##VIDEO ID:sVp9jOUMmO4## okay good evening my name is Bob Connors it is uh 6:01 pm and I'd like to call the November 19th meeting of the Newbury Conservation Commission to order Mason can you read the remote open meeting along Preamble and take a roll call of the members present uh good evening everyone it's a preliminary matter Mason conservation agent the new Rec Conservation Commission and I call the November 19th meeting to order and permit me to confirm that all members are present and can hear me Members when I call your name please respond in the affirmative Mary Rimer yes TJ KY absent Mick Brown yes Diane O'Brien yes Woody Knight not here yet and Bob Connors yes and Frank W Camp is also not here tonight uh good evening everyone this is open meeting of the Newber Conservation Commission is being conducted remotely consistent with Governor Baker's executive order of March 12 2020 due to the current state of emergency in the Commonwealth due to the outbreak of the covid-19 virus in order to mitigate the transmission of the covid-19 virus we have been advised and directed by the Commonwealth to suspend public Gatherings and as such the governor's order suspends the requirement of open meeting law to have all meetings in a publicly accessible physical location further all members of public bodies are allowed and encouraged to participate remotely for this meeting the new Conservation Commission is convening by Zoom conference as posted on the agenda of the Conservation Commission Section of the town's website identifying how the public may join accordingly Please be aware that other folks may be able to see you and take care not to screen share computer anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording applicants or other Representatives may be called upon to speak and or share information to the screen if able on the Fly we're now turning to the first item on the agenda but before we do so permit me to cover some ground rules the chair will introduce each speaker on the agenda after they conclude the remarks the chair will go down to the line of members inviting each by name to provide any comment questions or motions please hold until your name is called further please remember to mute your mic use earbuds and please remember to speakly and in a way that helps generate accurate minutes for any responses please wait until the chair yields the floor to you and state your name before speaking board and committee members should be called upon on a firstname alphabetical order to ease the process after board and committee members have spoken the will afford public comment as follows the chair will first seek questions through the chat function when participants are using this function please list your name address then your question the chair will then seek questions for the public who wish to speak they'll be asked to identify their names and address question and once the chair has a list of all public commentators they will call on each by name and afford three minutes three minutes to any comments finally each vote in this meeting will be taken finally each vote in this meeting will be conducted by roll call vote hey thank you Mason hey meeting Minutes review October 15 2024 don't we take a minute and review those if we have any comments Corrections or concerns you know what Bob I wasn't here for that one and we might not have enough people Ah that's a good point come up in a while well why don't we table that until the next meeting I would just suggest that under 63 Sunset there's a spelling error project implications do not conform to Dune standards I think you mean impacts so that was just little tle okay so we'll just table that we'll put that on the December 3D agenda okay meeting minutes for November 5th why we take a minute review those okay any any questions concerns or or comment okay hearing none I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes for the November 5th meeting when when I'm sorry I knew I'm sorry you were reading as I'm speaking I'm sorry 16 Riverfront Drive um the as buil conditions were reviewed at a precious CC meeting I don't think it was precious but it was precious a little bit but it I think previous yeah well TJ TJ may agree that it was it could have been precious yeah could have been he was 46b that's right okay so uh with the Amendments of correcting some typos I'll entertain a motion to approve the m so moved second okay roll call all in favor Mary yes Mick yes Diane yes and Bob Conor so cheers okay uh we have uh we carried the an RDA for 14 Pine Island Road uh they asked to be continued to this meeting Mason why don't you give an update as as I recall you haven't received a sub midle excuse me you haven't received any information on this one as of yet yeah no no no information I'm still waiting on a plan um for John to submit but he hasn't submitted one um and I don't think he's here tonight okay all right why don't we just continue this to the 123 meeting we'll just carry it forward and I I think Tam would he's going to find out it's going to be converted to an noi so at that point he can withdraw it and and go forward okay uh enforcement order 108 Main Street subdivision for unpermitted work Mary did the governor finally sign the that bill on tolling of the agreements a tolling of permits I I I believe that is in effect now yes okay so with with that uh it would seem to be a moot point as this would still this would then have a order of conditions that was valid with that extension um so perhaps we should submit a letter to the applicant giving the new expiration yeah I I think uh maren Harold had reached out and what they're going to probably do is request an extension and uh and what they were going to do what we're asking people to do on extensions that fall into this uh is to put together a one-page uh summary of expiration their view of How It's told and what the what the new expiration date be so we can just review their uh you know their synopsis of the matter so so at this point I would suggest uh do we want to take action to close out this enforcement order as it now has an order of conditions that is in force seems to be a move point to keep it in place long as that order is in effect I I don't I haven't seen that but I trust Mary I I'm not I haven't seen anything to that effect so we could hold it open for one more meeting just to make sure some so I hate to close it and then have it yeah weird happen well we just reissue it but it's oh that's true but yeah you know that's ex that's extra work so we'll just this no one's requested it and no one's here to speak on that behalf so uh I think when we get the extension request we can do them both at the same time okay next matter is uh an open enforcement order on 30 Riverview Drive as you recall at the last meeting the applicant has requested that we continue this to January 2025 they've engaged the services of Mike D Roa so we no action no action need to be taken on that uh enforcement order for 62 Middle Road uh same thing uh We've continued this to May of 2025 uh simply to review the planting success which time we'll consider closing out the enforcement order and uh issuing a certificate of compliance he we have no extension request certificate of compliance D file number 05 1389 was issued on 81822 for 68 Green Street Lot 2 applicant wants to close out the open order conditions on the property and request the certificate of compliance faing can you provide an update on this yep so I was able to review notes um from the last public hearing I think they continued last meeting um but going over that it looked like the commission was pretty satisfied um with the completion of the project and the only thing that we were looking for um was the missing rip w at the back of the emergency Spillway that has since been installed I can share a photo of that yeah I think I I had included a picture of that team in the Dropbox yep great there we go okay questions from the members Mary any any further questions on this one I think there was some requirement to remove some pavement as well do you know if that was done Mason that was Lot two