great and we should be all set okay great okay good evening I'm calling this uh public hearing to order uh in accordance with the Massachusetts Wetlands protection act and GLC 131 section 40 in the Boston Wetlands ordinance Boston city code ordinances chapter 7- 1.4 the Boston and Conservation Commission will hold a virtual public hearing on March 20th 2024 to review the following projects to determine what conditions if any the commission will impose an order to protect the interests of the public and private water supply groundwater prevention of pollution flood control prevention of storm damage protection of fisheries and L conting shellfish and protection of wildlife habitat uh this evening's public hearing will be followed by our regular meeting in accordance with chapter 107 of the acts of 2022 we're conducting this meeting online to ensure public access to the deliberations of the Conservation Commission the public May access this call through telephone and video conferencing Additionally the meeting is being recorded if you do not wish to be recorded please turn off your video members of the public may have an opportunity to ask questions and provide public comment on applications and discussions uh during the public hearing to do so please raise your hand or type in the chat in the application via the zoom meeting platform if you're calling in and cannot use the platform you can raise your hand by pressing star9 and star six to unmute yourself and uh or send your questions staff email at CC boston.gov um for the record my name is Michael Parker could staff please identify themselves Elena inary with the environment Department de Hernandez with the environment Department hey I'll call the role of the Commissioners present this evening commissioner long Nick long commissioner Conan con thank you commissioner Richmond I know she's there somewhere we can see her let the record reflect uh commissioner Richmond is with us uh commissioner herbs and Herbst great okay um we don't have any active I apologize uh Mr chair my I was on mute Alice Richmond I apologize no no need to apologize um okay uh we don't have any active Anis this evening uh I think that's a first uh since I've been on the commission uh but there have been a number of continuances uh continued uh are notice of intent for D file number 00 61704 in Boston file number 2020-7 notice of intent for D file number 00 61772 in Boston file number 20211 and notice of intent for D file number 0061 1961 and Boston file number 2023-the uh first item on the agenda for the regular meeting is a request for partial certificate of compliance for D phone number 0061 1896 for the renovation of an existing single family dwelling and Associated parking and drainage improvements located at five Rice Street in Dorchester uh uh the um resource area is land subject to Coastal storm Flowage Elena yes uh and Parker I'll be yeah I'll be presenting this so um staff conducted a site visit on March 14 2024 and there are photos in the drive folder for the commission's review the applicant is requesting a partial cooc because the Landscaping is incomplete but the rest of the work um on this property under their permit has been completed and uh based on that staff would recommend issuing a partial certificate of compliance for the work great thank you any questions from any of the Commissioners okay hearing none I would entertain a motion to issue a partial certificate of compliance for D Fone number 0061 1896 mov thank you thank you uh commissioner long hi commissioner Conan hi Richmond yeah I I vote I I have a new computer it's you I it and I are becoming acquainted thank you I'm sorry um commissioner herps I my vote I so that carries two four five five nothing okay next item on the agenda are administrative updates Mela our first administrative update is regarding an enforcement order that we had shared with the commission and the commission had ratified previously um just as a reminder this is for the bearing of wood planks along the mother Brook bank at 161 reservation Road in Hyde Park staff conducted site visits in both October 2023 and February 20124 uh we sent an enforcement order on November 9th 2023 it had the incorrect address so we work to find the correct contact information and resent the enforcement order on March 1st 2024 um we've now uh requested that uh the property manager who I believe is on the call with us um attend this hearing to discuss the violation and to also work with the commission to determine appropriate uh restorative actions and uh a a plan the commission would like to see for this given the work okay um how do you want to proceed uh just have a discussion on what we're looking for here I was yeah I think that that would be helpful I think um just right off the bat maybe if if any of the Commissioners have any questions about uh what we saw in the site visit what was included in the enforcement order we can clarify that first um and then maybe move into um explaining I believe Ali is on the call with us so um working with him to determine an appropriate plan of action to remove the planks and uh restore the bank okay okay sounds good so um when was the enforcement order issued again when it got to the right address so when it got to the we sent it the we sent it to the right address on March 1st 2024 okay okay so just uh basically two two and a half weeks ago maybe three weeks ago now pretty recently yeah okay um and when did uh when were you contacted by the uh property manager Oli I believe you reached out fairly soon after after um after you had received the enforcement order I'm trying to remember I know it was a phone call it may have not been an email so let me see see it looks like uh I believe on the 12th was when we had spoken on the phone for the first time sounds about right okay okay so ali um so you received the enforcement order um and I think now uh if you weren't where before you realize that