Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Meeting
INLAND WETLANDS AND WATERCOURSES AGENCY
MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, December 15, 2009
A Regular Meeting of the Enfield Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency was held on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 in the Council Chambers, Enfield Town Hall, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Douglas Maxellon, Chairman
Joseph Albert, Alternate (seated)
Karen Camidge
Robert Lemay
Robie Staples
Patrick Szczesiul, Alternate (seated)
MEMBERS ABSENT: Jo-Marie Nelson
Brian Peruta
ALSO PRESENT: Katie Bednaz, Wetlands Agent
Susan Berube, Recording Secretary
REGULAR MEETING
1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chairman Douglas Maxellon at 7:00 p.m.
2. Roll Call: Present were: Chairman Maxellon and Agents Albert, Camidge, Lemay, Staples and Szczesiul. Also present were: Katie Bednaz, Wetlands Agent and Susan Berube, Recording Secretary.
Agents Albert and Szczesiul were seated as full voting members for this evening’s public hearing and regular meeting.
3. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
4. Executive Session
(Matters regarding specific employees, pending litigation, acquisition of real estate and / or matters exempt from disclosure requirements): None.
A motion was made by Agent Camidge and seconded by Agent Szczesiul to move agenda item #5, “Public Hearing” to be heard after item #14, “New Applications to be Received”. Vote was 6-0-0.
7. Public Participation - Issues of concern not on the agenda: None.
8. Correspondence
a. Article - Commission May Require Bond to Ensure Proposed Farming Activity Will Take Place
b. Article - Consideration of Wildlife by Wetlands Agencies
c. Historic Town Attorney Correspondence - See Section 9.3: This section discusses the IWWA Regulation’s requirement of notice to abutters
.
d. Article - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Connecticut's Vernal Pools
9. Commissioner's Correspondence:
a. Site Visit Updates: Several Agency members gave updates of their site visits. Agent Camidge reported that she visited the PetSmart site. She thought it looked fine but she needs a set of plans in order to confirm this.
Agent Albert stated that he visited the Butler’s property. The bales are staked.
Chairman Maxellon confirmed with members that they had all received updated spreadsheets of the open IWWA permits and Agency member assignments.
10. Approval of Minutes -December 1, 2009 & December 3, 2009: A motion was made by Agent Camidge and seconded by Agent Szczesiul to approve the minutes of the meeting of December 1, 2009 as presented. Vote was 4-0-2(Lemay & Staples).
A motion was made by Agent Szczesiul and seconded by Agent Camidge to approve the minutes of the special meeting of December 3, 2009 with the following amendment: page 1, introduction area, add Agent Robie Staples to those listed as not present. Vote was 4-0-2(Camidge & Staples).
11. Wetlands Agent Report: A brief verbal report was provided by Ms. Bednaz. She noted that the Enfield Medical Building is moving along. The site is flat and sandy which add to its’ stability.
Ms. Bednaz stated that she will have a more complete, formal Report for the Agency’s next regular meeting.
Chairman Maxellon noted that construction of the Five Guys Restaurant on Elm Street has begun.
12. Old Business: None.
13. New Business: None.
14. New Applications to be Received: IW-534 – Enfield Properties.
The applicant was not present. Ms. Bednaz briefly explained that the application is to develop property at 153 South Road. It will be a large project with two direct impacts to wetlands. Should the Agency determine that a public hearing is required, the applicant has requested that it be held at the January 19, 2010 meeting of the IWWA. Further information on the application will be included in the Agency’s packet for the January 5, 2010 meeting.
This application was received by the Agency.
5. Public Hearing
a. IW-533 - Town of Enfield - is requesting a permit to reconstruct Post Office Road and Town Farm Road beginning on Post Office Road, 175-feet west of Raffia Road and ending on Town Farm Road, 150-feet east of Abbe Road within the regulated area (Map 86 Lots:169, 155, 293, 293, 158, 150, 167; Map 71, Lots: 1, 25, 27; Map 68, Lots: 161, 164, 153, 151, 152, 197). Submitted 11/23/09, received 12/01/09, PPE 12/15/09, MAD 2/4/10.
