Conservation Commission

CITY OF CHICOPEE CONSERVATION COMMISSION Minutes of Meeting March 3, 2021 Pursuant to Mass. General Law Ch. 131, Section 40 and the Chicopee Wetland Ordinance Ch. 272, the Chicopee Conservation Commission held a public hearing on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at 6:15 PM via video conference (Zoom). Celeste Donovan opened the meeting at 6:15 PM and announced that the meeting was being recorded and read the following statement into the meeting record: In order to ensure and satisfy CDC social distancing guidelines during the Covid-19 Pandemic and pursuant to Governor Baker’s March 23, 2020 Order as amended, the City of Chicopee is providing public notice that it will conduct a public hearing utilizing remote collaboration technology in accordance with Governor Baker’s March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. C. 30A, 18. Copies of application materials may be requested by phone (413-594-1517) or by emailing Jim Dawson at jdawson@chicopeema.gov. To view the public hearings please tune to Spectrum Community Access Channel 191 or the ChicopeeTV website at Facebook.com/ChicopeeTV and/or https://vimeo.com/chicopeetv Public comments will be received during two timeframes. The first public comment period took place prior to the opening of the public hearing on March 3, 2021. The second public comment period will take place following the March 3, 2021 hearing and remain open until March 17, 2021 for new agenda items. To provide public comments in writing please mail to the Chicopee Conservation Commission, 4 th Floor, City Hall Annex, 274 Front St., Chicopee, MA 01013. By email to Jim Dawson at jdawson@chicopeema.gov. or by calling 413-594-1517. All public comments received will be provided to all Commission Members and discussed at either of the above listed meeting dates. All commenting individuals shall state their name, address and company/organizational affiliation in addition to the item(s) that the comments pertain. Comments received up to the March 3, 2021 hearing will be entered on that date. Any comments received after March 3, 2021 will be entered at the continued date of the hearing on March 17, 2021. Conservation Commission attendance: Member Present Absent Excused Celeste Donovan (Zoom) X Charles Payne (Zoom) X Sharon Balcom (Zoom) X Meghan Balakier (Zoom) X Richard Valcourt (Zoom) X Brian Nunes (Zoom) X Planning/Conservation Staff attendance: Member Present Absent Excused Lee Pouliot, Director (Zoom) X James Dawson, Development Manager X (Zoom) Patrick McKenna, Assistant Planner X Nathan Moreau, Associate Planner X Item 1: (Cont. from February 17, 2021) RDA for the construction of a single-family house. Work will occur within the 100’ Buffer Zone to Bordering Vegetated Wetland. Location: Lot 1 Sheridan St. Assessor Map 371, Parcel 4A. Applicant: Gary Stamborski, DGL Properties LLC. 70 North Chicopee St., Chicopee, MA 01020 Notes: Michael Mocko, Environmental Consultant briefed the Commission on the RDA that he and the Applicant presented on February 17, 2021. Applicant Gary Stamborski requested the use of straw wattles along with the silt fence as an alternative to straw bales as he noted he was having difficulty obtaining straw bales. Staff noted speaking with Mr. Stamborski with regard to his request and reported to the Commissioners that Staff was amenable to the request. Mr. Stamborski also stated he was willing to install temporary orange snow fencing to make the erosion control more visible to construction equipment operators; the Commissioners agreed to this. The Commission voted to issue a Positive 2A, a Positive 5 and a Negative 3 Determination with the following conditions: 1. Erosion control to consist of straw wattles and silt fence with temporary orange snow fence to be installed per plan. 2. Wetland “Do Not Disturb” signs to be permanently installed along the 50’ Buffer boundary; one each where the 50’ Buffer line intersects the property line and one at the mid-point between the two. 3. Erosion control and signs to be installed and inspected by Conservation Staff prior to the commencement of any site work. 4. Erosion control to remain in place and in good condition until Conservation Staff completes a final site inspection after construction is completed and the site is stabilized. Motion to issue a Positive 2A, a Positive 5 and a Negative 3 Determination with conditions was made by Richard Valcourt and seconded by Sharon Balcom. Vote was 5-0 to issue a Positive 2A, a Positive 5 and a Negative 3 Determination with conditions. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Sharon Balcom X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Item 2: (Cont. from February 17, 2021) RDA for the construction of a single-family house. Determination if resource areas and buffer zones are accurately delineated. Location: Lot 4 Sheridan St. Assessor Map 371, Parcel 4C. Applicant: Gary Stamborski, DGL Properties LLC. 70 North Chicopee St., Chicopee, MA 01020 Notes: Michael Mocko, Environmental Consultant briefed the Commission on the RDA that he and the Applicant presented on February 17, 2021. Applicant Gary Stamborski requested the use of straw wattles along with the silt fence as an alternative to straw bales as he noted he was having difficulty obtaining straw bales. Staff noted speaking with Mr. Stamborski with regard to his request and reported to the Commissioners that Staff was amenable to the request. Mr. Stamborski also stated he was willing to install temporary orange snow fencing to make the erosion control more visible to construction equipment operators; the Commissioners agreed to this. The Commission voted to issue a Positive 2A, a Positive 5 and a Negative 3 