area?

Mr. Duncan: That area is an area that is being provided in compensation for a small corner of the previously existing wetland that will be graded in order to provide almost the protection and outlet for this ponded area, so in essence we are gaining not only new wetland area, but also some surface water bodies throughout the site, and this one is a catchment, intended to kind of polish any final sediments coming off of the site from the slopes. The wetland application area will be over excavated, cleared of vegetation, and provided with a 1 ft. top soil mix. Organic soil will be replanted. We have a cross section of that. It will be monitored within the first 2 growing seasons. The first growing seasons any amendments of changes and replacements that need to happen will be done both in the woody species and the non-woody species. If any areas are not vegetating for some reason, then they will be re-vegetated during that first growing season. Woody species will be replaced if they die, and we will be monitored so that the present DEP specifications and the form standards for wetland application 75% of the area will contained.

Bob: Could you explain the 12th tee is going to have sod, and the playing area is going to have seed. When do you expect to put that down?

Mr. Blanchard: The sod or seed won't go in until spring.

Bob: How will you secure the hillside during the winter.

Mr. Blanchard: Our plan throughout construction sequence is to go in and do all the cuts and fills to the slope area to get these slopes down to what we have on the plans so that they are manageable slopes, and then what we are planning to do is straw mulch and tackifier the entire site for winter.

Bob: Could you explain "straw mulch and tackifier"?

Mr. Henaghen: Straw mulch is just what it sounds like. It is straw, natural material. It is cut down to about 2 or 3 inches. It is spread across the site so you can't see the ground, it is sometimes 2-3 inch thick. The tackifier is spread over the top of it. The tackifier is a hair spray like material that bonds the straw mulch together, that allows any rainfall that hits it not to disturb the underlying soils, and it reduces the rate of the runoff compared to just bare soil, and also as the runoff runs over the straw mulch it doesn't cause erode into the natural materials.

Bob: How does that work during winter. What is the temperature this can be done at? We are talking 20, 10 degrees at times in winter. Will that crack and open up area?

Mr. Henaghen: No, the only limitation temperature wise is during installation.

Mr. Blanchard: It will be his responsibility to install and maintain the straw mulch and tackifier cover for the duration of the winter. It is his responsibility to check it daily and make sure if there are any areas that have been breached, that they get repaired right away. So it is his responsibility to make sure that is maintained through the winter months.

Bob: But accordingly, you can't lay this down during the winter.

Mr. Henaghen: If the situation did arise where something would happen, obviously we would address that accordingly, but this material is made just for the situation to cover when you can't construct during the planting season.

Mr. Blanchard: Again, if there was a problem area it would be the contractor's responsibility at that point to open another control mechanism to make sure it was maintained. If the straw mulch was too close, you may have to use an erosion blanket or something to that effect. It is his responsibility to make sure the entire area is maintained during the winter months.

Nancy: What happens to it afterwards?

Mr. Blanchard: It is biodegradable. It goes away.

Mr. Henaghen: In the spring there is an organic material that the sand or loam and the next materials that we want to place on the side is replaced directly on top of it.

Bob: Would you like to explain the two squares on the 12th tee?

Mr. Henaghen: Those are two fairway catch basins. Actually the brown squares that around it are hay bales and silt fence, erosion controls around the catch basins. The catch basins are very much smaller than that. The basins are to collect runoff from the fairway itself, the area immediately adjacent to it. Just for some background, the reason why those are installed rather than just grading it to runoff or to prevent it mainly for golf reasons so in order to have runoff run directly to one of the wetland areas without the slope the entire fairway in one direction or the other, and that was not favorable, so these are small low points that are going to collect the runoff from those areas.

Bob: In this lower point here, why are you directing the water to the wetlands and not to the pipeline which is just 2 or 3 ft. from there? Why are you shipping it back to the wetland instead of pushing it the other way?

Mr. Henaghen: The only reason is that area this pipe depends on here is virtually flat, is just basically an overflow that can be driven by the head in this wetland, it is not meant to carry a certain amount of flow, so these catch basins are very small water sheds, accepting the water from a very small area. Also, it would just kind of off balance the areas. In addition, connecting these would require another installation of another manhole.

Mr. Blanchard: I am going to speak to how we are going handle the loam situation, how we are going to produce it. What was decided early on was because we had that large peat pile that is on 12 right now as everybody is aware, we are going to utilize that peat to manufacture the loam and that is for a huge cost savings on this project. What we are going to do is to excavate that peat, that pile that you see there, down approximately 8 ft. below the low grade, excavate all that peat out of there. We are going to take the peat and ship it over to Mr. Blakey's compost site. We are going to grab exactly 7500 cu. yds.of peat. We also are going to grab 7500 cu. yds. of glacial till, deliver that to Mr. Blakey's site, and we also are going to have 7000 cu. yds. of sand delivered to Mr. Blakey's site. Mr. Blakey is going to blend these materials and screen them for ¾ in. minus screen and product loam for us for the project. The volumes that we gave him, 7500 cu. yds. of peat, 7500 cu. yds.of glacial till and 7000 cu. yds. of sand basically gets mixed 1/3, 1/3, and 1/3, and that will generate 20,000 cu. yds. of loam to cover the entire site, to cover all the loam that we need on the project. We can do that for $6.25 cu. yd. If you wanted to buy loam from a loam distributor you would be paying anywhere from $17, $18, or $19 a yard, so with the materials on site we decided to go that route in an effort to save a large substantial amount of money, so that is what is going to happen with peat.

Paul: The area were you are excavating, are they going to backfill that with till that will be put in there? The plan in the initial construction sequence to do that is one of the first steps of the sequence, to excavate that peat, deliver it, excavate the till, deliver it, have the sand delivered, then over the coarse of the winter, Mr. Blakey can produce the loam for us over the coarse of the winter and have 20,000 cu. yds. available for us hopefully on April 1 to bring back to the site for use. So it works out good timing wise also to get that manufactured for us during winter months.

Bob: In the drainage for the northern isolation area, you have water coming in that way, and you talked about swale connecting to isolated land #2, is there any possibility of #2 going into storm water basin.

Mr. Henaghen: Not based on the change of elevation. The water level has to rise 11 ft. which isn't likely.

Bob: This plateau that you have here, how is it going to sit at this point?

Mr. Henaghen: That is going to just above the subgrade that is out there now.

Bob: You aren't going to have a gravel layer. Are you going to have a sand gravel? Do you have a cross section showing that?