you're working uh May within uh at least a buffer zone to a resource area um and I think uh from what Ellen had told me um you said that you put the planks there uh or buried the planks uh because you were stabilizing the bank did I get that right uh one reason why the owner uh decided to strengthen the bank was cuz the trees were falling down as the river was eroding underneath the Tre trees so we don't want to see the trees fall into the river um plus it was also eroding our property coming under our asphalt and um you know possibly you know longterm undermining the the parked access to the building okay okay so when you're performing work like that um you need to file for what's called an order of conditions basically a permit from the Conservation Commission uh and and what we would do is approve uh your um soil erosion techniques and the work that you need to do um or that you're proposing to do uh and we would impose conditions on that work to make sure that it's done correctly uh generally uh when someone is in the position that you're in uh a um uh Wetlands consultant is hired to help prepare the application which is called the notice of intent um uh for our hearing uh have you engaged uh an environmental consultant yet or a Wetlands consultant yet no okay okay um unless you have some sort of uh extraordinary specialized expertise and um I'm not trying to be snide here judging um with the work that you've done uh I'm not completely sure you understand um you know the means and methods to do this type of work it's actually uh and that's not casting aspersions on you it's actually a bit tricky in delicate areas um so if you I don't know Ellena do you have a roster of um Consultants that um uh you give out do do have you had a situation where you've been asked for good my yeah my understanding is that the city can't provide a recommendation for a list of Consultants but um what we might be able I think that we might have um an organization that we know of that might be able to then assist with that so I need to check back in internally I think someone in our department had mentioned that at some point so that might be a good reference point um so I think we can't directly provide recommendations on that but we can at least guide in the right direction um and we also have materials put together on on what the process is like and we would be here also to to assist in any way possible and um answer any questions because it's not always the most intuitive process okay um and Ali you could also look through the minutes of let's say the last uh three or four or five meetings uh and you can see uh you know a lot of the same Consultants um come before us uh and uh you know you might be able to do some due diligence and make a um make a decision that way um but for the um interest of moving this forward um Elena as far as the enforcement order um are there any time frames in there're they're going have to file an noi um and I think Ali Ellena has um given you warning you shouldn't remove these planks now because removing them could make matters worse uh and it's also a situation where um as we said before you'd be doing work and you need a permit to do work so now that they're there um you know you're going to have to get with um uh Wetlands consultant to uh develop a plan to remove the planks and put in proper erosion controls um so um Ellena in the enforcement order what um yeah in the enforcement order we'd identified April 1 as um the date that a restoration plan would need to be filed with the issuing authority I think that um as I mean we as staff would be willing to um to work with that and and if by the first we have uh clear evidence that a plan is in the works like we understand that it might take slightly more time than that but um but some sort of confirmation by April 1st that a restoration plan is is going to be coming our way and that an noi is being prepared um I think that that would be an appropriate timeline what's the filing date for the first meeting after the first the filing deadline so we have a filing deadline see not the 5ifth but we do have a filing deadline on April 12th that would be the first April filing deadline April 12 I think you know I don't know if that's going to be possible so Ali what we're talking about here is um you need to get someone on board to start to put together the restoration plan um and uh once that's put put in place or or drafted then you're going to have to um fil to be heard by the commission so we have filing dates um it might be I think Ellena what you're saying makes perfect sense um we would want to know you need to let Ellena know by April 1 that you have someone in place and that um some action is being taken and then give her an idea of when uh you're going to be able to file April 12th might be ambitious but we'd uh want to see you uh if not a if we want to see an application if not April 12th then the following filing uh deadline which I'm not looking at right now but Ellena can help you with that if I may can ask a few questions so I'm clear on a few things sure uh so regarding the river um we were always under under the impression that you know even though the river itself is public uh their city property that we do maintain the what's on our property as well does the city maintain the river I asked because in the river itself there are many trees falling into the river and very it's very overgrown in the river itself and I've been working for the this property owner for uh many years and I've never seen anyone maintaining the river or is or is it or is the river meant to just be left alone and whatever erods or Falls is um accepted okay so yeah just to go back a little bit um this is more about what you're doing and not about what the city may or may not be doing in the river um generally the river you know we allow to uh stay in its natural state um but um you know what what we're focused on here today and