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CONSERVATION COMMISSION
TOWN OF GROVELAND
183 MAIN STREET
GROVELAND, MA 01834
(978) 374-1863 FAX (978) 372-6105
April 6, 2005
Present: M. Dempsey, S. Benanti, T. Schaefer, J. Termini, T. Grim
Marion Ave Update
Telephone Conference Call with Leah Basbanes. Opened 7:32 pm.
M. Dempsey asked L. Basbanes to update the Commission on what’s been done in the last month since the waiver ended. L. Basbanes said since waiver ended, there was additional hay bales and silt fence check dams that were put along the drainage easement that head towards Merrimack River. There was the reinstallation of silt fence and hay bales on Lot 2, put in before when previous construction folks had it. That was reestablished, per plan, on Lot 2. There were additional check dams that were put along the slope on Lot 2 as well. They put silt fence over the catch basins and placed a hay bale horseshoe around the catch basins. On Lot 4, there’s a little swail along the front of that that went into a culvert under the Lot 4 driveway and into the temporary sediment trap. That was stone-lined, seeded and mulched. T. Grim asked if it was the culvert that goes under the drive and empties out into the hillside. That’s why you had to install all of the check dams. L. Basbanes said
yes, it comes down the front of Lot 4 of the side of the road, into the temporary sediment trap. It goes into a pipe under the roadway, a 12” culvert, and into drainage easement in Lot 1. There are two catch basins there that also collect run off from roadway. T. Grim said they are not collecting an awful lot. It’s not holding a lot of water there. That water is going right down side of hillside. L. Basbanes said that’s what it was designed to do. T. Grim said he didn’t think it wasn’t intended for that much water going down, and certainly not the kind of muddy stuff that’s going down. He said it’s not major erosion where there’s tons of sediment going down. He said we don’t want to get confrontational, and we’re really overall pretty happy with situation. You have contained it 98% as good as we’d like to see it. L. Basbanes said she thinks it’s
been going very well too. She said they’ve had a couple of incidents, first, the amount of snow they’ve had on site and secondly, two back to back almost 3” rainstorms. T. Grim said, it actually turned out that the first one was only a couple of inches, and the second one was less than an inch. It could have been a lot worse. He was concerned on Saturday when the forecast was for 3” and the retention ponds were already full.
L. Basbanes said the retaining walls are pretty much complete as of today which at this point for them to clean up all around the area and then start regarding the driveway and grading and loaming all of the areas surrounding the wall, and get that seeded and mulched as soon as possible. T. Grim said it looks like they’re doing their job pretty well (referring to the retaining walls). L. Basbanes said they had a little bit of residual sediment built up on site from it sitting idle for so long. Some of those pipes may just have some materials sitting in them, then you get a good flush of water and it pushes things out. She said she saw it some time after the big storm and the water was trickling out and it was fairly clear, so she thinks they got a good flush of the
sediment out. It’s being controlled pretty well. She said she didn’t see any sediment buildup down at the bottom of the hill, or even that much built up at the check dams at the bottom of that. There was some more built up in the first couple check dams, but as you get down, there was less and less. T. Grim said compared to river of sediment that was coming down 10 years ago, that’s nothing. L. Basbanes said based on the amount of sediment that’s trapped in the old rip rap that’s there, it seems like this is something that’s been going on for a long time. T. Grim said we said from the beginning that the situation isn’t your fault, but it’s your responsibility. L. Basbanes said they are well aware of that and that Skip’s been very good about making sure we’re keeping the erosion control in good condition and adding stuff in. T. Grim said he attitude and
responsiveness certainly have made us feel a lot better about the situation. L. Basbanes said she thinks the main thing at this point is just to continue on. To grade that, get it loamed and seeded and mulched as soon as possible. T. Grim asked if she knew what the plans were for seeding Lot 4 - the house that looks like it’s just been completed? 99% of the construction debris has been picked up, and they’ve even taken away dumpster. L. Basbanes said she’s not quite sure of the status of the house, but she said she knows that they have the retaining walls within that area. There’s just a portion of it that goes on to Lot 4. Now that that’s done, they can start the final grading, loam, seeded and mulched. T. Grim said that’s one of our action items to get a commitment for at least a major portion of that area to be graded, loamed and seeded. He asked her how we go about
turning that action item into action? L. Basbanes said she knows that that’s what they want to do. That’s next on their list of work to do, to stabilize that and to clean up wall. T. Grim said he’s not talking about the wall, he’s talking about Lot 4 with the existing house. L. Basbanes said it does relate because part of the wall did fall onto Lot 4 and in front of Lot 4 on the edge of the cul-de-sac. Now that that’s complete, the next step is to regrade, loam, to dress it, seed and mulch. They has so much activity going in that area trying to access the walls and pulling materials out and placing the blocks. And now that that‘s done, they can get to the final grade. T. Grim said even if they’re doing finish work in the house, they’re clambering all over the place. L. Basbanes said to do the finish work, they can access right through the garage. T. Grim asked
again how we can turn this action item into action? L. Basbanes said she didn’t know. She certainly wouldn’t put it in terms of an enforcement order. It’s really just the course of continuing work on site. M. Dempsey said we’ll just monitor it. T. Grim asked if we need to call Skip and tell him what we want. L. Basbanes said Skip is well aware of that. They spoke about it today. She asked him if the wall would be done by Friday, and he told her the last 10 blocks were going in this afternoon. She told him the next step was to clean it up, grade, stabilize. He told her yes, that’s the next step to do. L. Basbanes said that’s just their progression anyway. That’s going to get done. She said the quicker it gets stabilized, the less of headache it will be for him as well. She said she goes out there every week as part of her job, and it’s something she
will take care of make sure that that’s what they do.