Mr. Henaghen: Yes. The perforated pipe goes directly in that sand layer. It is supposed to be a permeable sand and the perforated pipe will gather the water to prevent erosion. What you see is the slope comes down through that slope back this way. As far as the surface water is concerned, it will hit this one back this way down into this catch basin here. Now as I said , water may go in this sand layer here, and once it hits this field layer, it won't be able to infiltrate any further so as water comes down here. We will go into this 6 in. surface drain and it will run to the same catch basin here.

Bob: Do you have a detail coming from the basin itself?

Mr. Henaghen: Yes. This is a more industrial deeper catch basin because it has the other pipe which comes out on the other side so as to match the grade coming down. The other pipe will come right in the top.

Bob: Do you have a maintenance plan for the basin? How is that going to be adjusted if any siltation builds up?

Mr. Henaghen: The nice thing about this area is it is heavily used. Maintenance crews are there all the time and it will be constantly monitored.

Bob: Will the side be rocks?

Mr. Henaghen: No, it will be soil. The basin at the top here will be 3 to 1 slopes, not too steep, over here these are 2 to 1. They vary over here when we get into sod material, but this basin is not very deep so it is not as critical as far as safety.

Bob: Regarding wetland 2 at the last information meeting we had, we talked about blocking that pipe for a smooth run into the wetland. You had mounds in that area. Is that still being considered?

Mr. Blanchard: I think the plan is to have a large vegetation layer across the top of the slope and to isolate any runoff running into that new wetlands.

Mr. Duncan: Right, and you are talking specifically about the potential for balls rolling in. The way this slope has flattened out as it approaches this wetland, it is a very flat surface and is not a surface that encourages that type of movement physically down the slope. There is sort of a grading that is provided to give it a little bit of a mounding effect, and there will be a vegetated barrier.

Nancy: Is the vegetated wetland shown on here?

Colin: Yes, Area 3, see the hatching.

Nancy: Is there a key to go with the hatching.

Colin: The numbering of the numeric system is keyed into the test of the narrative showing different areas. They just simply designate. If you look at the test, it is about 230 ft. Again, the vegetation is really coming up through it.

Nancy: Do we need to take it out.

Mr. Duncan: If it is well established, and if it is going to do more damage to take it out, we don't want to just ignore it. We will take it out as needed. We are contracted with the city to carry this through, monitoring and follow-up monitoring.

Nancy: Is it the same with the engineering, will there be someone to provide oversight on the construction every day?

Mr. Blanchard: We will have a clerk of the works on site for every day monitoring of the project and then CDM will oversee any engineering problems that come. They will have on site visits and make sure it is going according to plan.

Nancy: There are some things that are based on actual site conditions.

Mr. Blanchard: That is why they will be on board to monitor any problems that may arise.

Bob: I am assuming the dark brown is your hay bales?

Mr. Duncan: Those are indicated on my 4 figures. They look like railroad tracks, but are symbols of hay bales, silt fence lines going back to areas that we were working in.

Bob: Do you have a cross section of any erosion control, what is it going to look like?

Mr. Duncan: The silt fence barriers?

Bob: Right, and the hay bales.

Mr. Duncan: It is a standard entrenched at the silt fence, and hay bale barrier and where necessary, we are actually doubling up the hay bales, installing the silt fence and burying the flat going towards the wetlands, and then taking those hay bales in.

Bob: Is this the cross section of the riff raff what we are talking about here?

Mr. Henaghen: This is the final outfall to wetland 3. The flat area is to direct the flow here, so you see as you come down the spread will flow out, it will spread out even further, allowing it to flow out of this pipe and energy to be dissipated, spread out over the whole thing rather than just one trigger point discharge.

Bob: How big is that pipe?

Tom: 18 inch.

Bob: Is there going to be any guards to prevent animals from getting in?

Mr. Henaghen: Typically what we do is to put some barriers.

Ray Blanchard: I will go over the construction sequence at this time. Mr. Duncan has a real detailed version as far as the work within the wetlands and provided one in the package that was delivered to the commission yesterday titled Summary of Work, Sequence of Activities. This is based on hopefully starting early to mid November on this project. What we do is relocate flagged wetland resource areas and applicable 100 ft. buffer zones in the field survey, remove existing flood control structures and dead vegetation and gain access into wetland areas to be clean, install new set of sedimentation of flow structures, excavate and deliver on site peat moss supplied by the city compost area, deliver sand to city on compost area, excavate and dispose of sediment and wetland resource areas, wetland #2, wetland #3, and fairway #12, adjacent land subject of flooding and swale area located northern and southern, excavate backfill grade and compact the sub-grade areas for a neutral slope between north and south ILSF areas. Furnish and install screen gravel and modified rock fill on the 2 to 1 slopes located between the north and south ILSF areas, excavate backfill grade and compact, subgrade areas of new 2 ½ to 1 slope located between fairway 12 and upland construction access road. After the subgrade work is complete, apply straw mulch and tackifier as specified. Install subsurface pipes, drainage structures and outlet channels and locations as shown on the drawings and prepare entire site for winter protection; maintain erosion and sediment controls during winter months; periodically inspect after each ½ inch rain event; and submit written reports to conservation commission. At spring 2002 thaw re-establish sediment controls, adjust elevations of subgrade elevations of subgrade, install layers of sand, loam and seed; install wetland vegetation and planting to begin maintenance towards vegetation establishment; and prior to project closeout clean out drainage pipes, outlet channels and wetland areas of accumulated sediments. That is what we project and that is what we proposed the construction sequence to be.

Bob: You are thinking of starting in mid November?

Mr. Blanchard: Hopefully, the bid documents will go out on the street on Monday. Hopefully, we will be opening the bids on November 9, and then during that time we can get the funding caught up with the process. If we do get the funding caught up with the process on November 9, we hope to give the contractor 7 - 10 days to mobilize, which will put them out here sometime 2nd or 3rd week of November. Hopefully we can get all this work done prior to any main snow.

Bob: I was going to say, this is all going to be done within 2 -4 weeks.

Mr. Blanchard: It is a very aggressive schedule. That is why time is of the essence.

Bob: Very aggressive. Who will be doing the monitoring plan? Epsilom will be involved in it, is that correct?

Mr. Blanchard: Yes

Bob: Do you have a model of the report that will be submitted to us.

Colin: I can't give you one right now, but I can provide one for you.