okay yeah we we issued a partial on that one Mary so okay got it so then yes I'm fine with this okay uh Mick any any questions on this one no sir okay thank you Diane any any questions on this is this the one that had the bare spots that needed to be receded that was that was Lot two yeah that was Lot two what we did on that Diane if you recall was we we issued a partial certificate of compliance and we we identified the uh the revation of those  areas and removal of some broken pavement some other debris yeah okay in the back of the property they're just so close yeah well lot one lot two okay any raised hands from the public at this time I don't see any okay do any members have a request for a site visit or any additional information nope nope okay hearing none I will entertain a motion to issue a certificate of compliance for 68 green streets uh lot one roll call vote all in favor Mary yes Mick hi Diane yes and Bob Connor's votes yes okay certificate of compliance D file number 0501 1375 21 MAV applicant would like to close out an open order of conditions on the property request a certificate of compliance Mason can you provide an overview and a recommendation on this matter y uh so excuse I was able to go to the site today um noi was for landscaping improvements um the construction of a new driveway patio um and some Stone steps um along these um new projects there were some native plantings that were installed um and then some grading that had to be done as well um along the driveway and the stone steps um for this project I recommend a full COC um everything that was planted looked to be healthy and Alive um there are still some bare spots in their planting areas um but with the speed species that they have and the growth that they've had later at the end of the season I think that this will fill in completely um early in the I can share with yeah in your Dropbox we had the request for the certificate and they attached pictures of of the work and the vegetation looks beautiful picture is worth a thousand words as Mick Brown would say he and then there's also the approved Landscaping plan and that I believe is in the folder if anyone would like to look at that and compare to the pictures but it's um it's pretty spot on like you were saying Mary everything looked really good on site okay questions from the members Mary any any questions on this matter no I'm all set thank you okay thank you Mary Mick any any questions on this no questions no I'm good okay Diane any questions NOP okay thank you Diane I do not have any questions any raised hands from the public at this time hey I do do not see anyone if anyone has a a question on this matter just give us your name and address okay hearing none I will entertain a motion to issue a certificate of compliance for 21 Marsh Avenue call vote uh all in favor second excuse me so Diane you made the motion Mick you seconded second okay roll call vote all in favor Mary yes Mick yes Diane yes and Bob Connor vote Yes all right okay public hearing uh this is for this does not have a d file number it's for 268 Middle Road Governor's Academy the applicant is submitting a notice intent for an ecological restoration project the applicant proposes to remove a damag and nonfunctioning covet on a stream that is on the campus property outside and student research has been done to measure me pre-existing impacts of the damaged celv they proposed to remove the damaged celv repair the surrounding Marsh and install a wooden foot Bridge across the stream to access the island and other parts of the mar patient can you provide an overview and recommendation on this matter yeah uh I was able to review the noi and also walk the site with Wendy um this Culvert has been non-functioning for quite some time now um and it's a really interesting project um I think Wendy will probably have a better way of explaining everything and I think she also wants to um to have some of her students share some of the research that they did and how it applies to the project okay Wendy good evening just give us your name and your position at Governor's and uh make your presentation great um this is Wendy Reid for the record I'm environmental and safety manager at the Governor's Academy I'm also joined by Roberto m who's a faculty member in our science department and three of our students anumi Alex Wang and Emily gas who have been um doing research to establish the existing conditions out in the marsh um the intent is to remove the Culvert and then do the um collect similar data in the spring and next fall to show the uh the positive impact of removing the Culvert um with your permission Mr chair I'd like to allow the students to to just share a few slides and then I can move into specifics on the project if I can share my screen certainly okay can you all see that yes yes okay all right students go ahead thank you hi we're Emily Anna and Alex we're 10th graders at the Governor's Academy uh last year we were in honors biology with Mrs mlan and we recorded preliminary data around the Corn Creek culbert we did this in order to see the future effects of removing the broken culbert next slide please for reference this is the damag cul situated and affecting corn creete next slide please we recorded vegetation abiotic micro in vertebrae and fish or necton at seven points going from 40 MERS Upstream to 40 MERS Downstream of the Culvert and found a lack of diversity we believe this along with other factors can be attributed to the present damaged state of the Culvert next slide please we hypothesize that the marsh surrounding the creek will become more diverse and healthier as the salinity levels are lower we believe the ecosystem and biodiversity will benefit from the removal of the C culbert additionally it will allow for marine life to be able to travel upstream and downstream on either side of the culbert without any blockage or difficulty furthermore uh this will lead to a more balanced amount of macro vertebra throughout the stream um water quality should should improve and dissolved oxygen levels will be consistent in all regions surrounding the cul the results we collected will will serve as Baseline data for a longtime longitudinal study and will hopefully show the positive impacts of the Culver's removal next slide please thank you so much for your time and we hope you will look favorably upon the school's request to remove the damaged CT well thank you very much for that detailed present thank thank you thank you I wondered if U members of the commission had any questions for the students or should I just proceed with the uh the application uh any questions for the students team can you tell me what size the culber is what the what the diameter is do we know that um no I'm sorry we don't know that yeah it's a it's a 24 inch thanks yep and the length uh Wendy um it's hard to measure because the surface is so damaged but I would estimate um probably 15 to 20 feet right so my understanding is you're excuse me you're seeing a a significant difference between the biotics you know I guess upstream and downstream of this covert yes we are oh exactly like well I don't say exactly but like what are some of the examples of those differences between upstream and downstream in the covert well we had like um one day a bunch of fish got stuck up stream in the CT and we had to all if you look at the picture of um all the fish we had to like help save them because they were all like stuck and going to die when the tide went out um so they're trying they're trying to come upstream and they're getting trapped in this cover system yeah and additionally like salinity levels they're higher on one side and like visually you can see the tide is like sometimes higher on one side of cver and low on the other it's pretty similar for dissolved oxygen too yeah so is there blockage within the Culvert or is there what's like creating the difference in biota I guess between the two ends of the definitely I would say the blockage definitely affects it a lot the so that's preventing that's preventing like fish or other organism getting upstream or yes okay okay thank you