NOVEMBER 2, 2000
Mr. Stevens called the meeting to order at 7:30pm in the 2nd floor conference room of the Town Hall Annex. Present were Corinna Beckwith, Nathaniel Stevens, Geraldine Tremblay, Judith Hodges, and David White of the Commission. Timothy Sullivan of the Commission was in attendance after 9:15pm. John Wise and William Sovie of Burkhard Corporation and John Smolack of Peobody and Arnold, for 19 Massachusetts Avenue. Kevin O’Brien, Assitant Director, Department of Planning and Community Development for the Reed’s Brook Landfill Project. Richard Bento, Director, Department of Public Works and David Crispin, BSC Group, for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery redevelopment project.
Other attendees included:
Elsie Fiore, 58 Mott Street*
Diane Mahon, 23 Howard St.
Allan Tosti, 38 Teel St.
David Walkinshaw, 4 Monadnock Rd.
Barbara Whitney, 71 Teel St.
Tony Rodolakis, 88 Melrose St.
Roger Jenkins, 23 Greeley Circle
Carol Greeley, 17 Temple St.
Stephen Andrew, 16 Wadsworth Rd
Chuck Pappis, 20 Grand View Rd
Harvey Lawless, 36 Bowdoin St.
A.Mahoney, 50 Adams St
Franca Ainsworth, 35 N. Union St
Robin Dratch, 70 Teel St.*
Robert Aimo, 43 Hendersen St.
Newell Lessell, 56 Hendersen St.
John Standard, 21 Lee Terrace
Brian Rojo, 76 Hendersen St.
Adam Auster, 10 Cottage Ave.
Donald Marcoux, 35 Hendersen St.
Doug Walton, 31 Bowdoin St.
Neil Hurley, 11 Cross St.
George Laite, 25 Lafayette St.
* written comment received
The first order of business was to acknowledge the acceptance of Mr. White as a full member of the Commission. Mr. Roche was also approved but will attend the next hearing.
7:30pm – 4 Mystic Bank, Remodeling and Landscaping – working session, the applicant didn’t appear. The hearing for a Request of Determination will be held November 16.
7:45pm– REED’S BROOK LANDFILL- Request to Amend the Order of Conditions, Continued.
Mr. O’Brien explained that they are currently modifying the application to the Lexington Conservation Commission. The plan is to restore the wetland in the Northeast corner of the site with Phragmites eradication and replanting with desirable species. The size of the wetland replication area within the detention basin will be reduced to about 4000 sf. The other substantial change is that the wetlands near Summer Street will be filled during Phase 1 of the project and therefore all subsequent work may only require an RDA. Mr. O’Brien requested to continue the hearing until after the next Lexington Conservation Commission hearing. Ms. Tremblay made a motion to approve the continuance to December 7, 2000 at 8:30pm, Ms. Hodges seconded,
the vote was unanimous.
8:00pm - 19 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE, HOTEL DEVELOPMENT - REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF THE ORDER OF CONDITIONS dated 11/10/97
Mr. Stevens opened the continued hearing by reading the public notice.
Mr. Smolack presented a response to Mr. Stoff’s letter dated October 17, 2000. Mike Perrault of P.M.P. Associates wrote the response. It outlined the history of the appeal actions and therefore the delay of the commencement of work. The applicant also contacted the Cambridge
Engineering Department’s Catherine Daly-Woodbury who confirmed that no impact to the 100-year floodplain would occur due to the new CSO separation work.
Mr. Perrault’s letter also confirms the applicant’s intention to hire a Licensed Site Professional to supervise the clean up of any hazardous materials on the site in accordance with state cleanup standards identified under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan.
Ms. Beckwith also confirmed with the Cambridge Engineering Department the same information. The explanation given was that the collection system of the drainage pipes only collect up to the 10 year storm water and therefore new pipes will not convey any higher flood waters to the Alewife.
Mr. Stevens asked about the dates of the appeal period expiration. Mr. Smolak confirmed that the appeal expired on July 16, 2000.
Ms. Fiore presented photographs of flooding on the site in 1998. Water went up to Pediatrics building. Can drainage system handle it? Would like more proof of handling of flood waters. A police car was stationed to keep cars out.
Mr. Smolak responded that the proposed work will reduce flooding in the area by providing more flood storage. He also points out that this is not new information.
Ms. Mahon presented a package of information that included a letter from the pediatrics office that outlines the pathogen’s present in the Alewife flood waters, the draft of a report for the MWRA’s proposal for CAM 004 and 400 discharge into the Alewife. Mr. Stevens asked Ms. Mahon if, within any of the presented information, it is stated that the 100 year flood elevation would change or had changed. Ms. Mahon has not seen a reference to that but she has not reviewed the large document in its entirety.
Mr. Smolack responded that the project is not going to exacerbate the existing flooding on the site.
Ms. Mahon rebutted that the design work was based on the 1982 FEMA floodplain elevation and that document is suspect.
Mr. Rojo expressed his concern that sufficient hydrologic study be used to evaluate this project even if it means delaying the permitting.
Mr. Aimo explained that in the time that he has lived in the neighborhood there have been 3 storms greater than 100 year storm and hopes that the Commission is very conservative in its decisions to permit this project.
Mr. Smolack recognized that the site is within the floodplain. The proposed design includes more flood storage than needed for proposed building.