Bob: A question would be an assessment report of the project. Are there any guidelines or an independent group coming in and looking at this and giving it final assessment at the completion of the project, a post construction assessment?

Mr. Blanchard: No. Wouldn't the Conservation Commission be doing this?

Bob: We would probably be part of that process. We would look at your maps and comparison to your final plans that would be submitted to us, but you may want an independent group coming in just to evaluate the entire project. In the involvement of water, I always have that question of post-filling and proposed-filling and the flow of water coming out. You were saying that the pre-flow of water through wetlands 3 and out and the proposed water flow will not change.

Mr. Henaghen: Right, we have set the site, and designer storm water control is just based on proposed vs. what is out there today. After meeting last time, we went back and inferred these areas contributing to wetlands 2 and 3, went all the way back to the pre-filled conditions. What we were able to do was to decrease the peak flows in most cases to a 10 yr. storm which is very close to being identical, but overall the peak flows have been slightly decreased.

Bob: Yes, that is what caught my eye in the point that before the pre-fill conditions and the existing conditions and proposed, there seemed to be a drastic decrease. You are talking doing 100 yr. before the pre-fill, almost 22 cu. ft. and at some of the peak flows you are showing only 10, 8, 14. Where is all the water going?

Mr. Henaghen: In a pre-fill condition there were little or no storm water control at the site. Terracing modifies the grading a little bit. We have shifted the amount of water that goes whatever the slopes are shaved, maybe shift a little bit more water towards wetland 3 which forced the implementations for storm water controls. So where is all that water going? The main thing is first of all this potential basin up here, #3, this is where the 2 and 10 year storm, there will be no outflow from that basin, so a lot of water before might have come down here just infiltrating in this area, and this area here, there wasn't any fill put here originally to go up and down with the depression. Mr. Blanch tells me this water doesn't sit in there so we anticipate this water will infiltrate so this won't be a wet pond, at least not permanently wet. A lot of the water for the smaller storms will just be detained there and won't run off. That is where some of the water is going, and as I said for the bigger storms both of these have been sized so that they can retain water long enough to allow a very small distribution out of the basin.

Bob: You are slowing down the water from the previous conditions.

Nancy: Look at Table 3. This shows when you compare pre-filled with proposed, you are going to get less water on wetland 2 and you're going to get more water into wetland 3, which is the one that ultimately discharged to the brook so the actual amount of gallons of water is going to increase.

Mr. Henaghen: Not significantly percentage wise if you look.

Nancy: From the small storm you are going from 17,920 to 18,365, cu. ft. of water, and that would be the increase for a 2 yr. storm. How many inches is a 2 yr. storm?

Mr. Henaghen: 2 inches.

Nancy: So I guess then my question is more for you, Colin, as a wetland scientist, we are now going to be depriving wetland #2 of so many cu. ft. of water for a storm, but at the same time we are increasing its overflow.

Mr. Duncan: We are providing actually a larger storage area before it overflows.

Nancy:; So it is going to retain more water even though it is getting less?

Mr. Henaghen: What happened in the past this stone under drain would just let the water out of wetland 2 slowly where now we don't have that, so we are putting this pipe in here to allow so it doesn't flood.

Nancy: I understand what is happening with the water the way you are describing it now on paper, but I am not a wetland scientist, I don't understand plants, habitats as well, so my question to you is this going to significantly impact the quality? We aren't going to unbalance things?

Mr. Duncan: I don't think so. The wetland plants that are in there are plants that are conditioned specifically in that spot, but also to logically respond various degrees of flooding. Close to the middle there are plants like multi flora rose and barberry, that are not wetland plants, and what will grow in there is like button bush which is an obligate wetland shrub which is down the other wetland, and other things like that will be able to withstand more constant high water table.

Nancy: Are there any more of those plants in wetland 2 right now? Is there a chance they will take off on their own or should we do something to help them along during this remediation effort?

Mr. Duncan: What I have proposed in plantings are things like tall blueberry and other wetland like winterberry, wetland shrubs. Those are on the edges of the wetlands. I believe that wetland will really expand jurisdictionally. I believe what is growing in there now will continue be refined, red maple, and other things within and around the edges that will continue to thrive in there. You want to keep a shrub community in there because you don't want to open it up for other plants that will take over.

Bob: You have here doing the construction, lifting, transporting and stock piling of on- site concrete barriers. Which barriers are we talking about here?

Mr. Blanchard: There is a row of jersey barriers that runs along this haul road here and the concrete blocks used that are now retaining walls in these two area will be excavated out so those will be taken away.

Bob: How far are you going to put them? I am looking for a contingency plan come spring if there is a problem.

Mr. Blanchard: We are going to have them on site at Mt. Hood. We aren't going to take them off of Mt. Hood. We are going to store them at Mt. Hood for future use for different things. We own them so we might as well keep them.

Bob: So technically we don't have a disaster type plan here, or a contingency plan for this project is that everything should fall into place accordingly and this material should hold during the winter according to the specs, etc., that this won't shatter and start opening up the hills for erosion.

Mr. Blanchard: There is no contingency plan. We are moving forward with our total plan. There is complete hope at least on my behalf that this is going to move into a construction project.

Bob: Just an example, the Association of Massachusetts of Wetland Scientists Newsletter from March of 1999 has a draft sample of a monitoring report that you may want to look it as a sample. It is very explicit and detailed.

Paul: In the construction sequence, you are going to be pulling the sediment out of the wetland area and then pulling back the slopes. Would you expect during the time you are pulling back the slopes if there is a rain event or even during the course of that work, wouldn't that tend to result in more material getting into the wetland.

Mr. Blanchard: The plan is as we are going along to excavate the sedimentation of these ILSF's in the wetlands, then re-establish hay bales and silt fence, and then re-establish the grading along the areas. At the end of the project we would then go back in and clean any sedimentation that has eroded into those wetlands again. The wetlands are actually going to get cleaned twice, once at the beginning of the project and then again once toward the end of the project because we are going to try to prevent it, to sit here to say it is going to be prevented is probably false.

Paul: Do you weigh doing the pulling back to the slopes first and then going in and doing the work?

Mr. Blanchard: They are going to be done simultaneously, in conjunction with each other.

Mr. Duncan: You don't want to extensively clear the wetland and then have a major event that would disrupt this assignment and you don't want to also establish the slopes and then immediately have to disturb them to get back to the wetland. So it is a balancing act to get it done at the same time.

