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CONSERVATION COMMISSION
TOWN OF GROVELAND
183 MAIN STREET
GROVELAND, MA 01834
(978) 374-1863 FAX (978) 372-6105
January 24, 2005
Present: M. Dempsey, T. Grim, C. McKee, T. Schaefer, S. Benanti
ConCom Business
Sign off for 3 Hemlock Dr. Certificate Of Compliance
Nichols Village Plantings - Informal Meeting
Present: Lee Sollenberger, Design Technique, 978-462-2095, Lynne Sarafin
This is an informal hearing regarding plantings under the OOC at Nichols Village. T. Grim asked if all of the construction has been finished at Nichols Village? L. Sararin said the majority was done, and they’ve got two reconstruction projects to do in the spring that are in the buffer zone. They are doing interior work now in cottages 1 through 8. L. Sollenberger said they may have to redo some sewer lines because some of them had problems.
The proposed plantings they are planning to install in the wetlands are to increase hydrophyte population. They are proposing to plant 250 trees and shrubs. C. McKee asked where they were going to be planting. L. Sarafin said it would be in the wetlands and used a map to show the area. Because it had only been seeded, right now, it does not meet the standards of 75% hydrophytes. By installing trees and shrubs, it will bring up the hydrophyte population and meet the standards. It will also provide a canopy of shade and help keep the loose material. They will be installed in the spring.
The other issue she brought up was that their extension runs out in March. She says she sent a letter stating that they would like an extension on the OOC so that they can perform the work under it. The third issue she said was stopping construction monitoring weekly, for right now, and just doing monthly and major storm events. She said everything is stable, frozen solid right now. The weekly monitoring will start again on April 1st. She said she will monitor if there is any major rainfall or snow melt as well. L. Sarafin said they will be putting in 66 red maple, 46 arrowhead, 46 high bush cranberry, 46 silky dogwood, and 46 black chokeberry. They will planted in two days. She will not need to bring in soil. When she goes in to plant, she will
do invasive species removal as well. L. Sollenberger said some of the grassed areas did not come in as well as they had hoped, so they will have the landscaper come back and redo the areas near the roadway. M. Dempsey gave her a copy of the form to fill out for the extension.
8:00 pm Lot 4 King St. Local Bylaw Remand hearing
Present: Nicholas Decoulas; Rob Ahearn
This is a remand hearing, ConCom is reconsidering decision based on Order Of Conditions that was superceded by the DEP. Because of that, ConCom was sued in Superior Court because it is the only way to appeal any of ConCom’s decisions under the local bylaw. It’s been going on for three years. ConCom’s attorney said to try to settle this.
N. Decouples said it’s a small lot. He moved the buildings around to satisfy Board Of Heath and Zoning and DEP. Referred to wetlands bylaw he read last time. C. McKee asked for a current sketch of building? N. Decoulas said he did not know what the building would look like, but said it will fit into the footprint on the plan submitted. R. Ahearn had a copy of the superceding OOC - a copy was made for the file. C. McKee said one thing ConCom would be obligated to do before approving this, would be to have a wetland scientist monitor the whole project because it is so close to the resource area. They would have to have someone there during construction, be very strict about the maintenance of the barriers to protect, also, some kind of buffer between the house and the resource
area before ConCom can issue a Certificate of Compliance. C. McKee said she wouldn’t feel comfortable with ConCom taking on the project without an expert. C. McKee said we should have around-the-clock monitoring during construction. And all of the construction would have to take place outside of seasonal restriction. She said also there would have to be some kind of permanent protection ie boulders or retaining wall to prevent erosion. N. Decoulas said he would like to know who the wetland scientist will be. ConCom will require him to hire one and report to ConCom, ie Rimmer Environmental or Marc Jacobs. N. Decoulas said he’d have no problem with Mary Rimmer. C. McKee said that no construction would take place until after April 15th. She suggested waiting until April 15th, and taking a walk on the site, have it delineated so ConCom has its markings, and then issue and OOC after that is
done. Right now, the only map on hand is from 1995. She said there is no flagging to delineate any of resource area, and we don’t know if wetlands lines have changed since 1995. N. Decoulas wants Mary Rimmer to flag wetlands when the snow is gone. He will have a surveyor put them on a plan and make it up to date. R. Ahearn had a copy of a plan from May, 2001 and they gave a copy to ConCom. N. Decoulas said to ignore the 1995 plan because that was not what was submitted with the NOI. N. Decoulas will contact Mary Rimmer tomorrow. He will notify ConCom when she is going to the lot. He said he will keep M. Dempsey posted.
Comments on Septic Issue by Terry Grim
T. Grim said last Monday Tom, Steve and he did a site visit to Lot 1 on Center Place (the one where they are proposing to divide into three divisions). After taking a look at it, they all agreed that if it does go to 2 or 3 units, it would end up wiping out quite a bit of tree cover and really there was going to be no way to protect the resource area because they are building right on top of it. In particular, they were concerned that it would be very restrictive on the use of the homeowners. They would be unable to do any more work, unable to put up any additional buildings. Supposedly, they are going to be restricted from cutting down trees. It leaves ConCom in an unfair position if Neve puts something in a deed - it means nothing, because ConCom has to enforce it. He said ConCom
needs to consider that. He said ConCom also needs to consider the storm water management plan that was submitted was for a single house and a single driveway. It needs to be updated for A, B, C. This would be adding an additional 12,000 or 13,000 square feet of run off. They also inspected the entire site. There was construction and grading going on in a couple of the houses that were going up in lots that were in 100’ buffer zone. But there was no work going on within 100’ buffer zone on any of those lots. They had a site map with wetlands delineations with them and they could figure out that they were not working in the wetlands. This is in response to Steve Gillis who wanted to make sure that he was not the only person paying for winter waiver fees. T. Grim told S. Gillis that he would look specifically in Center Place because they knew there were lots within the buffer zone. He told them there was not work
going on in buffer zone during winter waiver period. Also, as far as he can tell, there’s nothing going on in Nichols Village right now. If anyone knows of any other work going on in any of the other properties with Orders Of Conditions that is taking place during winter restriction, let T. Grim know and he will follow up. S. Gillis indicated that work was going on. T. Grim said he may have been thinking of Center Place, where there are a couple of lots partially in the buffer zone, but no work in buffer zone. T. Grim will send S. Gillis a letter and will copy the ConCom saying that they looked around haven’t seen anything else, but if anything comes to his attention, ConCom would be glad to pursue.
T. Grim made a motion to accept the minutes from the January 10, 2005 ConCom meeting. C. McKee 2nd All in favor. Unanimous.
T. Grim made a motion to reelect M. Dempsey as Chairman of ConCom for the year 2005. C. McKee 2nd. All in favor. Unanimous.
M. Dempsey made a motion to close the meeting. T. Grim 2nd. All in favor. Unanimous. 9:16 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lori Felch
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