I hope that you're going to be focused on is um your work and how you're going to reach compliance here so one question I have is that assumption was made that these wood is treated treated wood um is if the what what what's meant by treated wood if I may ask okay I would you like to uh answer that yeah so um based on our initial site visits um we saw the wood and um it looked as though it had been treated with either um like some sort of surfacing material or um it it looked as though it wasn't left in its um I guess natural state after being uh cut into planks and so that was that was an assumption that we made based on the observations that we made during our site visit but um that yeah I understand through our conversations that it was kill kill dried wood was that right yeah so it's very likely that what's considered barried um or at least what's there because there's two types of wood that's there some of it's just storage we have tenants there that rent the property uh that you know just put wood outside right that's on top of the what's what's there just as storage and yeah there's some that's um embedded but it's very possible what's embedded is kill dried wood without any treatment um I don't remember putting or the owner putting any wood there that was painted I could be wrong um but some of the wood one on top was painted I I that I do remember but that wasn't there as part of this attempt to prevent the erosion um that wasn't part of the work that wasn't so is there what I'm really driving at is there a way to verify that what's there is in fact um dangerous to the environment yeah doesn't at this point um yeah when you uh get a consultant on board and uh you do your investigation here and give us a be asking those questions uh so you're going to need to provide us with those answers um regardless of whether the wood is treated or not treated um you altered a Wetlands resource area um so um the fact of altering it again whether it be treated untreated wood is what is put you into a violation here okay and other question I have and this is just from my knowledge I do have to tell this to the owner for to take action what is the penalty for uh assuming that the owner does nothing let's say about this say he just leaves it what what's the penalty or the procedure after that yeah um that's a very interesting question we don't usually get a question about what if I do nothing um so I just ask yeah yeah well um yeah it's to me that's not like the best question to be asking us uh but that being said uh then we refer it to the legal department um and they will decide what to do um okay I just need to tell the owner that because he's he's gonna ask me like okay what if I do not I agree there should be something done I'm I'm not I'm not suggesting that we don't or we don't want to I'm just saying owner just needs to know what is what are the options and me knowing him for many years he does ask he wants to even know the negative options doing nothing's not an option understood okay I'm going to go around to the Commissioners now see if anybody has any comments uh commissioner long um no no real comments here except you know it's it's pretty visible from the photo how the erosive force of the River on the bank here so um yeah I'm looking forward to seeing what a restoration plan would look like for this area um and uh that's all I have for now thanks great commissioner Conan I'm wondering if the erosion is like a chronic thing or an acute thing if staff get a got a sense of that uh we're not 100% sure because we haven't been um monitoring in that way I think um my understanding is that just with the amount of of storms that we've been getting lately there may have been more water Flowage through the area as of late but um we can't say that for sure but it is something I think that would be interesting to kind of keep an eye on in the future is there any how do we keep an eye on something honestly probably uh asking Partners who are more active in the area I'm thinking maybe um like various Watershed associations things like this I think they'd probably have a better sense of uh the exact Flowage rates of um of different rivers and Brooks in the area more so than than we necessarily would thank you so in this case we the neonet river what is your Association probably yeah that I that would have been my first stop um to to see what you know what they've observed in the last few years great thank you and commissioner Richmond I don't have any questions thank you commissioner herbs no questions I just want to underline the the need to get going on restoration and and I I I think it's actually in uh your the owner's interest as well because I this isn't I don't think what we're seeing is going to serve much of a long-term purpose so it's it's both a violation issue and I I think a practical one for you to have expertise on on how one can appropriately protect the bank thanks okay okay um so Ali I think um do you have any other questions yeah just just to confirm that that the violation is just to restore the bank uh to its original state without the planks there it's not to set up something new if I did in doing something new like a new wall or a different type of attempt at bring erosion is something separate and extra from from this violation yeah so the violation technically is your alteration of a resource area without a um permit from the Conservation Commission um working with your consultant uh he or she will determine what the proper uh means and methods will be to restore the area and uh Shore up the bank and that's what you bring in front of us and that's what we will um we will approve uh or not approve uh with conditions so in other words we can't tell you exactly you know this is this is something between you and your consultant at this point to come back to us so so basically with the consultant we just have to figure out what needs to get removed and how to