Paul: And on fairway 12, where the retaining wall is and the fill that is in back of that, there is a lot of material there that is going to be removed obviously. Where is that going now?

Mr. Blanchard: This whole area is going to be regraded, so all the slope that is there now is much steeper than it is going to be. That is all going to be graded down through. Again when we excavate that peat a lot of that is going to go that way.

Nancy: What are the little circles on the tee?

Mr. Blanchard: That shows the landing zone from these tee boxes, roughly 225 yds. from this back tee to that one, so from a golfing perspective that shows where your ball is going to land. When you tee off, if you are a good golfer, you are going to land in that area.

Nancy: You did borings to determine the location of the peat layer. How thick is it roughly?

Mr. Blanchard: I don't have the actual numbers, but the largest quantities were right where the peat pile is on the fairway. There were 3 done across this side of the peat pile, and then they were done.

Nancy: A lot of that peat popped up on its own from the weight of the clay, right?

Mr. Blanchard: Right, as they brought the till down the hill, they forced it down and that forced the peat up, so as they filled the peat came up, it went like that and that's what caused it all to come up. Any peat that is under the existing fill right now has been compressed and overloaded.

Nancy: So it is not going to move again if we leave it alone?

Mr. Blanchard: No, what is going to happen it has been over compressed now. There is a lot more weight on there that is going to be. Once we reshape the area, we are actually going to remove fill off of it.

Nancy: Then is it going to come back up?

Mr. Blanchard: No, it will be compressed and it will stay down.

Nancy: So we aren't going to have any more slumping.?

Mr. Blanchard: We should not.

Nancy: The peat has been factored into these engineering designs?

Mr. Blanchard: Absolutely.

Nancy: The drawings were just finished today so this isn't final what is going to go out to bid. There is a lot of stuff missing. Like keying the details and a lot of editorial stuff.

Mr. Blanchard: That was one of the details that have to be tied together.

Nancy: Keyes, guides to symbols, etc.

Mr. Blanchard: The actual bid package is being done too. I should have those by the end of business tomorrow.

Nancy: Are you going to fill in all the boxes for checking, etc.?

Mr. Henaghen: The commissioner requested construction drawings and we want to do our best to get in there as close as to that as we could with whatever details.

Nancy: It is a lot of information here, for instance we have tills instead of fill, and the hydrologic calculations, they just say who did them, but they are not initialed as to who checked this work, so I think it would just be far better to know that there are people checking the work because it is not evident what has been submitted so far. Ray said you can't go on the sod for a year?

Mr. Henaghen: No, one growing season.

Nancy: But what about the sod down next to Ell Pond, the soccer field? That was just rolled out a couple of months ago.

Mr. Blanchard: It is not ideal. It shouldn't have been used. What can you do? The soccer people actually paid to have that field redone, so if they want to use it without waiting.

Mr. Henaghen: I know as a lot of our project, it is hard to keep people off there.

Mr. Blanchard: It takes 6 weeks for the roots so we kept them off for 4 or 5.

Nancy: Golfers use it. You don't get that much traffic do you?

Mr. Henaghen: No, but you also get people digging it up and stuff. We also want it to last so the longer we can let it grow and let it maintain, and let it stabilize., the better.

Paul: The tackifier that is going to be used to stabilize the straw, what is it made of?

Mr. Henaghen: It is organic material so it is something that can be left in place without any harm to vegetation, surface water or anything like that.

Bob: Get the spec sheets on that please.

Public hearing

Bob: If anyone wishes to discuss or ask any questions at this time, please take a seat up front, sign the sheet of paper, and we will take your questions.

Paul O'Neill - 226 Beech Ave. - I apologize I was not here for the beginning of the meeting. I know that we were expecting test boring results of the contamination and I understand from somebody in the audience here that those tests were within acceptable limits. Could you tell me how far those borings were and how far down they went?

Bob: They went from 4 to 15 ft.; 17; boring 1 was marked from 15; boring 2, 15. The depth was 4, 8, 12 and 15.

Nancy: So they took 4 samples as they went down to the depths of up to 17 ft.

Mr. O'Neill: Just out of curiosity, what is the total depth of the pile of filled in? Does anybody know that? It looks like it is a lot deeper than that to me. I am assume that is probably a standard boring.

Bob: There were 6 borings in the ball field area, 6 on the soccer field, and the remaining on the fairway.

Paul: They went down until they hit refusal. So they went down until the drill hit probably some rocks and boulders, concrete.

Mr. O'Neill: Is there somebody here from Simons Environmental?

Mr. Blanchard: No

Mr. O'Neill: So it is your understanding that 15 ft. wasn't what they chose to stop at.

Paul: The report said that they were going down until they hit refusal, until they hit a barrier.

Mr. Blanchard: 15 ft. was the projected depth unless they hit refusal before that, if they hit rock or ledge prior to 15 ft.

Mr. O'Neill: Obviously I am pleased there is nothing in the top of 15 ft., and having walked the site I would just ask that there is a significant amount of construction debris in that fill, and it is not in the first 15 ft. It is below that, and anyone can walk up there and dig it out. I have done it on several occasions myself and I am going to go back up there tomorrow and take another look at it. I would just like to hear from the Wetland Scientist as to what effect that kind of instruction debris has in terms of its environmental impact. Clearly I don't believe that is what we bargained for, and regardless of this remediation project I would like to understand whether or not that is something we need to be concerned about removing. I don't know if you walked the site. I have seen steel girders up there. I don't know if they are still there or if they were there for some other reason, but they were sticking out of fill as if they were going to be left there.

Bob: Were they sticking out of the side of the hills or were they sticking out on top of the hill?

Mr. O'Neill: This was sticking out of the side, but this was a few months ago, so I don't know if it is even still there or not. I would just like to understand what the context of this project has in terms of whether or not any of that material needs to be removed. I am not an engineer, but I have friends that are engineers, some of them have said that kind of material can work its way to the surface. I will let you address that.

Mr. Duncan: I believe the material will be worked, regraded. Materials such as what you are talking about that is not part of or should not be part of the landscape will be removed and disposed of. With regards to any material that is underneath that, it is not typically something that you would try to remove, if it just something like rebar or steel materials, etc., that material is very inert, just stays in place. So I wouldn't imagine there would be a necessity to try and sit through all the fill up there, but to deal with it as the material surfaces and is removed.

Paul: Is there that kind of risk that things can work their way to the surface or is that unfounded?