Piya Hawkes, Administrator of DPW, and Jeff Lemay and Jane Witherall of Maguire Group represented the applicant.
Mr. Hawkes gave a brief overview of the project using a PowerPoint presentation. He highlighted the following:
· Project limits are 200’ east of Raffia Road, to 150’ east of Abbe Road.
· Improvement of vertical and horizontal road alignments
· New drainage
· Intersection realignment
· Bridge improvements including a bike path that will run the entire length of the proposed project
· Wetland impact of 12,000 square feet; mitigation of .9 acre +/-
At this time, Mr. Hawkes turned the presentation over to Mr. Lemay and Ms. Witherall.
Mr. Lemay stated that this is State Project 48-186. It is funded through ConnDot, CRCOG, ARRA (federal stimulus package), HPP (high priority project, also federal), and the Town of Enfield.
The project meets the design standards of ConnDot, Town of Enfield, CT D.E.P. (Inland Water Resources Fisheries Division), and Army Corps of Engineers.
The proposed project has gone through extensive reviews by multiple agencies over the past several years and has received several required permits already. The IWWA and Army Corps of Engineers permits are still required, as is the D.E.P. Storm water Discharge Permit.
The proposed schedule is:
· Advertise by end of 12/09
· Award 03/2010
· Begin construction in spring 2010 with total project duration of 2 years.
Several of the existing conditions to be rectified are:
· Varying road width of 22-32’ to be standardized to 30’
· Varying cross slope to be changed to allow proper road drainage
· Correct sopping sight limits
· Skewed & offset intersections at Abbe Road, Wallop School Road and Weymouth School Road to be improved
· Insufficient guide rail protection on the bridge to be addressed
· Pedestrian access to be provided through creation of a 10’ wide bike/pedestrian path for the length of the project which is 6,700 linear feet.
· Limited storm drainage causes erosion problems, road ponding to be corrected
· Erosion of stream bottom at the west abutment of the bridge to be repaired; rip rap will be installed to prevent future erosion issues.
Mr. Lemay went on to explain that the addition of the bike path to the plans helped secure some of the funding for the project.
There will be storm water treatment facilities at all outfall locations.
Three cross culverts will be upgraded, 3 existing drainage systems will be modified and three new systems will be installed.
With regards to mitigation, the D.E.P. requires a ratio of 1:1. However, in order to effectively remove the invasive species from the chosen mitigation site, the entire area, .8 or .9 acres needs to be cleared of invasives. Native species will be planted once the invasives are removed.
The project will generally be done “under traffic”. There will be alternating one-way traffic during working hours with traffic returned to a 2-way pattern at the end of the workday and on weekends.
Erosion controls will meet the CT D.E.P. 2002 Erosion & Control Guidelines and 2004 Storm water Quality Manual.
During and post construction, best management practices will be utilized.
There will be 2 areas at the Transfer Station relating to this project. One will be the staging area for the contractor and the other will be the soil test area.
Mr. Lemay reviewed several photos of the project area with Agency members. These included erosion along the roadway, erosion at cross culverts, headwall failures and scour along the west abutment of the bridge.
Mr. Lemay then reviewed the 6 existing or proposed drainage systems. He stated that outlet protection will be installed to all systems, generally in the form of rip rap.
The system located east of Raffia Road will be modified. A new outfall installed along with a hydro-dynamic separator to funnel out sediment, grease and floatables. It will be designed to treat the “first flush”.
One system, at the Holy Family Church, will be abandoned. The headwall has failed. The area will be re-graded and appropriate plantings installed.
A system 500-600’ east of Holy Family Church driveway will be connected to catch basins, have a new outfall and re-establish the channel into a water quality swale to promote infiltration.