remove it and get get that approved yep make a proposal yep exactly so so removing and and then putting something else isn't required uh it could be not sure yet understood okay other question I have is when I'm getting a consult what kind of license or qualification should they have they ask for yeah they should be they they it should be an environmental consulting firm with uh Wetlands um Consultants um and there's a lot of them um and again I guess we we can't give you any recommendations but uh they should be pretty easy to find if you um also uh got on the website of the um what is it it's the Massachusetts um Mac massachus Association of conservation Commissioners or commissions um Mac uh there's a lot of advertisements uh you might even want to call them someone there might be able to help you I think they they might be able to make some recommendations what was that um Massachusetts Association of conservation Commissioners or commissions um and it's ma okay understood CH chair Parker I'll just maybe add exactly in terms of having an environmental consulting firm I think you're going to need probably both a wetland scientist and and an engineer um so a firm you know that would have both to because somebody's going to need to identify sort of all the resource areas and and then somebody needs to have some expertise about Bank restoration thanks good point okay okay um so we will there's the Mac website right there uh for you in the chat okay so I think uh any other questions sounds like a no okay uh you know again uh you got some Stern warning here from me uh uh and hopefully we're going to be working together as partners uh to get this situation rectified um so um we'll be seeing you soon okay Elena what else do you have for admin updates the other admin update that we had is regarding an enforcement order that hasn't been sent out yet um but will likely be sent out uh tomorrow or Friday uh it's located at 2011 to 259 Independence Drive in Chestnut Hill and it's actually for a property that the commission had reviewed um a project for they had come to the Commission in December 2019 with an RDA and the commission had issued a negative determination of applicability that filing and the um the negative determination are both in the drive folder for the commission's review uh the work described in their filing is not what we're issuing the enforcement order for as you probably imagine um on February 26 2024 commission staff was made aware of alleged clearing of vegetation within a Wetlands resource area by D um they had received an anonymous uh complaint from people in the area on February 29th commission staff conducted a site visit and found significant areas of trees cleared to make way for a road and a parking lot uh which appeared to be used by workers at an adjacent construction site um the thing that makes this kind of interesting is that the construction site is actually just over the border between brookln and Boston so the the construction site itself is in Brookline and then this area where they're um parking their cars and where a lot of construction material seems to be stored or at least some dumpsters seem to be stored is in Boston so um a lot of and also to clarify the construction area itself is outside of any Wetland resource areas uh so commission staff used areial photos from July 2022 to compare the conditions of the site and based on that we believe that the tree tree clearing happened uh sometime between July 2022 and February 2024 uh a property survey would probably need to be done but there is DCR own land that's just um to the I guess yeah probably to the south of that not quite directly south but to the south of the parcel that we're looking at and we would also need to have a wetland delineation done to be sure but it is possible that the work that was done um and the tree clearing that was done is actually in the uh resource area itself not just in the buffer so this is um there's a pretty large system of bordering vegetative wetlands in this area uh it's hanock Woods also for reference that's um that's the area that we were looking at and uh there are photos that are included in the drive for the commission's review um I actually got a chance to go out there morning again with commissioner Herbst and uh just kind of went over the plans one more time and checked everything out um but it is a substantial area of trees that have been cleared and uh the work that they've done definitely goes beyond what was permitted by the commission so or rather uh what received a negative determination so we are um planning to send out that enforcement order this week and we're hoping to come to the next hearing so April 3rd with more information and uh a request for the commission to ratify the enforcement order but I would love to take any questions uh that the commission might have um and if we don't know the answers to those questions now we can certainly try to get the answers before the next hearing yeah on the surface this is one of the uh most egregious uh it's significant incursions that I've seen um have you had any contact with the property owner at all I haven't had any contact yet so um it'll be yeah I'm not quite sure what to expect and I don't see the enforcement order draft of it in the drive right there is one no we're we're going to make some updates to it um and I'd be happy to share that out as well uh once once we have it fully drafted um it was an oversight on on my part I I hadn't seen the um the RDA originally and uh yeah the fact that they came to the commission I think kind of uh gives us more information because they know that the commission exists so they knew enough to have some um some erosion controls which also confused us initially but I mean the fact that they had received a negative determination a few years ago explains that that's unbelievable okay okay looking forward to I would like to take a look at the enforcement order