Mr. Duncan: Things can work their way to the surface over time once it gets out, however deep it is, is not going to move very much. It is a very dense glacial till, which means it is a mix of clay and stone. It is a very hard material, it is dry, and it is not going to have a lot of shrink and swelling, and that is the type of thing that actually causes rocks and large materials to get moved up and down through the soil, and if things are surfacing, the lawnmower will find them. Small materials can be easily removed.

Mr. O'Neill: I am not concerned about the lawnmower, but I am concerned about kids sliding on that kind of thing. That is the only reason I bring it up. If you look at where the erosion gullies are, there is a lot of it in there, and I know that I have been told that a certain level of it is acceptable, that is neither here or there. When you explained this, I am sorry I missed some of the meeting as I was downstairs at a Board of Alderman meeting, but some of these wetlands we are talking about were not there before, at least not as large, so I take it from the presentation, are we substituting these from wetlands that existed, or how is that working, when you are at the site if you are looking where the tower is, on that side that goes towards Saugus?

Bob: That is the one.

O'Neill: Okay, I never saw it there before.

Bob: You wouldn't have saw it because it was smaller, which before you might see it as smaller than this room with the construction and the way that the water is being directed into that area. That has now grown to almost 3 times the size, and it is actually beginning to move sort of a small swale towards the 2nd area. When it reaches its peak, its level has moved across. It has increased in size.

Mr. Duncan: I think that is a phenomenon of what the current condition does is that with no cover, no vegetation out there, the till acts as a surface, so everything that is within that watershed runs towards those water bodies and the wetland, but once those are revegetated, regarded, etc., there will be a lot more infiltration into the soil. Right now you have very, very little. So those wetlands will find their proper levels.

Mr. O'Neill: Was any thought given to restoration of some of the trees that they removed. Obviously they help soak up water and act as erosion control rather than just bushes. Do you know if anyone has ever talked about that?

Mr. Duncan: Around the edges of the wetland resource areas, and within wetland resources as needed, we will be replanting trees and shrubs.

Mr. O'Neill: And did I hear correctly when you, Mr. Blanchard, talked about the first phase of construction or breaking the construction, that you expected to get finished up before the winter to get the site graded and have the straw applied, and then that tackifier put on it and some piping, and that takes us up to December or as soon as we can get that finished.

Mr. Blanchard: Obviously we will get as much of the project done as we can prior to winter, but we do want to make sure that we have an erosion control in place prior to the first snow storm. We have to leave that stuff up to the contractor. We can't tie the contractor's hands as to how fast or what he can do. He will do what he can at the time that he can get it done.

Mr. O'Neill: Clearly, there is a point that will be as far as we can go before the winter. Obviously, we can't seed and sod and loam before the winter. So everything up to that point.

Bob: It talks about red maple, pine oak and green hash trees be planted.

Mr. O'Neill: Great, thank you.

Linda Benezra - 340 Porter St. Could you talk a little about the plateaus that are being created and how wide they are?

Mr. Blanchard: Which ones?

Ms. Benezra: Any of them because they all effect the wetlands. They are there to slow down the water. I understand that. But what kind of width is there?

Mr. Blanchard: This is 10 ft. wide. This is the only bench that is cut in.

Bob: Show her the cross sections.

Mr. Henaghen: This is the cross section here. As you come down the slope it is 10 ft. side, and it is pitched back into the slope so that any water gets caught here and runs, it runs sort of across the slope to this drain right here. It will remove any surface water toward down the hill. So it will never get a chance to build up that energy of 30, 40 vertical ft.

Ms. Benezra: I understand what it does. I am just trying to understand in a practical manner how as a hiker out on the site, would people be able to walk along the edge of the plateau?

Mr. Henaghen: That is not really its purpose. That would be possible.

Bob: Can it be used as a pathway?

Ms. Benezra: I understand under construction you don't want people to use it until it settles, but once it is all stabilized and set, will people be able to walk on it?

Mr. Henaghen: As you come down this side, just sort of enter a steep slope so there is not a beginning and an end that are acceptable. What you have got to a certain point is a steep slope, if you want to call it a slope you can do that, but that really wasn't the intent, but use of it won't be concluded. The fairway there will be regular grass, it won't be maintained. It will be cover over meadow, seed mix and high grasses.

Mr. Blanchard: This whole area and this whole slope will be larger vegetation. It won't be mowed grass, it will just be all grass.

Ms. Benezra: So the one that runs along the 12th fairway, what is that distance?

Bob: About 200 - 300 ft.

Linda: Isn't there some of that same plateauing at the far end of the baseball field?

Mr. Blanchard: Right now there is, that is not going to stay there. That has not been filled yet. That will all be removed.

Ms. Benezra: On #3 it talks about a 12 ft. wide access road. Where is that and what is its purpose.

Mr. Blanchard: That is the existing haul road we have right now. It runs from Route 99 and that is how we got the fill into the site. That is actually being shrunk down to 12 ft. It is wider than that right now. It is being shrunken down just because it has to be in access to get out to the road that runs up to the top of the quarry. We have to maintain at least a gravel path for access to that other road which runs out in Saugus up behind the quarry.

Linda: Two other quick things. The winter activities that might take place at Mt. Hood, what preparations are being made to make sure that we don't have problems with young people up there with toboggans, etc.

Mr. Blanchard: Hopefully, it will be a construction site and we will have it roped off as a construction site. That is all we can tell you at this point. We will make sure there are no golfers out there obviously.

Linda: It was certainly something that we used to worry about any of us who walked up there last year, on how high those slopes were and what potential danger we were putting our children in, whether they should be there or not, they always find those sites, so I bring it to your attention. You know better than anybody what goes on in the back side up there. Lastly, did I understand Mr. Duncan to say that Epsilom is already under contract with the City of Melrose?

Mr. Duncan: Yes

Linda: Could that contract be made public for us please? Thank you.

Mary Eldringhoff - 280 Wet Emerson St.: Aside from the fact that I married a civil engineer and gave birth to one, Northeastern and Purdue, (I am an English major and a citizen taxpayer), my questions tend to be a little fuzzier I guess. For each of the two experts we have here this evening, I wonder if you could categorize what you see for wetlands, what you saw in terms of a remediation project on a scale on 1 to 10, what type of a remediation project are we looking at here? Is this a smaller one in your experience, 1 is small and 10 is large. Would you call this a 1 project or a 10 project or something in between first of all for the wetlands.