yeah of course okay Wendy if you want to continue yeah so I just I thought you all have the materials in the um the noi that I submitted I just wanted to maybe show some of the maps and quickly go through the photos this is the Locust map um you can see Middle Road right here that cuts through the marsh and this is the site over here where the Culvert is here's Corn Island this was an old agricultural area and there was a Farm Road from here from campus out there um it wasn't campus at that time uh this is just a little more close up you can see this is the downstream Creek um Upstream the creek actually branches off in two locations um and then there are older Farm dkes here and up here here that actually um used to allow flow from the Parker River to come right through this Marsh um these were not included in the packet but I just wanted to give you a sense of the approach to the work area so that you are um confident that no other damage will be created this is the corner of the field the athletic field and the path it's actually a cross country path goes into the woods here um this shows you the approach from the path to the marsh which is over here um and then this is the approach in the marsh so it's it's a it used to be a Farm Road but it's a pretty well-traveled area the mar the Culver is right about here so this is a a panoramic view this shows the upstream and downstream um you can see it's quite wide and scoured here on the Upstream um the Culver opening is right about here Upstream Downstream it's way down here so um this next photo shows some of the damage there's actually a hole in the middle of the Old Farm Road this whole area used to be erod and all that soil has eroded the rocks have tipped over because they're not supported um up here there's that scoured area it's much more pronounced Upstream so I think the tide gets caught and it's it's circling trying to trying to move out this is um from the Culver Road looking Upstream again the scoured area Beyond this the creek is very narrow 2 to three feet um with with steep Banks um you can see looking Downstream this is also a ponded area not so much scouring um but it is quite wide here and then it it Narrows down into the two to three foot uh width going Downstream uh this is looking Upstream in the scoured area here's the opening of the Culvert right here and here's a closeup you can just see the top part of the Culvert so this is What's blocking the culber these rocks have collapsed around the mouth of it uh Downstream here's this ponded area looking back towards the Farm Road here's the opening of the Culver there's a little bit of blockage here in front but it's really you can see way through to the end it's it's the Upstream end that's that's really blocked but all of these rocks are falling down around it and the edge of the Culvert is broken off here you can see um so that's I I also just put in a slide this is the the tentative plan for the pedestrian bridge um until the um Northeast Massachusetts mosquito control district does the work we don't really know how long the bridge has to be um because all of that rock and Native material needs to be removed before we can figure out where to install the bridge but this is the the type of Ridge we want to install that has perforated decking uh will'll use 4x4 posts to Anchor in the corners using this Hardware um and then we we'll have a railing on it as well so I'm happy answer any specific questions um I don't want to repeat things that are already in the application unless there's specific questions on that Wendy typically the commission reserves most of our comments until we get a file number and Technical comments but for the obvious you had you had made a detailed presentation earlier as a preliminary um but I guess one question on the proposed elevation of the bridge uh above grade or above the strain what what's the separation would be just curious well um the depth to the bottom of the creek I think is probably four or five feet from the from the um Farm Road um So the plan is to have the uh Bridge post actually right at um grade so we don't want to elevate it at all we want to make it as low as possible but I think it'll still be um high enough that we need a railing on it which which should not be anything that impacts the the Wetland values there okay all right team any anyone have questions or do you want to reserve those till we we have full full file number and Technical comment I have some questions Bob sure go ahead Bary um uh this is a great project and and we want to be supportive of this but because you're working in a sensitive area you're going to be triggering a multi-level review at d right now you're um administratively it looks like they're waiting for a fee I don't know if you know that yeah I checked the um the the website today and they've received the noi but I guess the fee goes to a different office I sent both the same time as I submitted to to you all so um right so the fee goes to the lockbox address it's a PO box right that's that's where I sent it okay yeah so I would um you I would contact EP to verify that they've received that because they won't start their technical review until they have the fee and it seems like theyve had it for quite a while now so there's some kind of glitch um that probably needs to be resolved um you are uh it also looks like you're in AC area of critical environmental concern yeah and you're working in salt marsh so that there's a there's a meepa process that has to precede us um you're filing as a limited project ecological restoration limited project um I I didn't intend to um I filled out the form 3A and I did check with meepa and they they said that there was no um filing requirement other than the environmental monitor notification right so you took care of that but the so it's just a straight ecological restoration yes okay so I'm not sure that the boardwalk will qualify under that program so you may have to separate your filings do do the um Pulver first first and then the um then the boardwalk after and it will have to be designed according to the the um you know the it it may trigger a lot more permitting it's going to be over title area so chapter 91 um Army Core you know it's going to trigger a bunch of different permits as well not just us so um and it'll have to meet height to width ratios of one to one minimum things like that so it's it's it's a little bit more complicated to get the boardwalk approved the the ecological restoration if it's I thought somewhere I read that it was The Limited project one but you're saying straight ecological restoration and that and that mosquito control is going to actually do the work yes they are do you have plans um I I I guess I didn't see them in the in our latest Dropbox but it must have been in the previous um no I mean I I talked about this with Mason I mean it's such a small area I'm not I I would prefer not to hire an engineer to to do a plan of it I was hoping the photos would suffice but I mean I can draft something that you know may not be perfectly to scale so one of the issues is is that well want to EP is going to want to have a plan at to to scale at um with mean high water mean low water um higher high tide and then accurate enough so we can evaluate what the project impact would be and sometimes in these title Restorations they also want a hydraulic analysis to determine whether or not opening this up is going to cause impacts up or Downstream from additional title flow so if if you're opening this up and there are properties Upstream that could be affected things like that need to be worked out also so it may it depends on how much of an obstruction it actually is presenting right now sometimes the channel goes around these culs so there's a lot of details of this to be worked out I we can't approve it with just photographs and a written description it's going to need we we're going to need a plan to reference and you know sort of specific project goals so um I think the first step maybe would be to do a site visit and and and take a look at this site and um ideally with mosquito control folks