T. Schaefer said regarding Lot 4, the existing sediment basin. L. Basbanes said that needs to be cleaned out still too. T. Schaefer said the other concern was the retaining wall or the check dam inside of that basin before gets to the drain out pipe is pretty low. We’d like to see if that can be built up somehow so that that basin can actually retain more water before it spills out. L. Basbanes asked if he meant that the pipe was too low, or the erosion control was too low? T. Schaefer, said no, Skip had replaced some of the wall that went in front of the pipe. We’d like to see it a little bit higher because it’s a fairly big size retention pond and it would be nice to use it to the full capacity so that some of the water will percolate down before it
drains out through the pipe. L. Basbanes said Skip mentioned at the last site visit, that he thought the whole thing needed to be excavated out. It’s been accumulating sediment for quite some time. It lost capacity because of that. J. Termini said yes, that was part of the plan. L. Basbanes said there was a fair amount of snow on the ground at that point and you really couldn’t tell. That’s something they need to check and take a couple of survey points to see how deep he needs to bring it down, how well established it is, etc. T. Grim said maybe if he grubs it out a little bit and we take a look and see how it performs in the next rainstorm. Maybe if there’s a little vegetation so there’s not as much run off, it‘ll all come together. T. Grim said it’s rain season and it’s a bare hill, so doing it now will have more of a positive effect than any other time.
T. Schaefer asked regarding where the driveway starts for Lot 3, he had dredged out or cleaned up some of that sediment basin. He notice before he got some king of rip rap down, before the pipe that goes underneath the driveway, some stuff went back in there. T. Schaefer asked her if along that pipe, is that the way it’s going to stay? L. Basbanes said she believes that pipe is set for where it‘s going to be. T. Schaefer said, but as far as in front of pipe, all the rip rap and the rocks, is that all set or is working on it? L. Basbanes said she understood that to be done. The only other thing to be done in that other easement area would be to clean out material that has been trapped from past couple of weeks. It’s pretty well set, the pipe and
the rip rap on both sides. T. Schaefer asked if he is going to seed in front of wall where the pipe is? L. Basbanes said yes. She said it calls for turf reinforcement mat, but it could be seeding. She thinks he intended to put stone because it’s easier to maintain and stabilizes just as well. T. Schaefer asked her to speak to him about so they have a clear plan on when that‘s going to go in. L. Basbanes said yes. T. Schaefer said he was up there this morning and it looks pretty good as far as being finished.