Mr. Duncan: For what has happened around the wetlands, there hasn't been a tremendous amount of impact. There is fill and sediment around the edges and within the 2 ILSFs, which are isolated land subject to flooding, not technically bordering vegetated wetlands, not wetland resource as defined by the state. They have less function in value, etc. There is a relatively minor impact, it is equivalent to a couple of inches of sediment on a relatively poorly vegetated area in both cases, and to take out the sediment, there is a couple of different ways of doing it after discretion of the contractor. It is much like a vacuum truck or small machine that would just kind of scrape that out. Functionally, the wetlands are supposed to be fluctuating water tables, go and then dry up or get close to dry, and on the 2 wetlands probably the most difficulty theory is the 3rd one going at the lowest and near the 12th green, and that is going to require some sediment removal. In terms of a scale, it would be hard for me to put a scale on it, but that is probably the one that is going to have some intrusion into that and cutting.

Ms. Eldringhoff: 230 ft. or so?

Mr. Duncan: Yes, within the stream. It is relatively minor along the stream channel. It is simply a certain fill that has grown up through the fill.

Ms. Eldringhoff: So if I categorized it as a 5, you wouldn't throw me out of the room or anything?

Bob: I was going to categorize it as a 4 ½.

Ms. Eldringhoff: Okay. That gives me a feel for the layman which many of us are.

Mr. Henaghen: I can't speak directly to the impact as far as the health of the wetlands.

Ms. Eldringhoff: No, I know that. We are talking here slopes, drainage, water, cubic ft. thereof.

Mr. Henaghen: As far as site development, this job is unique in that the conditions that were towering out there now are not necessarily the existing conditions or the natural conditions. We had to go take certain areas where bringing the fill into the site had caused problems. We had to go back to pre-filled conditions. This is not the typical order in which we do things, but putting into controls like this. A lot of times when you add a lot of cave area to a project and putting in basins and rerouting stormwater to prevent problems down stream to adjust for development and site, this is not that unusual to be putting in storm water basin.

Ms. Eldringhoff: Would it be unusual to put them in the middle of some place where once upon a time there were 5 ½ acres? This is a remediation project. This is not a gee whiz we decided to build something on this nice piece level land, it is a highway. We knew we were going to build a highway, we need drainage here, and we need drainage there. In terms of the actual work that has to be done here, once again I don't think that is too tough a question to ask, on a scale of 1 to 10 (I understand the things you are doing, you know how to do, I am not questioning that at all), but in terms of this particular project to have to actually come and remediate something like this is it an 8 , a 9 ? I would put it up there at least.

Mr. Henaghen: I am just trying to compare it to a similar project.

Ms. Eldringhoff: So it is sort of an average project for a dump? That is really what I was probably looking to hear. Thank you gentleman very, very much. I guess as a citizen and as a taxpayer, I was quite stunned last April when I walked this site for the first time. Stunned doesn't even begin to describe it, and I believe at that point and time as a citizen and taxpayer it seemed in general that the sense was there was no problem there and anyone that questioned it was resoundly criticized for doing so. It is pretty clear to me listening to you gentleman tonight and this wonderful plan which granted needs more work to it, but at least it is a plan. It clearly says there are a lot of things that have to be fixed here simply to survive the winter without a major disaster. I guess I am wondering, and I will ask a rhetorical question, but I think someone needs to ask it. My concern is how the heck did we get here? I don't understand the process that allowed us to get here. Maybe this isn't the right time for this, but I don't know where or who else to bring it to, and I know we are going to be asked to pay to fix it, but how did we get here? Can anyone enlighten me? You are my conservation commission and I thought you might know.

Bob: In the process of last year the conservation has been monitoring the project and we have actually issued two Cease & Desist Orders against the City of Melrose for the actions that were being taken. In the early stages people from the public were coming before us and telling us what was going on. We do our site walk, and we would come in and do a Cease & Desist Order and we would issue new Order of Conditions and request the city to do remediation activity. Part of that remediation activity is the wetland that we created in Section 2 which was almost a dam that we put up to protect the wetland from the fill that was coming off the hillside, etc., and even doing that process the fill was overwhelming some of the erosion barriers along the roadway and it was coming in along the side. Water finds the easiest route. If you have a crack someplace you are going to have water coming through there. What was happening, the fill was still going around the barriers and still coming into the wetland. It came to a point that it just got out of control. From that point the whole money question came up and that is a whole new arena that I don't want to get involved in at this point, and the project stopped at that point, and from that point it just got worse and worse, and here we are in a remediation process.

Ms. Eldringhoff: I wish you all well everyone in your efforts, and I think we will all bear this for some time to come, but there is not one of those trees I don't miss.

Terry Waugh, 357 Porter Street: CDM, if you are the engineers of this project, why were you not monitoring this from day one, and you allowed it to happen?

Ray Blanchard: I am not sure exactly the time when CDM was involved. I know they were asked early on to come in and do some conceptual plans after 2000, the exact month I don't know. What the scope of work they were asked to do I don't know. They did that and since I have been here, we were involved in a ball field project and then we went over to this project. It has been a very good relationship.

Terry Waugh: Who was looking after the project when Gator Hood was dumping all this stuff?

Mr. Blanchard: I believe it would have been Richard Amirault.

Terry Waugh: And after he left?

Mr. Blanchard: It was me.

Terry Waugh: And didn't you see what was going on up there?

Mr. Blanchard: When I got there, there was very little going on. Most of it was done. There was a small percentage of filling on July 20, and it was only being done in this area, the finished subgrade area, and to finish a contract that was outstanding with Gator Hood. So I have been around, I have been monitoring what is going on out there, and again we are working hard with all these gentlemen to try to bring this thing to a finished plan.

Mike Murphy - 51 Highview Ave., On the catch basins, typically they are 24 in. square with steel grades on the top. Is that what this is?

Mr. Henaghen: Two different kinds. This catch basin up here on the bench we showed, that is going to be typically the type of catch basin you just described. The two on the fairway ATP plastic catch basins, just real shallow ones, just enough to collect the water, it is not going to be very big.

Nancy: Not big enough to get a golf ball?

Mr. Henaghen: Actually 18 x 18 inches.

Mr. Murphy: Where is the parking lot for the ball fields.

Mr. Blanchard: There is no parking lot. There are no ball fields either.

Mr. Murphy: How about the soccer field?

Mr. Blanchard: There are no playing fields. They are just becoming grassy meadows.

Mr. Murphy: Are there any plans for fields down the road?