before it goes out if you don't mind absolutely yeah it has to strike a tone this one really does need to strike a tone like this is serious um you know um and there are certain ways to do that but uh I'd love to take a look at got it wow um okay yeah commissioner long any questions on this nothing for me thanks for looking at it everybody commissioner Conan did the RDA say anything at all that would have given us any indication of this sort of this extent of work no it really so the um what they had uh proposed in that was widening an existing path which I have no doubt that they did but they definitely went beyond that um it also a lot of the work that they were uh proposing was in the buffer but then the rest of it was out of the buffer and they've gone significantly further into the buffer it's also a little bit unclear to be honest um what because there's so basically if you look at the photos like there's a path again that was widened that um that they had come to the commission with but then there's a second path that um is just kind of closer to where the current wooded area begins um and it looks like it's not being used for anything right now now but along that path is where we saw some Flags when we were out there and we saw some erosion controls but I mean really the I wouldn't say that there's anything in the filing that that indicated that it would um yeah there's nothing that really indicated that they were looking at doing anything like this so in other words the fact that there was a negative determination wasn't in any way abused right I would say I would say no I don't think that it was um and I think that it maybe builds the case because we thought initially that maybe they didn't realize that they needed to come come to the Conservation Commission but clearly somebody on the team knew enough to file um for this initial work and and I feel like that actually makes a stronger case that they they knew that this shouldn't have happened and I mean I guess regardless of whether they knew that or not um they they definitely went beyond beyond what the commission had reviewed thank you unbelievable okay uh commissioner Richmond I don't have any questions thank you commissioner herps you saw the site um am I fair in my assessment that this is pretty egregious it's pretty I mean it's interesting Ellen has done a great job sort of figuring it all out I I what it looks to me like is they actually very carefully followed what they said they were going to do and then went further um you know quite a chunk further Ellena is right that we'll need to really get plans I my best guess is that they didn't actually go into the wetlands but that they took down a lot of trees in the in the buffer zone but um again that's a and and you know it's it's it's very close to where they're standing water so it's not it's not far off anyway um and it yeah so um I think it's Ellen has sort of got it got it all figured out which was not 100% evident on at first look so thanks right interesting okay okay Elena looking forward to the uh the enforcement order absolutely thank you and yeah if anybody has any other questions that come up or anything that comes to mind mind regarding this that would um yeah help us strengthen this case just please feel free to reach out if we have a sense of the number of trees cut that would be good to know no I honestly that's something that I think would be would be interesting to look at I um yeah it's the the aerial that we were looking at I feel like it might be we might be able to estimate a little bit based on kind of like trying to count sort of the centers of trees um if we can kind of get a sense of that but then again the graphics on on Google Earth aren't always the best but um it's yeah there's let's see so it I would say that if we are looking at trying to think of what the best reference point is um if you're looking at the so the for example like the screenshot well actually that's not I was goingon to say if you had um a previous uh areial and compared it to today's aial that might be helpful yeah so unfortunately we don't have an updated aial which is um so really the best that we can do is that's why I included that screenshot of of kind of the location of where we were standing and then some photos of what we were seeing at that location um and it's like this entire sort of corner um of trees seems to have been removed possibly Ellen you look at the uh the overhead when when it was Winter that earlier one that might might be easier to see trunks I I I don't know how many trees it is there certainly quite mature um it was that that much zombi okay okay okay thank you Elena good job um okay next item on the agenda is uh acceptance of the order of condition of of yeah the order of conditions of orders of conditions um continued have been notice of intent for DP file number 0061 958 and Boston file number 2023 just 048 and notice of intent for D file number 00 61928 in Boston file number 20230 um18 last item on the agenda is acceptance of the meeting minutes from August 16 2023 and March 6th 2024 uh I took a look at them made some minor edits great job Dee um do you have any questions from any of the Commissioners if not do we have a motion to accept the meeting minutes from August 16 2023 and March 6 2024 so moved a second great thank you commissioner long I commissioner Conan ier Richmond I commissioner herst I and I vote I that carries five nothing okay last item on the agenda is a motion to adjourn by acclamation um is this the fastest ever no no it's got to be close close it's close 36 minutes uh we've been under a half hour but you know it's a bell curve you know we're out there on the and a new picture this is really cool thank you yeah looks like from Charlestown actually am might it does it does try guess why that might be true I have no idea but um I'm liking it there okay good night everyone take care good night every everyone you