L. Basbanes said on the other side, the outlet side of drain, where the rip rap is, that side has been seeded and mulched already. T. Schaefer said yes, he did that when he started the lower wall. He didn’t quite catch it in time up above because there was a lot of sediment that came down into it, unfortunately, but it’s not too bad. L. Basbanes said it‘s not done yet, but it’s doing its job, that‘s exactly where we want the sediment to go at this point. Trap in there and it can be cleaned out. There still is some work too in the little overflow area where the outflow pipe as it heads down the hill toward the river. There’s still some work, he has to put the flare end on that and place the rip rap there. So, there’s still some work
that has to happen in that area. But again, that will happen after the 15th. T. Schaefer asked her to let ConCom know via email as things are completed. L. Basbanes said yes, that was in the list of things to do that they had spoken about before, but it wasn’t an immediate thing that had to be done. T. Grim said it was in her letter from last week. She said they’ve had a couple of good days now without rain and they’ve have made a lot of progress. She said she’s been instilled with power from ConCom to make sure that it happens. She said she wants the site stabilized just as quickly as he does. T. Schaefer asked concerning the neighbors, if he can he clean up driveway, especially now that since picking up stones and driving across, etc? L. Basbanes said yes. T. Schaefer said it’s very dusty and people will complain, etc. L. Basbanes said she will make a note of
that to him. M. Dempsey asked her to continue to send ConCom reports and ConCom will continue to visit the site. T. Schaefer and T. Grim are monitoring it and will get in touch with her if they‘ve got any questions. L. Basbanes said she is due to go out there either tomorrow or Friday again and will meet with Skip on the site and will review with him what we’ve spoken about tonight. She believes they fully intend to get on that immediately. Closed 7:52 pm
ConCom Business - Veasey Park Tree Cutting and Limbing Policy
M. Dempsey said that part of the requirement for Veasey Park is to have a management plan on file with the state. We have one, but it’s from 1996. Because this one is 10 years old, he’s asking the Commission to think about the issues that have come up that are new, that weren‘t in the old plan. M. Dempsey had the caretaker come up with a policy he’s proposing as part of the management plan, including a draft tree cutting and limbing policy for now. It clearly states that we will be able to cut some trees down if they are too close to things, if they are a problem, if they are endangering people, a building or anything else. J. Termini suggested the words be changed from “persons” to “bodily injury“ (1.1). It also does
clearly state that no one can just go in and cut things down without at least somebody reviewing what’s going to be cut. Right now, it’s in the hands of the committee. If ConCom didn’t want to, it could override the Committee. This plan puts the review process in place and gives us a way and a document to refer back to. Discussion followed to clarify 1.6. Police drive up and they’re concerned to be able to look into building. T. Schaefer asked about guard rails and suggested angle parking with wood. M. Dempsey said that’s definitely something we need to talk to the Highway Dept. about. Also, we need to talk to the Highway Dept. about the road going up to it. J. Termini suggested ground up asphalt with a binder in it.
Noi 784 Salem St. Continued Hearing
Present John Judd, Gateway Consultants, Lynnfield
Opened 8:07 pm. J. Judd said he received faxes from both M. Rimmer and Cammett. All members have a copy of the letter from M. Rimmer. M. Dempsey asked J. Judd to give the members a summary of the Cammett letter. J. Judd said essentially, Fred Ford, the project engineer who reviewed this. They went through revisions on the plan, incorporating comments that they generated at the request of the Planning Board. With their review, they considered storm water controls. They looked at hydrographs for the 2, 10, 25, and 100 year events, at noted on this review letter. They emphasized that infiltration is encouraged. As part of their review, they asked that they have each house have a dry well to accommodate the roof drains. That was part of their conditions of
approval. J. Termini asked if they were going to put gutters on the houses? J. Judd said yes, it’s required that they do that. They also required that an as-built be done showing the location of each of those on the site and the connections to each. J. Termini asked how deep were the dry wells? J. Judd said they’re 1.1 feet, effective depth, but they are 4 x 8 and surrounded by crushed stone. Went over letter and summary of findings: deep catch sump basins, oil hoods on the entire roadway system, the entire drainage system with a 4 bay, serpentine swail and retention basin to infiltration in addition to the individual leaching for the roof drain runoff. He said part of their conditions of approval that 15% of the maximum total parcel area would be impervious. And again, a final as-built plan will be required to verify that the entire would not exceed 15%. One of the waivers they asked
for and did receive was the regulations required that the entire cul de sac island be paved and it‘s really not necessary. They asked for a landscaped island to be put in there to reduce the amount of pavement. That waiver was granted. They couldn’t get them on the sidewalk though.
J. Termini pointed out that M. Rimmer made a note that the Notice Of Intent is strictly for the development part of it, not for individual lots. J. Judd said he has just submitted all seven septic systems to Joe Tival. Lot 5 and Lot 6 will be coming to ConCom individually. He said he will be filing those same plans after he speaks with Joe and makes sure there are no other issues. J. Termini asked him how they will prevent encroachment after the houses are built and he’s gone? He told him to use granite monuments with plaques, probably 2 on each of the 2 properties. T. Grim said on #7, too. J. Termini told him when they have a site walk, he will tell him where they need to go in the buffer area.
J. Termini asked him if he came with the hard cost construction estimates? He said we can’t close the hearing without that. J. Termini said he thinks $10,000. M. Dempsey agreed with $10,000. T. Schaefer agreed with $10,000. J. Judd said that’s something he would support. S. Benanti said $10,000 is fair. The lower the better. J. Termini said $10,000 surety or cash equivalent. Owner is Sal Grove Realty Trust, builder is Ashwood Companies.