that are going to be doing the work present so they can describe a little bit what their construction methods are going to be um how they're going to prevent activity you know but prevent tidal flow during the in the work area minimize sedimentation all those kind of things so it it's a little bit constructionwise it's a pretty simple project right all the bells and whistles that go along with it make it a little bit harder to do so those are my comments um at this I'm doing a similar project for Mass out bom out in um in Rowley and we're going to run into the same issues and they want to do the same thing pull out a a culvert this one isn't really much of an obstruction because it really is the channel has gone around it but building a boardwalk going through the whole permitting process you know for all of that um doing borings to determine what that sediment can hold in terms of a boardwalk you know support system and everything else so it's a little bit more involved yeah I'm happy to to have have you out and do a site I think that would help to to visualize the site okay so Mary if we do a site work who else would we want there be besides Wendy and and and the students would we want them well soundsol right if I think that it would be useful to have them there as well and then I think um you know having D's comments in hand at the time of the site visit so we we can understand a little bit of what their their response might be have you received any comments from your public notice in the environmental monitor um we have not other than the department of marine fisheries uh replyed today and said they had no concerns that um time of year restrictions were not an issue and it's not a dimis fish run concern yeah and natural heritage um I didn't I didn't file with them I contacted them and described the project it's not within any of the natural heritage areas so they said it was not necessary yeah okay good we would need the letter from marine fisheries though um that was sent today to Clay and um so he should have it yeah perfect okay thanks y okay all right any other questions Mason any questions at this point or you want to wait for technical comments and on a site visit I think we wait for technical comments in a site visit that' be best okay uh Mick any any comments no no other comments no other questions Okay no Okay so so Wendy what I'm going to suggest is we obviously we are not going to take any action tonight we're going to do a site visit what I would recommend is do you want to request a continuance to our December 3D meeting and see if some of these other pieces fall into place yes please Mary's guidance on waiting for technical comments be we do the site visit I think makes a lot of makes good sense to me so why don't we do this um are there any raised hands from the public at this point we're kind of getting out of a norm here but we we have some young young minds that from the school that are involved here so we we're extending great courtesies here Mick you do you have uh you have your hand up okay all right uh I will entertain a motion to continue the public hearing at the applicant's request to the December 3rd 2024 meeting I moved second have Woody okay roll call all in favor Mary yes Woody yes Nick hi Diane yes and Bob Conor's V yes so Wendy what I would suggest is why don't you and Mason if if the technical comments come in before the December 3rd and you get your number um and that the additional information that Mary suggested you forward to Mason from uh Fisheries I think would be helpful and I think we got to coordinate we're probably going to be looking at weather in mid December I'm thinking to put everyone together and have a fighting chance of having having uh all the players uh in place at a site visit and Technical comments at hand so right well thank you very much Wendy as always you guys do an amazing submitt uh and it was just great to see your students uh participating and Wendy also one more thing um just mosquito control has some certain exemptions from the Wetland protection act so um i' would like to understand a little bit more about that and that may help you a little bit with the process so okay thanks I appreciate that okay all right thank you very much appreciate your time tonight y have a great holiday moving on uh next matter we have a continued public heing the EP file number 0501 1436 286 high road to construct an addition to an existing single family dwelling with Associated utilities expanded driveway within 100 foot buffer to Salt msh area uh Team we've done a site visit on this there was some technical comments uh that D had submitted on the application and Mason why don't you give us an update of where we're at on that uh yeah Bill Hol reached out um a day or two ago requesting to continue to the next meeting um he wasn't able to update the plans and get out on site to do what he wanted to do um because of the high tides and and the moon cycles um so he's going to be looking at to continue the next meeting okay all right well any questions team on this all right I'll entertain a motion to continue the public hearing at the applicant's request to the 12324 meeting so Mo second so Mick and Diane okay roll call all in favor Mary yes Woody yes Mick hi Diane yes and Bob Connor's vote Yes all right uh next matter uh is a general project discussion we received notice that 170 Orchard Street intent to sell uh and it's a chapter 61a um component to this so Mary and I have been talking about this and just trying to kind of create a a procedure on how to uh you know proceed uh obviously it's a interesting project no one is going to be presenting the project to us it's not part of the requirement apparently of chapter 61 so we won't have anyone to answer questions so marot suggested that the Commission in the general practice should investigate and provide feedback to the select pod on any potential development constraints relating to the weap protection act the site's ecological signic ific to determine if it would be suitable for acquiring as open space or Recreation the statement of proposed use of the land and I'll read it a portion of land is proposed to be used for four single family houses and the balance of the land is proposed to be conveyed to the Essex County Green Belt Association the land consists of 20.5 acres and is located at 170 Orchard Street Newbury uh there was an enclosed map the documents that was submitted were in the Dropbox so I guess it seems that out of 20 acres a majority of this land is going to remain open so why don't I stop there and open it up to questions from the members Mary comments on this one um yeah two things one um I think you know just everyone understands under 61a the town has a right of first refusal when agricultural land gets sold um land that's been under agricultural use and and benefiting from um the tax break for that land uh once it gets sold the town has a right of first refusal the second point is that if this is a green belt project my husband works for green belt I may have to recuse myself from this okay all right well so Mary they don't own it yet okay so I I think that everything is a hypothetical at this point because if select Bo decides to buy it then you know so be it but so what what are your thoughts in this Mary I mean first BL this seems to me they taken into consideration living a lot of this uh open in a natural state I think that it would be great if you know Mason and and maybe a couple of us take a look at it and you know take some notes and and decide at the next meeting whether it I don't know what what the what the clock is on this but you know whether we have any particular thoughts about areas that might require some protection or just the significance of the property yep I think the only thing we can actually do is either make a recommendation that they buy it or leave it to their own you know the will of the select board to go forward right I I don't think we actually can incorporate I I guess we can suggest if the town keeps it we would recommend you do that I guess if we wanted to submit a letter on behalf of the board