Two small systems, located on the east and west sides of the bridge will be re-designed and a water quality basin added to each to remove sediment and improve water quality.
There will be a new system installed east of the bridge. A level spreader weir will be installed, the headwall re-constructed and the existing culvert upgraded.
The last system near Abbe Road will have a hydro-dynamic separator installed. This system is close to a public well so this was the only option. It discharges to a 20’ wide vegetative channel to spread out the flows back onto town owned property. The existing culvert will be upgraded to twin 30” pipes. It is currently one 24” pipe. All drainage will go away from the Hazardville Water Company well.
All drainage is designed to maintain the existing flow patterns and use existing outfall locations as much as possible.
Mr. Bord, Town Engineer, agreed with Mr. Lemay’s assessment of the need to abandon the outlet near the church driveway, noting that it had been on the list of problem sites from a study done by the Soil Conservation Department.
Ms. Bednaz noted small revisions that were made and that the area of invasive species to be treated is on the map. There are also invasive species to the east and north of the area to be treated, as well as throughout the whole area.
She also noted the copy of the public notice and copy of the letter given to abutters that were included in the Agency members’ packets.
Ms. Bednaz reported that she visited the site and noted that flags show all areas of invasives, not just those to be mitigated. She hopes to be able to visit the site again soon.
Mr. Daniel Hageman, Professional Soil Scientist from BL Companies reported that he conducted a function and value assessment of the wetlands.
He reviewed the site map with the Agency members, pointing out each of the wetland areas affected by the project, lettered A through O for identification purposes.
Wetland A is at the western portion of the site. It is forested with an intermittent stream and is heavily eroded. It has a fairly low value and there will be approximately 50 square feet of impact in order to remove the headwall and restore the area.
Wetland B is in the south west quadrant. This is a floodplain wetland, forested and open field. It is high quality, within the Scantic River Corridor and will have 4,655 square feet impacted, in association with work along the bridge.
Wetland C is also within the flood plain. There is an access road between wetlands B and C. It’s function is the same as B and is also high value.
Wetland D is small, of high value. There is no direct impact to C or D, although it will have additional storm water flow.
Wetland E is also within the floodplain and is located northeast of the Scantic River. It is of high value, primarily forested. It is impacted because of bridge work.
Wetland F parallels the road on the north side. It is a wetland swale, primarily forested, of high value. It has some invasives. The impact is due to the widening of the road and to install a new outfall.
Wetlands G, H, I & J are all forested. No direct impact to I and J; 175 square feet to G due to widening of the road. No additional flow to any of them.
Wetland K is on the north side of the road. It is forested, of moderate value and will be impacted with 85 square feet of fill material due to the widening of the road.
Wetland L is a manmade pond used for irrigation. It is of high value. 95 square feet will be impacted for constructed of a 15” cross culvert.
Wetland M, south of station 65 is an open water wetland of moderate value with no impact from the project.
Wetland N, back at the far end of the project, is an emergent wetland with herbaceous plants is of moderate value. It will have 325 square feet impacted and will have additional storm water flow.
Wetland O is located south of N. It is mainly an intermittent watercourse of low to moderate value and will not be impacted by the project.
The total impacts to wetlands are 12,675 square feet.
Mr. Hageman went on to briefly explain the mitigation plan.
The mitigation site is located adjacent to the Scantic River, within an existing wetland. The site was chosen in coordination with the D.E.P., EPA and Army Corps of Engineers.
The .8 acre restoration is more than the minimum required.
The area is forested with pin oak, cottonwood, sycamore, red and silver maple and other trees and shrubs.
No existing trees or native shrubs will be removed.
Invasives to be removed are barberry, oriental bittersweet, multi-flora rose and honeysuckle. They will be replaced with native shrubs and tree species.
Replacement shrubs will include blueberry, silky dogwood, and winterberry. The entire area of mitigation will also be seeded with a wetland seed mix.