J. Termini said we will require a site monitor and that they will have to pay for that. He asked when they expect break ground. J. Judd said asap. M. Dempsey said we will incorporate some of these things in the OOC including M. Rimmer’s comments, sand will reference some items from the Cammet letter, i.e. storm water calculations (#4). J. Judd said the storm water report is in the original OOC submission. M. Dempsey reminded him regarding the 40% calculations for individual lots. M. Dempsey asked him to submit a Groveland NOI as well. T. Schaefer read this bylaw to John Judd to clarify: “Not more than 40% of trees in the buffer zone shall be removed.” J. Termini made a motion that ConCom accept the Pineau Estates, 784 Salem St. NOI for the development
of the roads and infrastructure only, as submit however, applicant knows they have to file two separate NOIs for Lots 5 and 6, they understand they have a monuments requirement on 5, 6, and 7, they understand that they’ll be $10,000 cash or surety requirement for work in buffer zone, that we will be attaching comments from an April 1, 2005 letter from Cammett, and Rimmer Environmental’s comments dated April 4, 2005, as well as a requirement for a third party independent site monitor paid for by the applicant, to go once every month or so. M. Dempsey 2nd. All in favor. Unanimous. May 4th John Judd 7:30 pm and 8:00 pm Lots 5 and 6.
ConCom Business - Whitestone
M. Dempsey got a call today from Bob Gupthill, the head of Open Space, who was in a meeting with the Selectmen and understood that the Selectmen met with Gillis’s attorney, and on advise of town counsel, decided to let Mr. Gillis not donate his land to the town or to put a conservation restriction on it to the town, but to give it to the owner’s group. J. Termini said ConCom can’t give him a Certificate of Compliance then, and he should be told that. At least two of the Selectmen have made decision that they do not want to give us any more land - that we are not to get any land from anybody, to the point where they are violating an OOC that ConCom issued, by agreeing to give land that was to be, even in Planning Board’s OOC, they were supposed to give it to the town. They
are allowing a builder not to do that. J. Termini said they will not get their Certificate of Compliance from ConCom, and on top of that, what a precedence is set. J. Termini said we agreed if we got land donated to try to get it to a third party. M. Dempsey said he thinks we need to get a land trust in Groveland. J. Termini said he might know an attorney who would do it pro bono. M. Dempsey said minimally we wouldn’t issue a Certificate of Compliance. T. Grim suggested to stop signing-off on final lot releases. He’s not in compliance with our OOC since he started building. He was supposed to turn over the property to the town over a year ago. M. Dempsey suggested to tell him to see the Selectmen. T. Grim said he can’t go to closing if they’re not signed. There are several not signed yet that are in the buffer. J. Termini said it’s in our own order and we would be in
violation of our own order. M. Dempsey will call S. Gillis to tell him he is in violation.
T. Grim said their waiver was up until March 25th. They are not completely done; there’s some siding that hasn‘t been finished - minor things. He recommends granting them courtesy waiver until the 15th. T. Grim asked them to ask for one. J. Termini suggested subject to them agreeing not to try to get monies back from previous waivers. T. Grim said technically because of weather conditions, we’d be flexible on the end date, but that was 12 days ago. It’s a huge site, they’ve kept it pretty clean, the hay bales have been in good shape, and he’s happy with the responsiveness. J. Termini thinks they will try to recover their fees. They’ve already complained to selectmen twice.
T. Grim suggested that ConCom use some of the waiver fees collected from Whitestone II to hire Mary Rimmer. M. Dempsey agrees with the whole thing in principle, but doesn’t like using waiver fees for a consultant. He feels strongly that waiver fees should be used for administrative costs related to the waiver and nothing to do with hiring a consultant. We need to thing next time think about how to do that. T. Grim made a motion that ConCom use some of our wavier fee funds to hire Rimmer Environmental Consulting to do an end-of-waiver wrap-up inspection and recommendation survey in the next week or so, with the guideline of 2 hours of inspection and 2 hours report. S. Benanti 2nd. T. Schaefer timetable to get back to us? T. Grim will call M.
Rimmer and request that she inspect within one week, and report within another week after that. All in favor. Unanimous.
ConCom Business - Minutes
M. Dempsey made a motion to accept the minutes as submitted for March 16, 2005. T. Grim 2nd. All in favor. Unanimous.
ConCom Business - 2005 Administrator Responsibilities:
M. Dempsey gave each member a sheet with the clerical administrator responsibilities for 12-15 hours per week. T. Schaefer suggested scanning old files into PDF.
M. Dempsey made a motion to close the meeting. T. Schaefer 2nd. All in favor. Unanimous. 9:23 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lori Felch
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