yeah we do need more information and and so then we could just discuss it at the next meeting about whether we wanted to have a submit anything y or just let it lie yeah I think we we have to submit a communication to the board and I I had drafted one just uh as as a sample and it was that uh to authorize the chair to send a communication to the select Bo indicating the proposed statement of use prioritize prioritizes ecological preservation of majority of the 20 acre and that it's the pleasure of the select board to proceed as it sees fit in this matter that that seems to be kind of what typically happen but that doesn't mean that's what we have to say I I just want to have some sample um so well why don't we do this I we're not under the gun I think there's a 90day window to respond to this so if we would like to schedule a site visit yeah okay when Mason why don't we do this I it's it's going to be interesting because it's private property at this point um where generally if we had an noi or an RDA we we we we'd have reasonable access to the property um so why don't we do this why don't we table this to the 123 meeting and and if you could Mason uh find out what the procedure would be uh for Access or are we even entitled to do a site visit U you know pursuant to chapter 61a yep I'll look into that and we can schedule a site if if we can get access team we can schedule it right after the uh the 123 meeting if that makes sense to anyone okay Diane any any questions on this nope I just had question marks what we were supposed to be doing so I have a better sense now well we we reached out to Town Council to find out uh do we need to conduct a public hearing do we need a formal vote do we need to actually do anything and and it went from at the end of the day it's it's really not our decision it's the select board's decision whether they want to expend uh any resources on this what he they the planning board also gets notified in this what does the planning board typically do in matters like this well this went through a lengthy uh process for us multiple public hearings for the and we did a couple s sidewalks there um to approve the four house subdivision um the entrance way is only 50 ft so that was a on there as a uh you know one of the things get variant yes thank you because it's 53 F feet now and so we accepted the subdivision and um the four houses will be along the where the houses are in the picture off the property they'll run along there so that they are preserving a vast area of land there for to continue agricultural use and green belt coincided as a St of the open space and with the understanding that they it was going to continue to be F so that was all weighed in in the factor of our board to accept the project and um where to answer your question where we have gone through this process we would probably just I'm speaking for myself but it's going to be on one on our next agenda I believe uh not the one coming up but the one after and we're going to uh basically just convey I'm going to suggest that we convey it as will of the select board because we went through this whole process getting the full health subdivision and rolling here and with the vast part of it being in Green Belt Stewart ship it will be preserved you know so okay Mick did you do you want to add anything any thoughts on this no I just want to make sure I understand it correctly so it's kind of a hammerhead lot I guess in a sense right where we have very limited access into a large piece of property correct yes sound like a pork chop lot to me that yeah yeah pork chop that's that's a good B I like that and the in four residential home lots and the rest of whatever isn't used on residential will be given back to open space is that is that the gist of it kind of uh Woody I guess you know put that to you yes yes and uh everything's real tight to the right you can see where there be The Bead dirt is everything's was kept right tight to the right on the road and uh we even had multiple discussions and went back and forth with them to have access along the farmer will still have access to get in along so he can get way out back so the everything really right up tight to the houses that are exist on the right so there was a there was lengthy discussion about there's going to be like a a service road for the egg use is that what okay y there's an easement y so we we made sure that it could still be fed and so we're preserving they really they they're preserving a lot of the Farmland they are taking some but they're preserving some of the Farmland there so that it can still be used for boming so and everyone was in and are they is this corn are they current hang it is it Salt Grass it's it was in it's been in cow corn for years uh okay I believe Eric and Raleigh has fed it since I was in high school yeah so it's been actively founded this whole time yep yep including this year they grew going on it this year because the people who are G to purchased the land or have purchased the land um weren't ready to stock construction or anything so they went ahead and let the farmer Farm it again this year so it was all farmed this year okay Mary any any further questions no then you know GIS shows some Wetlands um at the North End there but like likely that pretty far away from any of the houses so um I don't know if anybody's walked the whole site to determine the extent of it I didn't see the wetlands on the subdivision plan but maybe they were on there um so that was that M the comment this this I have a question excuse me Bob yeah ah this didn't go before conservation before well during the process I don't go through I thought it did did it okay yeah pet Peter would have been liaison at the time so I I don't recollect whether it did know how to why I was asking yeah I feel like I mean it's really familiar so well you know what I actually I I think I do recall this you know what I'm just going to go to the portal and look up 170 and see what uh what because I think conservation had to weigh in on where Mary was just saying on the North End right right where the 50 ft breaks open into fast land because uh on one of our sidewalks I do recall they're going to have a I guess what do you call it a like a retention area for water for runoff it was engineered and there's a conversation about that that I do recall well you know regardless why don't we do this team why don't we continue this matter to the December 3rd meeting and will'll be able to uh you know ascertain access and and double check Mason can double check the the status of the order a condition I I I I do recall order or conditions on this if it's oh yeah I'm not seeing anything that comes in as one 7 but okay so Mason why don't we do this we're going to continue this matter to the 123 meeting if if you can just double check access for a site a site visit what do we need to do uh if anything and and if you can uh dig up any outstanding order of conditions on this property and and forward it to me and I'll add it to the Dropbox for the 123 meeting sounds good okay K does that signic a plan yes it was the B Garis state if you can't find it in the 170 Street yeah I'm assuming would he would just be the well no you know I'm saying 170 Orchard Street may not be the actual we'll have to look at the subdivision p on them yeah okay all right moving on uh General project discussion lock and Road dam removal presentation uh we received a communication from Gomez and Sal uh they were providing a a summary of the project uh they're available tonight to present uh this reading here a actually I saw Jill Griffith Grill Jill why don't you identify yourself and why don't you bring us up to speed the where you're at sure yes thank you um I'm Joel Griffiths I'm a water resources engineer with Gomez and Sullivan Engineers um I've been working on this project for a number of years with uh various Partners including the town and others who are on the call there's Representatives here from Mass Massachusetts division of ecological restoration and division of marine fisheries here as well tonight um and basically we're working on removal of