Agent Camidge asked how the invasives will be removed.
Mr. Hageman explained that it will be by physical removal and some chemical use, hand “painted” onto the stem.
Ms. Bednaz noted that wetland D is to receive additional storm water but it is not town-owned property. She asked if the applicant would consider doing additional grading so as not to expand the size of the wetland on private property.
Mr. Lemay responded that the applicant had not considered this and that the quantity of water that would be added is not known.
He also stated that some discharge from the roadway would be eliminated and no longer going to wetland c, so water will be taken from some areas and given to others. He added that he feels that the additional amount is not significant.
Ms. Bednaz expressed her concern that private property is not impacted. The applicant needs to know how the hydrology in these areas will change.
Ms. Bednaz asked what will be the monitoring protocol in the mitigation area.
Mr. Hageman responded that a draft monitoring plan has been submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers. It is mostly from their plan.
In brief, the plan includes 5 years of follow-up monitoring. He was unsure how many areas within the mitigation area will be checked.
The site will be checked to make sure the plants are still alive and that the invasives have not returned.
Mr. Hageman stated that he hopes that the native shrubs will help shade out and out-compete the invasives. He is still working with the Army Corps on the details.
Ms. Bednaz stated that she had read somewhere in the plans that there is a 1 year monitoring plan. The applicant will need to make sure that all documents match for the final permanent file.
Ms. Bednaz also asked about maintenance of the channels and culverts.
Mr. Lemay stated that there is a fair amount of right-of-way for maintenance. The applicant will work with the Town. It will likely be part of their regular maintenance plan. He will look to make sure that it fits in their plan.
Ms. Bednaz asked about the maintenance of the level spreaders and basins.
Mr. Lemay replied that they are typically cleaned yearly but will make sure that the maintenance plans specify this.
Ms. Bednaz noted that a regulated area may be created with the grass lined swale. Specifying maintenance will help in the acquisition of future permits for maintenance.
Ms. Bednaz also asked if only silt fence will be used for erosion controls.
Mr. Lemay stated that it could also include hay bales. The contractor is given options. Silt fence is to be used primarily along the slopes.
Ms. Bednaz expressed concern over using only silt fence because it can fall over so easily.
She also asked how long the road will be kept unpaved. Her concern is over leaving catch basins open, allowing for sediment to go into the basins.
Mr. Lemay stated that he will look into this. He was unsure as to whether paving would take place daily or weekly.
Ms. Bednaz added that a storm event could allow sediment into basins. She asked if anything could be put at the outfalls, temporarily, to catch sediment.
Mr. Lemay stated that the contractor likely will use swales as temporary sediment basins.
Ms. Bednaz requested that this be spelled out in the plans.
Agent Lemay asked when the applicant will get answers on the permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Mr. Hawkes stated that the permit application is being submitted tomorrow, December 16, 2009. He hopes to have a response by the end of January or beginning of February, 2010.
Agent Camidge asked how much roadway will be worked on at a given time.
Mr. Lemay stated that this is spelled out in the special provisions. He thinks it’s 500 linear feet at a time.
Agent Albert asked if the 30” discharge pipe drains onto town owned property.
Mr. Lemay stated that the applicant has a revocable agreement with the Hazardville Water Company.
Agent Albert asked if this would affect the Town’s property at the park, creating more wetlands.
Mr. Lemay replied that the water will keep going in the same direction. It’s not going to put more water where it is already going.
Chairman Maxellon asked why the project is stopping 150’ short of Raffia Road.
Mr. Hawkes stated that the project was originally supposed to stop at the intersection of Raffia Road but it was found not to be cost effective.
Mr. Lemay added that the bike path will connect to a sidewalk at the end of the path.
Chairman Maxellon asked if there is a plan to recover any of the lost soil from the bridge abutment area and asked why the erosion took place.