Determination with the following conditions: 1. Erosion control to consist of straw wattles and silt fence with temporary orange snow fence to be installed per plan. 2. Wetland “Do Not Disturb” signs to be permanently installed along the 50’ Buffer boundary; one each where the 50’ Buffer line intersects the property line and one at the mid-point between the two. 3. Erosion control and signs to be installed and inspected by Conservation Staff prior to the commencement of any site work. 4. Erosion control to remain in place and in good condition until Conservation Staff completes a final site inspection after construction is completed and the site is stabilized. Motion to issue a Positive 2A and a Positive 6 Determination with conditions was made by Richard Valcourt and seconded by Meghan Balakier. Vote was 5-0 to issue a Positive 2A and a Positive 6 Determination with conditions. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Sharon Balcom X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Item 3: (Cont. from February 17, 2021) RDA for the construction of a single-family house. Determination if resource areas and buffer zones are accurately delineated. Location: Lot 5 Sheridan St. Assessor Map 371, Parcel 4D. Applicant: Gary Stamborski, DGL Properties LLC. 70 North Chicopee St., Chicopee, MA 01020 Notes: Michael Mocko, Environmental Consultant briefed the Commission on the RDA that he and the Applicant presented on February 17, 2021. Applicant Gary Stamborski requested the use of straw wattles along with the silt fence as an alternative to straw bales as he noted he was having difficulty obtaining straw bales. Staff noted speaking with Mr. Stamborski with regard to his request and reported to the Commissioners that Staff was amenable to the request. Mr. Stamborski also stated he was willing to install temporary orange snow fencing to make the erosion control more visible to construction equipment operators; the Commissioners agreed to this. The Commission voted to issue a Positive 2A, a Positive 5 and a Negative 3 Determination with the following conditions: 1. Erosion control to consist of straw wattles and silt fence with temporary orange snow fence to be installed per plan. 2. Wetland “Do Not Disturb” signs to be permanently installed along the 50’ Buffer boundary; one each where the 50’ Buffer line intersects the property line and one at the mid-point between the two. 3. Erosion control and signs to be installed and inspected by Conservation Staff prior to the commencement of any site work. 4. Erosion control to remain in place and in good condition until Conservation Staff completes a final site inspection after construction is completed and the site is stabilized. Motion to issue a Positive 2A and a Positive 6 Determination with conditions was made by Richard Valcourt and seconded by Meghan Balakier. Vote was 5-0 to issue a Positive 2A and a Positive 6 Determination with conditions. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Sharon Balcom X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Item 4: (New) Abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation (ANRAD) for the confirmation of the boundaries of Resource Areas on plans associated with the ANRAD filing. Location: East Main St., Lot A, Assessor Maps 108 and 13, Parcel 1 (both maps). Applicant: Andrew Morehouse, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Inc. 97 North Hatfield Rd., P.O. Box 160, Hatfield, MA 01038 Notes: David Pickart of Ecological Resource Consultants, LLC presented the request on behalf of the Applicant. Mr. Pickart explained that there have been several ANRADs for this site in the past, the latest was in 2017. Staff confirmed this. Commissioners asked Mr. Pickart about the comments submitted by the Massachusetts department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Mr. Pickart stated that it was his opinion that the delineations were accurate and that it did not appear as if there were any major deviations since the 2017 ANRAD. The Commission requested Staff to send them any plans associated with the 2017 ANRAD that were on file so they could compare the new plans with the 2017 plans. Mr. Pickart noted he would send electronic copies of the past plans for the Commissioners to review as well. Staff noted that the Commission has the authority to retain a third party consultant to verify plans submitted by any applicant. Due to the Covid-19 meeting regulations the Commission voted to continue this item to their March 17, 2021 hearing to allow adequate time for any public input on the issue. Motion to continue this item to March 17, 2021 was made by Charles Payne and seconded by Richard Valcourt. Vote was 5-0 to continue this item to March 17, 2021. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Sharon Balcom X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Item 5: Minutes from February 17, 2021 Motion to approve was made by Meghan Balakier and seconded by Sharon Balcom. Vote was 5-0 to approve. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Sharon Balcom X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Item 6: Sign Bills – There were no bills to sign. Item 7: Upcoming Projects/Discussion  Emergency Certification – Eversource needs to do emergency repairs due to storm damage. Circuit had to be shut down and Cabotville placed on a back-up circuit. – There was no further discussion from the Applicant on this issue. Item 8: Adjournment – Next scheduled meeting is March 17, 2021 Motion to adjourn was made by Meghan Balakier and seconded by Richard Valcourt. Vote was 5-0 to adjourn. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Sharon Balcom X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Meeting adjourned at 7:10 PM.