the Len Road dam for the town it's a town-owned dam and um throughout feasibility analyses we have identified other aspects of the project that need to be addressed in coordination with the dam removal so we just wanted to um let the commission know about the project um kind of in the past I think it has been presented as well as an informal presentation um but bring the current members up to speed on the project and um you know give an opportunity for any additional materials that you might want to see um or questions that you might want answered in the um ecological restoration noi that we expect to file in January so I have some slides I can show tonight if you'd like and um yeah we're available okay yeah so quick couple of quick questions what is the timeline on the actual removal has that been determined we're targeting um summer and fall of 2025 okay so a 120 day 180 Day project duration um actually three to four months is what we're anticipating because of the other aspects of the project um it involves the I 95 Bridge upstream and the USGS um gauging station as well okay and you're anticipating a a start date of the summer of 2025 yes ideally end of June beginning of July okay uh why don't you give us your slides and then we'll we'll the questions from the M yep let me see if I can share here and I will go into presentation mode let me know oh I might have shared the wrong hang on you guys are probably seeing the presenter mode right yes okay see if I can swap that sorry there we go you're seeing the full screen now yes oh great thank you okay all right so this is the project L and dam removal and Parker River restoration um as I mentioned here are some of the project team members it's quite a lot um these are the core uh the core project team project management team here as I mentioned several are on the call Tracy um Susie bresney with deer and I saw Joe uh with DMF um Ben gagen may be joining as well um and of course Mason we've been working with Mason as well uh we're also partnering with several local nonprofit organizations including AA Parker River Watershed Association trout unlimited Pi Rivers um the state agencies I mentioned and federal agencies as well for funding Partnerships um I represent Gomez and Sullivan as the consultant and we also have a cultural resources consultant and we're also coordinating with various agencies um for those other structures I mentioned the I95 Bridge mot and the USGS gauging station um coordinating with USGS DP and DCR on that so just a kind of broad overview of the project components um so this is the a map of the project area this is the Parker river flowing Downstream down the page and the Len Road dam is located here just Upstream about 900 feet Upstream of the laram road bridge which is here so that's the main element removing the dam itself um but as I mentioned the the dam and pounds hydraulically up through the I95 bridge to the US GS gauging station so both those structures would be impacted when the dam is removed um the bridge has an existing scour problem um the the abutments are scoured out there's uh steel struts under the bridge that are actually exposed so that's an existing problem we don't want to make it any worse with the dam removal it might slightly exacerbate it but we're basically rolling that into this project to address that scour problem um with scour protection Stone um and then the USGS gauge uh you can see here uh the gauging station is here and they have a small concrete lwh head wear associated with that um that would become a barrier to fish passage once the dam is removed and this Downstream water level would drop it's also in disrepair um so we're just proposing to remove that and and kind of open things up to a more natural Bank full Channel width and uh stabilize the channel through this reach as well it'll still remain as the USGS gauging station it will just need to be recalibrate ated by USGS once that's complete so that's kind of a zoomed out version of overview of the project and some of the goals and anticipated benefits of the project um from the town's perspective the aging and unsafe infrastructure will be decommissioned um it will eliminate ongoing you know maintenance and repair obligations for that site uh it will reduce Upstream flooding by lowering water surface elevations on the Upstream side the dam is also in very poor condition it could fail at any any time which could cause Downstream flooding and property damage to the Laren Road Bridge or other properties um so it will eliminate that risk uh on the ecological side it will restore natural rivering processes and and such as sediment transport and flow through that reach um and one of the primary goals uh is the Improvement of fish passage specifically for diagramas fish which are the target species that you see down here blueback Herring alwi which are collectively known as River herring American eel and celum pre um but also for other resident fish and a whole host of aquatic species will benefit uh this is just a map showing fish passage in the wated and current obstacles and you know um impairments and starting down here at the head of Tide you have the Central Street Dam um that has fish passage at that facility uh the Lin Road Dam does have a fish ladder but it's never been very effective and it's at the end of its useful life um so that is why we're looking at removal here also because the dam serves no approprate end is uh in poor condition um the I95 bridge and uh is is not really uh an obstacle under current conditions or proposed uh but the USGS gauge Warrior as I mentioned could be be an obstacle at certain flows and then you've got several Upstream dams that have fish passage facilities and lots of access to Habitat which is shown in green um throughout the river habitat for the the species so this project will open up even more effective um access to that habitat and including in the empowerment as well um we plan to file this as an ecological restoration project uh it sounds from the previous project pre presentation that you guys are pretty familiar with that process um we have been coordinating with all the various agencies to get the determinations uh for time of year restrictions um coordinating with DMF DFW and and um natural heritage and we have you know determinations of no impact from all of those agencies um the project will further many of the protected interests um including protection of Fisheries wildlife habitat pollution storm damage prevention and flood control and I'm just going to go into that a little further on this slide just to show some of the benefits um so Fisheries as I mentioned not only for the diis fish species themselves but they're also foraged for many other um commercial and recreational Fisheries in the ocean um so it supports you know economic benefits from that as well uh also other Wildlife species that's fored fish for and just improving habitat such as increasing bordering vegetated Wetlands that are anticipated to form in the dewatered Imp pamment and just increasing the overall habitat value of that Waterway um preventing pollution by again developing new bordering vegetated Wetlands along the dewatered impoundment that can filter storm water runoff um and also improving um water quality such as temperature and dissolved oxygen with the impounded reach becoming more free flowing and faster moving uh reducing that stagnant water and lastly the flood control and storm damage as I mentioned this is the dam overtopping during a flood it overtops along the entire embankment Dam which is um an unsafe condition and um prevent in that Downstream risk of failure so now I'm just going to kind of show a few excerpts from the design plans just to show a little more detail about the the elements I'll just skim through this quickly I don't want to take up too much of your time but we can go back if you have any questions um so the dam removal itself will involve removal of all concrete structures um including the spillway a retaining wall um uh the fishway itself the fish ladder and a former Raceway that was associated with the snuff Mill building