ARLINGTON CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES
AUGUST 3, 2000
Mr. Stevens called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm at the Town Hall. Present were Corinna Beckwith, Susan Brent, Geraldine Tremblay, Nathaniel Stevens, Timothy Sullivan, and Steven Emsbo-Mattingly of the Commission, and Roger Frymire, Kevin O’Brien, Assistant Director of the Planning Department, Tom Spearin and James Petras of Metcalf & Eddy, Gary Fallick, representing the Lexington Conservation Commission, William Toth and Michael Lelyveld of Lexington and Brenden Quigley of Rizzo Associates.
7:30 pm – MISCELLANEOUS
Minutes of the 7/6/00 hearing were voted on at the last hearing. The minutes of 7/20/00 are being drafted by Ms. Brent.
New members will be recruited with the resignation of Mr. Emsbo-Mattingly. Mr. John Roche expressed an interest in being a member of the board.
Ms. Beckwith asked for approval of the list of people/organizations to notify regarding the upcoming hearing for the Mugar parcel near Route 2. The advertisement in the Advocate appeared in today’s edition. We will reserve the main hall for the hearing due to possible large numbers of attendees. Ingebor Hegemon of BSC is ready willing and able to provide consulting services for the Commission on this.
Mr. Frymire’s water chestnut removal project in the Alewife watershed was approved on June 19th by the Cambridge Conservation Commission. Work commenced on July 6. A full report will be submitted to us. He has had great success on all areas. Blair Pond was the last to permit and therefore the plant biomass was larger and the removal of plants is only about 25% complete at this time, which consisted of approximately 4 tons of material. Seed drop will occur in August.
The Commission unanimously voted to approve the appointment of Timothy Sullivan as the Treasurer.
8:00pm – REED’S BROOK DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS: EXTENSION AND AMENDMENT OF ORDER OF CONDITIONS OF 10/30/97
Mr. Stevens convened the hearing at 8:00. The Commission voted to approve the extension of the October, 1997 Order of Conditions.
Mr. O’Brien presented the Commission with a response to an August 1 memo from Ms. Brent and Ms. Harrer expressing concerns with the replication area and other issues.
The larger pipe to Wetland M will get some reverse flow but it is a small amount (30 minutes) during larger storms after 12 hours of raining, well after the first flush. The calculations will be submitted to us in writing. All flood elevations will be 6 inches lower than the existing levels of the floodplain of 6 acres.
Wetland K will experience reductions in flood elevations through all larger storms. Mr. O’Brien doesn’t believe that the rest of the hydrology of this wetland will be altered.
Access to southern channel was studied and Mr. O’Brien showed pictures of a fallen tree that would be removed and a few trees that would need limbing in order to access the channel from the south. The Town is seeking to aquire this property in order to maintain an access route to the channel.
There will be 280 sf of wetland loss behind fence at 26 Reed St. This area will be replanted with upland species.
The resident at 37 Berkeley Street also expressed flooding concerns from Wetland L. Mr. O’Brien proposed a pipe at elevation 184 to maintain wetland hydrology while removing flood waters above that elevation.
Sediment loads to the southern channel will be reduced from 8% of the total loads to 1% of the load.
Mr. O’Brien explained that Army Corps of Engineers will require replication. The replication area is additional space in the detention basin. It is not needed for the detention area to function properly. Mr. Spearing proposed the installation of a permeable berm between the wetland replication area and the detention/retention basin. The high velocity flows will be prevented from entering the planted area. The sediments will be filtered through gravel and filter fabric. The hydrology of the replication area will be maintained through a buried pipe at the downstream end.
The Commission believes the concerns have been adequately addressed. The proponents will provide all responses in writing for the record. The Commission agreed to provide the proponents with a draft Order of Conditions and voted to continue the hearing until September 7 at 8pm pending any changes needed by DEP or the Lexington Conservation Commission.
Mr. O’Brien discussed a possible amendment to the 36 Wright St filing that would include shortening the pipe to Wetland K and excavating upland to make floodplain and wetland in order to fill a small depression behind 36 Wright St. and the backyard near the swimming pool of 48 Wright St.
9 pm – ARLINGTON RESERVOIR WEED REMOVAL: REQUEST FOR DETERMINATION OF APPLICABILITY
Mr. Stevens opened the hearing. Ms. Brent represented the Arlington Department of Public Works and presented the proposal to hire Aquatic Technologies to mechanically harvest the water chestnuts from the Arlington side of the reservoir. The access and removal locations were shown in the submittal and will be monitored by Mark Shea of the DPW, the material stored at the stump dump within a haybaled area until removal to a composting facility. The harvester will be docked overnight in the reservoir to protect it from vandalism. The work should take approximately 1 week. All other staging will take place at Reed’s Brook.
Mr. Frymire has observed that the major vector for spread of water chestnut colonies seems to be via plant fragments rather than by floating seed pods.
Mr. Emsbo-Mattingly expressed his opinion that the proponent be required to file a Notice of Intent since the work will be in a resource area. Ms. Tremblay made a motion to approve the “Negative” Determination of Applicability in that while the work is within resource areas, it will not harm the interests of the Act or Bylaw and therefore the filing of a Notice of Intent is not required. The Determination of Applicability will be conditioned to 1) require netting or fabric to cover the outlet of the reservoir for a few days after the harvest is completed in order to catch any plant fragments, 2) approve the hand removal of any water chestnut in the shallow areas of the reservoir by canoe or kayak, with the above disposal method, 3) posting a public notice of the work on bulletin board, 4) file a Notice of Intent for
work to be completed in future years. Ms. Beckwith seconded the motion. The Commission voted. Ms. Brent abstained from voting. Ms. Beckwith, Ms. Tremblay, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Sullivan voted to approve the motion and Mr. Emsbo-Mattingly voted against it.
9:30 pm – MUGAR PROPERTY, RT 2 – WORKING SESSION
The Commission has chosen a consultant, Ingabord Hegemon of BSC to represent the Commission at the August 17 hearing. The Commission to decided to withhold any discussions until that public hearing.
MISCELLANEOUS, CONTINUED
The Commission voted to approve the invoice to pay for Administrative services by Ms. Beckwith for the month of July, and voted to approve the payment of Ms. Beckwith for the month of June and Ann Harrer for the month of May.
Respectfully submitted,
Cori Beckwith, Member and acting-Administrator
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