Ms. Dratch expressed her support for the project.
Mr. Pappis expressed his support for the project.
Mr. Standard posed the question of what benefit is the hotel?
Mr. Smolack answered the proposed design includes stormwater treatments. There are none presently on the site. New landscaped areas are included in the design, where there are none on the property at present.
Mr. Walkinshaw, Co-Execute of the Chamber of Commerce, expressed his support for the project.
Mr. Jenkins owns a local business and expressed his support for the project.
Mr. Auster expressed his concern for special consideration given to this proponent by other town boards and therefore the Commission should be very conservative in its review. The 1982 FEMA data is suspect. It should be reconsidered and reviewed again by this board.
Mr. Marcoux remarked on the FEMA 1982 flood line and brought up the point that Cambridge is going to review the flood lines for the Martinetti project.
Mr. Tosti, Chair of the Finance Committee, expressed his support of the project.
Mr. Laite, East Arlington Good Neighbor Committee, expressed his support for conducting a full hydrologic study before the site is developed.
Mr. Lessell asked whether the Commission can continue the hearing until an answer can be found to the issues brought up.
Ms. Fiore remarked that the 500 year flood elevation on the FEMA map is really the 100 year flood elevation. The 1998 flood event is new information. She expressed her concern for the hardships for those residents who experience flooding and damage in their cellars.
Ms. Ainsworth remarked that the houses on Sunnyside Ave also experience flooding to the 2nd step and into cellars. There is sewage in the flood waters.
Mr. Aimo asked whether the FEMA map will be redrawn and stated that the elevations are incorrect. He expressed his concern about the building foundations displacing groundwater. He expressed his opposition to a building of this size, not to a hotel in general.
Mr. Tosti commented that the existing site is all paved and will be replaced with a building with landscaping that provides for more flood storage than currently exists and all of this information is not new.
Mr. Rodolakis asked whether the decision made tonite could be appealed. Mr. Stevens responded that an appeal of this decision under the Arlington bylaw, would not stop the project from proceeding even while it is in Superior Court.
Ms. Beckwith expressed her opinion that the information submitted this evening does not constitute new information in regards to flooding. The 100 year flood plain elevation will not be altered by the CSO work in Cambridge. The original Order of Conditions for this project made provision for handling of any hazardous waste found on the site. The proponent will hire an LSP for this.
Ms. Beckwith made a motion to approve the extension of the Order of Conditions to November 10, 2003/Ms. Tremblay seconded. The vote to approve was unanimous.
9:00pm- MT. PLEASANT CEMETERY- NOTICE OF INTENT, CONTINUED
Mr. Stevens opened the continued hearing.
Mr. Crispin presented the Commission with a revised plan showing the access road rerouted
to outside the Buffer Zone to Mill Brook and movement of the graves to be at least 50 feet from the brook. All of the memorials within the Buffer Zone will be flush memorials. A limited wildlife assessment was conducted.
Mr. Crispin remarked that cemeteries are a land use that is essentially permanent. Older sections of a cemetery have higher wildlife value than most would expect in part because a cemetery is quiet. Fox, owls, hawks and black squirrels are all present in this cemetery. The wildlife corridor is not continuous, not a migratory path. Floodplain is a flash flood area (less than an hour). Plantings were revised to improve habitat values.
Mr. Bento and Mr. Crispin requested copies of the minutes from the past two hearings on this project.
Ms. Tremblay expressed her continued concern for the Meadowbrook project directly downstream of this proposed development. She reiterated her unwillingness to vote for any plots within the Buffer Zone to Mill Brook.
Mr. Bento invited the Commission to come up with design changes that it would approve of. The Commission agreed to conduct a site visit for the purposes of looking into moving the stormwater outlets into an upland area possibly on the Conservation Commission’s property. With the infiltrator and swale moved, more gravesites can be located outside of the Buffer Zone to Mill Brook, even though they will still be within the Buffer Zone to the Bordering Vegetated Wetland adjacent to Meadowbrook Park. This might be preferable since there is more natural buffer in this location. The Commission will look at the health, size and habitat value of the upland plant community that would potentially be used for the stormwater outlets.
Ms. Fiore commented that the area in question seems to have been filled in since she recalls that the land was not flat behind her husband’s plot (buried in 1996). Her biggest concern is that the head stones will sink into the wet ground.
Mr. Sullivan made a motion to continue the hearing to December 7 at 7:45pm for the purposes of conducting a site visit/Ms. Beckwith seconded the motion. The vote to approve the motion was unanimous.
The Commission agreed to conduct a site visit at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery at 8am on November 4, 2000.
MISCELLANEOUS
Minutes were distributed to the Commission for approval, some members needed more time to read them before voting to approve.
There is a Reservoir walk at 10am on November 4 at the stump dump.
Mr. Roche is approved to the board, he will attend the next hearing. The Commission will review the file contents for his Certificate of Compliance at 43 Beverly Road.
The copies of the Mugar flood report had not yet been received. Mr. Stevens asked if anyone had viewed the video taped by Elsie Fiore of flooding. Ms. Stevens will take it home to view. Ms. Beckwith reported on her reading of the report from Rizzo and recommended that the board read their copies. The review by BSC has been completed and it is being submitted to the Commission as soon as possible.
The Commission voted to convene at approximately 11pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Cori Beckwith, Member and acting-Administrator
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