that was de demolished in 2012 also grading of the sediment um immediately behind the dam just to kind of uh form a little pilot Channel and a low flow Channel but the rest of the sediment in the impounded reach there's not very much of it it's only about a th000 cubic yards which is pretty low volume um by dam removal standards throughout the state um and it's very clean we've tested it multiple times and uh we're working with do D to approve the sediment management plan but the plan for that would be just to have passive transport of that sediment um and we've also studied any potential impacts Downstream of where that sediment might end up and found no impacts to the Len Road Bridge or or other infrastructure so that's the plan for the sediment this just shows a kind of elevation view of the existing Dam here's the spillway here's stone abutment or concrete abutments and then how it would look once it's removed and a new channel is graded in in that area and lastly there's also um some Stone called fish wears little wear to kind of direct fish into the fish ladder um those would be removed as well to eliminate that obstacle this is the the main Spillway in the background and the small fish we in the foreground uh at I95 Bridge as I mentioned there's an existing scour problem so we would we are and there's no rip wrap throughout that bridge there's only rip wrap at the wing walls so we're proposing placement of stone um protection throughout the bridge Channel um bottom and it would be infilled with fines to avoid loss of um you know flow going Subterranean during low flows and it would provide a low flow channel for fish passage so the blue outline shows the new proposed protection and then here's an ele U elevation view showing that lowf flow Channel and the proposed rip wrap here so that's the bridge and then lastly the Weir um at the USGS gauging station so this is the a plan view of the station this is a little Stone gauging building that you may have seen um the transducer itself is housed here in a pipe and there's a concrete wear and then Stone abutments on either side and here it is looking at it from Downstream looking Upstream concrete and stone abutments proposed plan is to take out the right Stone abutment to widen this out to more approximate a bankful width it still won't be a true bankful width but getting as close CL as we can within the confines of the site um to again reduce flood flows and and velocities through there and uh placing Stone protection so that the channel isn't migrate um you know head cutting or moving too much because they will be using it as a gauging station continuing on um and removing the concrete within the channel and here's just a photo that you can see the concrete itself um during a period of very low flow so this concrete would be removed and this right abutment would be graded back removed and the slope would be graded back and I think I'm nearing the end so this just looks at access um to each site so for the dam site we would be coming in from L and Road and building a temporary Stone access path um primarily using the alignment of the existing fish ladder which is here to reduce cutting of trees through there um and then that would all be removed as they demobilize from the site and up at the Weir site and Bridge for the Weir and Bridge work um it would be coming in from the 12 kentway complex um from the travel the you know the AIS Lane in the back and uh using this as a temporary staging area uh again laying a temporary access road down the slope which would involve some tree removal minimal as needed um and then a ramp down into the channel and it there would be Coffer dams and um dewatering involved for this area and um this just shows some of the anticipated changes to the Wetland resource areas so we've got land underwater in blue bordering vegetated wetlands in white you can kind of see some bordering land subject to flooding in the associated buffers in Riverfront area under proposed conditions you can see the main change is that the land underwater within the impoundment would narrow to a more riverine Channel form um representing more natural conditions and the dewatered areas are anticipated to form new bordering vegetated wetlands and the buffers um The Bu The 100 foot uh bvw or excuse me um the riverfront area buffer would would change accordingly off the banks um and this just as you know um ecological restoration projects do allow for temporary permanent loss or conversion of wetland resources um because it's for the greater benefit um and net you know ecological gain of the overall project and I think this is my last slide of just an overview of all the regulatory reviews um meepa has been completed several the state permits have been filed in Army Corps and uh historical ongoing and then as I mentioned planning to file the noi in January and then a FEMA change would be post project after it's completed and as we we discussed targeting Construction in the summer and fall of 2025 so I know I kind of flew through that um feel free to ask any questions I can go back if you want to see anything else again yeah one a couple of quick questions ownership obviously the lock and Road dam is on the property by the town of Newbury now on the USGS station and the do site who is the actual owner of the property on that and how do we handle that from an application standpoint and F yep so we're um we're getting signatures from all there's three owners involved um so uh this parcel here both sides of the river is owned by a private um Family the parentons and they are supportive of the project and have already signed um you know the permanent applications that we've been submitting so far and this owner here um as we would have to come through their site for Access um is the you know the the commercial company that owns this Plaza and we're coordinating with them as well to establish an access agreement and sign the noi application so those are the the owners and then the so the USGS site is owned by the town or who is that owned by it's owned by the pingon so it's private it's on their property yep there's an easement for the USGS to be able to come in and use that equipment and on the dot rip wrap you proposed closing that's Comm wealth of mass that is yes I mean it's basically within the Waterway so yes um but we're also coordinating with do but they're not actually a land owner for any land that we're accessing or changing so that's why we weren't planning to use them as a you know include them as a co- applicant on this particular application they are a co- applicant on um another state the state waterways permit application okay let me open this up to members Mary questions for Jill on this project um yeah you so you said you've been through meepa already was that just the notification or did you act did you have any thresholds that were exceeded that you had to file um it it did we did the Streamline notice under the new ecological restoration yep that's thought and um what is um the status of the Central Street damn Downstream of this as far as like removal or repair or fish fish modifications I don't think has Ben joined the call yet no I don't see him um he's the best one to know the latest but I don't believe they're considering removal at that site as far as I know I think they have working fish passage facilities and and they're happy with that and that's the current plan okay um you answered the question about sediment analysis and invasive species management do you we have an invasive species management and monitoring plan um we've gotten some preliminary comments on that during the 401 and 404 site walk um and uh we'll be submitting that with this application as well but essentially there's not a lot there's some pockets of things um we're proposing to uh I think the pur purple loose strife was the main concern and we were proposing to um you know remove the seed heads from that prior to construction Mason may have more information on the methods if there's questions on that yeah that was one of the main invasives that I had noticed in that area um removing the seed heads we