Bob: That is another point we have talked about down the line. There is no talk of any playing fields within the immediate future.

Ralph Moore - 39 Dexter Road: I have a few questions for Ray. The peat concerns me a little bit. Has anybody been checking the elevations down there to see if this thing has been moving at all during the months you have been here?

Mr. Blanchard: Checking the elevations of the peat?

Mr. Moore: The clay on top of the peat. We know that the peat is underneath the clay and the clay is pushing down. Has it bottomed or is it still moving?

Mr. Blanchard: We believe it has been overloaded. The engineering company has told us that it has been overloaded and it is no longer moving.

Mr. Moore: Somebody has actually checked it? They know what the elevation was 3 mos. ago, and they know what the elevation is today?

Mr. Blanchard: CDM biotech people came out to the borings to do the depths of the peat. At that point they made this based on what they saw.

Mr. Moore: Do they bottom out there with that peat bottom? Mr. Blanchard: Yes, they bottomed out at the peat, at the boring they did.

Mr. Moore: You feel that it has bottomed out. It is not going to move any further?

Mr. Blanchard: Correct, that is the feeling of the engineering firm.

Mr. Moore: That is a feeling, but it is not a fact.

Mr. Blanchard: I don't know if you can ever state that as a fact.

Mr. Moore: Well, usually they check elevations over a period of time to see if it is safe.

Nancy: I think standard engineering cites about 6-9 mos. for a full compression.

Mr. Moore: The peat has compressed, but nobody has checked to see if it stopped.

Mr. Moore: The other question I have for you is I thought somewhere along the lines I had seen a drawing or something of that proposed ball field area, and there is going to be 18 inches of stone up there, and then some sand and loam.

Mr. Blanchard: That has been changed. It is going to be sand, loam and seed now.

Mr. Moore: Will that sand, loam and seed with that clay underneath drain properly?

Mr. Blanchard: Yes. See right here the area, the subgrade. Well they already sloped for the sides here. Any water that builds up on top of the clay will run through the sand, and follow the contours down. At the top of the slope here, there are two parts here to be installed in the subgrade perforated pipes that will drain that water out and send it down into this swale here. Sand is being specified just for that reason.

Mr. Moore: And you feel that this stuff that eventually is going to get down to Penny Road? Without a doubt, it is going to be partially filtered so it won't be causing any problems down there in the runoff, because this runs off, starts at Penny Road up there and it comes down to a culvert, etc., out in a ditch behind the property of 130 Penny Road, and dumps into a wetland area that eventually goes into Towners Pond and then drains off into Swains Pond. This is not just going down to the bottom of Penny Road and staying there.

Mr. Henaghen: Just the condition of the vegetation covering over this, right now we have been dealing with exposed soils where any water runs off, it is picking up these sediments. Even before we had all these controls, just the addition of vegetation is apt to prove eliminating that sedimentation problem.

Mr. Moore: The proposed construction here, you are going to have to cut those slopes down. This is going to be done in November, December?

Mr. Blanchard: Hopefully.

Mr. Moore: The material will be transported to some other location.

Mr. Blanchard: It is just going to be moved around the site.

Mr. Moore: How much are these slopes now?

Mr. Blanchard: I would say 1 to 1, and it will be cut down 3 to 1 and it varies on each different area. This area here will be 2 ½ to 1 here and 3 to 1 here.

Mr. Moore: And you are going to control the sediment? It will still keep running down with just the hay bales we have had there before and didn't work.

Mr. Blanchard: Again, the hope is to re-establish these slopes to the proper grade and cover it with straw mulch tackifier so there won't be any erosion, will eliminate the erosion.

Bob: What was happening with the 1 to 1 slope, it was coming so fast it was going over, now it is going to slow it down to 1 to 3 and you are showing these areas of 10 ft. gaps to slow it and then come back again.

Mr. Moore: Are we making any provisions now for penalty closets in the contract with these contractors?

Bob: Not decided at this time.

Mr. Moore: I am just concerned that in the month of November and working with that material, once it gets wet, even with the heavy track machine will be almost useless out there, especially when they work on a slope that steep. I am very concerned about what is going to come down into Penny Road and eventually into Towns Pond and Swains Pond. There is no question about it, it is going to reach there. He is talking about starting this thing in the middle of November. I am concerned that we can meet all the legal requirements between now and then?

Paul Broder, 32 Tappan Street - What is the urgency? Is there any downside either physically or environmentally to waiting until spring to get the project going?

Mr. Blanchard: The downside is it will continue to make an environmental impact to the wetland areas. If you leave it sit the way it is today, I don't think the engineers can tell you what is going to happen to that site out there. Those slopes could freeze, and if there is a quick thaw, the slopes could actually slide all the way down. It is my believe that you wouldn't be able to tell what is going to happen to the site if you left it as is.

Mr. Henaghen: What we are trying to do is stabilize the material for what is out there, so if we aren't able to get the site vegetated, we can put a cover on it to prevent erosion and large sections of material from fluffing off.

Richard Magown - 208 penny Road, Melrose I would like to ask the engineer a question. Isn't it your company that came with the drawings and made your presentation to the conservation committee when Amirault was here. You won't admit you made the drawings that caused this disaster. We all sat here and listened to the presentation, right?

Bob: Yes, the year 2000.

Mr. Magown: And what did they say? You would get less water on Penny Road than you get now? Isn't that what they said? We had all the drawings here on the table. That company is misrepresenting themselves.

Bob: Mr. Magown, the material they presented was a plan that was submitted, but never completed. That is the problem that we are having here. This project that they submitted in the beginning hasn't been completed. It has been overloaded and had difficulty in stabilizing it. They talked about ball fields and everything else at that point, and it never finished, and the problems we are having now is because the project isn't finished. We have to stabilize the area and produce the basin to hold that water.

Mr. Magown: You are trying to say you didn't agree after two meetings with that engineer company when they met with the plans to put the wall in, put a big pipe in, you don't remember that?

Bob: We talked about the pipeline in the plans.

Mr. Magown: On what plans did they originally start the ball field on? Where are the original drawings that was made out when Amirault was superintendent?

Bob: Those are probably downstairs.

Mr. Magown: Why don't you bring them up and then they can't say that company wasn't involved with the plans. That company was the one that caused the disaster. They said it was alright to push the fill down to the 12th hold. It wasn't going to cause no problem, they said. No problem, less water. You listened to them. Now admit it. They said what they said. Is anybody here on the conservation committee going to admit what I am saying. You sat here and you listened to it. The first time you didn't approve it. They brought the plans the second time and you approved it. They could push the fill down into the 12th hole. Now isn't that a fact?