Mr. Lemay replied that there is not a plan to recover the soil. It is generally believed that vandalism was the cause of the erosion. The previously existing rocks apparently were removed. It is also likely that the depth of the materials placed there wasn’t deep enough. The rip rap to be installed will be up to 30” in size.
He added that upstream, there is a large field and the water coming in needs to constrict and funnels along the west abutment.
Chairman Maxellon asked how the contaminated soil will be stored.
Mr. Lemay responded that the stockpile area at the Transfer Station is for that soil to be tested.
Mr. Hawkes added that 30 mil poly will be laid down prior to soil being brought in. If any soil is stored there, it will be covered.
Chairman Maxellon asked if the Scantic will be diverted twice.
Mr. Lemay replied that it will.
Chairman Maxellon asked about the pond on Wallop School Road – if there are any plans for within the pond such as cleaning or changing the depth and if it is sufficient to handle the increased flow.
Mr. Lemay stated that there are to be no changes to the pond and that it will handle up to a 100 year storm event.
Chairman Maxellon also stated that he would like to see the maintenance plan for the hydro-dynamic water separators.
In response to Chairman Maxellon’s question on the timing of the project, Mr. Lemay stated that the applicant has a suggested sequence of construction. He anticipates that prior to any construction, utility poles will first be relocated.
The bridge will be done first, over the course of 6 to 8 months. The roadway work will then begin, likely after the first winter. He added that there will be no relocation of utilities that are currently under the river.
In response to another question by Chairman Maxellon, Mr. Lemay stated that the Gun Club will still operate but that the owners do not use the mitigation site for shooting purposes.
At this time, the hearing was opened for public comment.
Mr. Joe Roman of 225 Abbe Road expressed concern over driveways and changes to their elevation. He also asked why the work was not extended another 300 yards to address the road problems there, such as potholes. Otherwise, he is in favor of the project.
Mr. Hawkes explained that the project limits were set by D.O.T. and D.E.P. Federal reimbursement may not be available beyond this point.
He added that the Town will be continuing with the Road 2005 project.
Mr. Lemay stated that the plans show the limits as to how driveways will be reconstructed. These will be done to D.O.T. standards to make the driveways appropriate.
Mr. Hawkes noted that the Public Works and Town Engineer’s offices have full sets of plans for the project.
Mr. Dan Beaudry of 89 Town Farm Road asked if a pumping station would be erected by Wallop School and Town Farm Roads.
Mr. Hawkes replied that it will not.
Mr. Lemay added that the water will be drained by gravity.
No one else in the audience came forward to speak for or against this application.
A motion was made by Agent Staples at 8:53 p.m. to continue the public hearing to the meeting of January 19, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Enfield Room. Vote was 6-0-0.
15. Other Business
a. IWWA Fines Ordinance
b. IWWA Fee Schedule
c. IWWA Regulation Revisions:
A motion was made by Agent Camidge and seconded by Agent Lemay to table discussion on items 15a through 15c to the meeting of January 5, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers.
Agent Albert asked if there has been any response from the Town Manager regarding the fee schedule and keeping track of how much time it takes to fully review an application and corresponding plans.
Ms. Bednaz replied that Mr. Warren was checking into it. Direction needs to come from the Town Manager. She suggested that Agency members approach the Town Manager. She also noted that there may be difficulty in getting input from other departments, such as WPCA, North Central Health District.
Chairman Maxellon stated that he will speak with the Town Manager.
Vote was 6-0-0.
A special meeting was tentatively scheduled for January 12, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. to discuss items 15 a, b, and c as well.
d. Next regular meeting is Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 7:00PM in the Council Chambers.
16. Adjourn: A motion was made by Agent Camidge and seconded by Agent Staples to adjourn the meeting at 9:03 p.m. Vote was 6-0-0.
Respectfully Submitted,
________________________________
Jo-Marie Nelson, Secretary
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