had talked about that before Jill is probably the best way to go forward um to prevent spreading into the the future Seasons Al so this is a this is a great project it's a huge project a lot of different parts to moving parts to it so I'm looking forward to seeing it make its way through through the process and um do you have a estimated time where you when you you said no January to file in January yeah I think we were thinking we'd file for the second um the second meeting in January great is the is the current plan but we're like I said we're still working on getting the access agreements sorted out um so it'll be pending that right I don't know if there's any um any interest in doing a site walk before January just weather related concerns but I know I would be happy to go out there yeah that was something I had thought of as well so we'd be happy to do that if if if you guys wanted to plan something okay Mary anything else before I move on that's all thank you Bob okay thank you Mary H Woody any any comments or questions for Jill at this time I don't have any questions uh my only comments would be it seems like a great project I've canoed that whole stretch and I've worked on those fish ladds and as a teenager on a Eagle Scout project that the removal of the lock and R Dam would make sense as far as I'm concerned as for the migration of the species of fish you mentioned so other than that I think it's a great great project and a lot of work's gone into it obviously lot of lot of moving pieces on the Mick Mick any questions for Jill com no no questions just uh agree with Woody and and Mary great project and really looking forward to doing a site visit I'd love to see it okay thank you m say any any questions or comments for Jill on the project not at this point it was a great presentation I started taking notes but then I stopped because it was like Way Beyond like I am not gonna keep up with this tonight so I'll share the slides and I'm happy to answer questions via email I just I just want to see the summary of and approvals at the end of this uh this journey going to be pretty extensive it's a lot it's a lot the ecological restoration process doesn't really streamline things all all that much although with the new meepa streamlined notice that does help so that's and and your 401 hopefully is combined they don't want us to do combined anymore you mean combined with chapter 91 or combin combined with your with your um ecological restoration and oh yeah no you're drudging oh yeah that's why yeah drudging okay any other questions anyone from the public have a comment a question on this not that this is a public hearing but if someone is sat through this presentation that I think Jill or the commission would welcome any any comments all right well so team uh this is just an informal presentation I think we've got a a good timeline and it's a 3 to four month duration they're looking to get going June 2025 permit pending we're looking for an noi in January of 2025 and so at this point I mean I'm just dying to see what the technical comments will come from the Department on the on the filing here that will be a laundry list of items I bet but there won't be any yeah well you know what Mary I mean Diane you know you're right some of the some of the projects you don't expect any comments it's I love paragraphs and others it's just check the Civ analysis of the sand before you put it in so it our our order of conditions is much simplified under a restoration order because it's boilerplate we don't get to add a lot of conditions or conditions yeah yeah well Mary our expertise on this is just certainly invaluable as it as it as it always is not not on dam removal but be interesting so so team what's our pleasure um we can wait for the noi to come in look at the technical comments schedule a a site visit at that time uh or do or is there an interest to do a preliminary site visit while the weather is conducive to to walking through this area my preference i' I'd much rather go see it while the weather is still good and we can get access and it's not icy snowy things like that I think that would be my preference okay I'm gonna make a suggestion Mason can you and Jill schedule a a a time and it would be what other what other uh Partners would we like to have out there so that we you know as we as we walk through this um Ben might be a very big help if Ben was available uh when we did this and report back to us at the December 3rd meeting maybe we can get a site visit the first week of December after our meeting does that sound like a plan no I may have a conflict with attending the December 3D hearing I could probably join I might be traveling from Albany so um but if you need other project Representatives can probably answer questions as well yeah I'm thinking Jill would just be a matter of coordinating a site visit and letting us know that uh between the fifth and seventh it works for the for the parties I don't think you'd have to do an additional presentation at this point okay I think just coordination of schedules great okay any any other questions uh for Jill on this project no thank you okay for me well thank you very much Jill very informative looking forward to this and thank everybody else for for joining thank you does anyone else want to add any you know you spent an hour on the on the call here any comments you want to add don't want to cut anyone off either we're we're doing pretty good here TimeWise so Susie anything you want to add to this sure I'll just introduce myself I'm Susie Bry a project manager um in the dam removal program at the Massachusetts division of ecological restoration so been working with Jill and and all the others on the team on this project and um yeah excited to have your review and I'll probably attend the site visit if that's all right if I'm free the day that you choose so looking forward to meeting some of you there thanks okay and Joseph I I see you sitting there patiently any any comment you want to add hey no you there we go uh I just introduce myself I'm Joe hes from the division marine fisheries um I'm uh taking over Ben's position as the diis fishery biologist for the NorthShore so uh you might see more of me a little bit but uh nice to meet you all and Y okay all right well thank you all and we're going to move on to our next order of business but uh great presentation Jill can you send that slide deck over to Mason absolutely yep I think it would be helpful can we put that on our website sure y for public information that may be we also have a public kind of box upload site too that you could link to it has all kinds of docum in there okay yeah if you if you and Mason could coordinate that that would be great I think going to be a project of great interest for people so thank you that over and then we can schedule the S sidewalk okay thank you very much and Mason just report back on the third on some projected dates and we'll see if we can all meet out there thank you everyone thanks appreciate it okay staff reports and updates Mason any anything that you want to add nothing for me at this time you know what you're at at 7:19 that's the perfect answer for this committee all right last word anyone have any comments Mary any any comments you want no good job Mason yeah how about yourself no everything's good thank you Mason thank you everyone yeah Mason has been doing a great job everyone baptism by fire too yeah right any com thank you no no again it's great to see Mason on top of all these different projects and really obviously uh it's it's a lot uh to take on and it's nice to see that he's on top of all these projects so thank you I think I think he's I think he's en enjoying the challenge rather than the the grid patent of Doom grass on Plum Island can see that I can buy that yeah Diane any any final comments before I no I can do grid patents he can do everything else well who who would like to I I'll entertain emotions who would turnour okay so Diane and Mary we're gonna put you on that sure okay roll call all in favor Mary Woody B Bob Conor thank you everyone the meeting uh is concluded at 7:20