Bob: That is correct. They were going to fill the 12th hole.

Mr. Magown: Isn't that what caused this whole problem?

Bob: It is part of the problem.

Mr. Magown: It is the problem now. You have all that fill on the 12th hole and you have to get it out of there. This engineering firm is one that approved it. I live down at Penny Road and all the water on wetland 3 comes down into my catch basin or my house. We had 6 inches of water on the 14th hole when they had that big rain, and he is saying there isn't going to be any more water down there. This is going to take care of all that. They had 4 ft. of water on the 12th hole. You know that. They have a pond there.

Bob: They had more than a pond there, they had a lake on that particular area, and the problem was they didn't contour the land according to the plans that were submitted to us.

Mr. Magown: Okay, now listen. They approved the cement retaining walls that are on the 12th hole now.

Bob: They did not approve that. That was not on the original drawing.

Mr. Magown: What problem did that cause? You are retaining the water on the wrong side now.

Bob: We are not retaining water. We protected the wetland from the silt coming down from the hill. That was the method because the silt was coming down so heavy because the contours weren't finished, and that was overwhelming the hay bales. We recommended putting up a barrier, and that barrier was a two block system or creating that dam to prevent more silt getting into the wetlands. That was our recommendation.

Mr. Magown: Now that wall, that retaining wall is 5 ft. high. You have 3 ft. of water on the opposite side of that retaining wall. They pushed all the clay up against the retaining wall so that is 5 ft. higher now than the wetlands are. How are you going to retain the water running down from the 12th tee? Is the new 12th tee going to remain that height? The tee is going to be connected to the wetland area because the tee is way up. They are going to have to take the 5 ft. of fill that they had up against the retaining wall, so that is going to make the slope from the tee down to the fairway much steeper. Right?

Mr. Collin: This tee situation is stepped down.

Mr. Magown: Still, the top tee is the height, right?

Mr. Collin: This one here, right.

Mr. Magown: What is the grade from there to the bottom of the fairway where you are going to take out the 5 ft, of fill on the retaining wall?

Mr. Blanchard: This elevation is 210, this elevation is 140, 70 ft. over a distance of 400 ft. What is the grade? 3 to 1.

Mr. Magown: So when you walk off the tee you are going to go up and up and down like that, right? The new tee is the highest spot.

Mr. Blanchard: Right, no question.

Mr. Magown: It is going to end up on the bottom of the 12th fairway when you hit the ball out of the tee and land on the fairway, right?

Mr. Blanchard: It lands right here, yes.

Mr. Magown: That is 200 yds. You still haven't answered the question.

Bob: We are going from 200 to 140. It is going to be a slope.

Mr. Magown: If that is the case, how are they going to take the 5 ft. of fill away from the wetlands too?

Bob: What is the marking there now?

Mr. Magown: They are going to take the retaining wall out.

Bob: And they are going to push back that dirt.

Mr. Blanchard: The fairway is going to slope across and the retaining wall is going to come out and then it is going to go down on a 2 to 1 slope to the wetland area. You are taking that wall out and replacing it with grading of the ground.

Mr. Magown: In other words all the drain is still going to go in the wetland off that fairway.

Mr. Duncan: There is a reason that retention was put in originally, to prevent silt from getting into the wetland.

Mr. Magown: So answer me a question. Why did they fill 5 ft. up against that retaining wall.

Mr. Blanchard: Because that was the original plan. The original plan was that retaining wall was going to be the water of the slope where that was. It was going to be filled 5 ft.

Bob: In the original plan, there was a level of dirt coming to the wall and then you have a sloping away to the wetland area. That was the original plan.

Mr. Magown: Can you tell me how do they expect the land to fall where they pushed that fill down on the left hand side of the fairway going towards the green.

Bob: That is the mistake they made.

Mr. Magown: That isn't just one mistake, they made 100 mistakes. That was one of them. There is no landing area now. He is talking about 220 yard landing area. There isn't a golfer up there, or maybe 5, that hit the ball 225 yds. They are all going to land back farther 150 to 175 yds. What are they going to land on?

Mr. Blanchard: They are going to land on a slope, 3 to 1 slope.

Mr. Magown: Is it going to slope down?

Bob: Your 150 yds. is going to end up just as that little green area that you are looking at over here.

Mr. Magown: That is about where the wetlands are.

Bob: No, the wetlands still are at least 100 ft. to the right of that area.

Mr. Blanchard: That is our 100 ft. buffer zone to this wetland.

Mr. Magown: So how much fairway do you have there?

Mr. Blanchard: This is all fairway. Anything that is short that falls here is going to run this way.

Mr. Magown: Which way, how wide is the fairway?

Bob: There is a 100 ft. boundary, and this will be 200 ft., maybe 250 ft. in this area. You see as teeing off here he ends up in this area, you have just about maybe a 200, 300 ft. area right here before he gets to the wetland.

Mr. Magown: Half of the golfers up there go to the right. They are going to get off that tee and the tee is off to the right. It is not lined up with the fairway. Do you know where the golfers are going to end up? In the wetlands.

Bob: We are hoping to improve that.

Mr. Magown: I have another question for the engineer. I want to know how much water would you estimate is going to end up in wetland 3. How much water does that hold now? How much is it going to hold?

Mr. Henaghen: It is the kind of question no one definitely knows. We talked about the water in wetland 3 not staying in wetland 3. It moves downstream so the question is how much the wetland itself holds. What we tried to do in the analysis was to compare how much water is going there under these proposed conditions to what went there before the fill land. It was obvious even if we put in less volume, but the pipes and culverts downstream were sized to handle a certain flow. If we put less water in there at a higher flow rate, you are still going to have a problem. So what we tried to do and what we have done is propose a way so that the peat flows, the highest flow that ever heads off sight. It is equal or less than what happened before to fill one in so that we know the downstream elements and downstream culverts can handle that level of flow.

Mr. Magown: Is that going to be the amount of rain we had the last rainstorm. We had a very small rainstorm. Well, the water is coming down from the 12th hold now onto the 14th down through the brook. Are you going to put more water down there than came down in that little rainstorm? That wetland does not hold water.

Mr. Henaghen: That is what I just said, sir. It does not hold water. It sends water downstream.

Mr. Magow