Conservation Commission

CITY OF CHICOPEE CONSERVATION COMMISSION Minutes of Meeting September 21, 2022 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, September 21, 2022 at 6:15 PM in the Chambers Conference Room, City Hall Annex, 4 th Floor, 274 Front St., Chicopee, MA 01013 Celeste Donovan opened the meeting at 6:15 PM and announced that the meeting was being recorded. Conservation Commission attendance: Member Present Absent Excused Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Bianca Thomas X Barbara Chamberlain X Sharon Balcom X Planning/Conservation Staff attendance: Member Present Absent Excused Lee Pouliot, Director X James Dawson, Development Manager X Nick Kiser, Associate Planner X Item 1: RDA for the conversion of softball field from natural turf to artificial turf. Work will occur within Buffer Zone to an Isolated Wetland. Location: Elms College, 291 Springfield St., Chicopee, MA 01013. Applicant: Elms College, 291 Springfield St. Chicopee, MA 01013. Notes: James Catella with Clark Companies designed and was contracted to convert the softball field at the Elms College. Jeff Dupaul, Director of Campus Facilities at the Elms College was also in attendance. Mabel Gutliph also from Clark Companies attended the meeting via Zoom. The softball field was originally constructed in 2007 and is currently natural turf. The proposal is to convert the field to synthetic turf. The conversion will require excavation of the existing field. Center field is being expanded outward by a few feet to comply with NCAA rules. The dug outs will remain untouched however, the fence will be replaced. The Isolated Wetland developed from a detention basin constructed to mitigate drainage on campus. The wetland is surrounded by a 3’ berm and is fed by storm water entering catch basins along the southern side of the softball field. This proposal is to install silt socks over the catch basins during the construction to capture sediments before they reach the wetland. The stormwater/drainage plan will be reviewed by Site Plan Review Advisory Committee (SPRAC). The Applicant is open to options on how to mitigate the stormwater runoff. Staff recommended that stormwater that currently feeds the wetland should continue to feed the wetland. The natural turf field had fertilizer and weed control applied that potentially entered the runoff. This synthetic turf system will eliminate the need of weed control and fertilizer resulting in cleaner stormwater runoff to the wetland. The Applicant is considering two options for draining the field. One would divert all the drainage to a pipe on the northern side of the field the second would continue to have a portion of the site drain to the catch basins along the southern side of the field. The applicant agrees this second option would be best to mimic the current conditions. The Commission conditioned the Determination that stormwater runoff that currently feeds the wetland must continue to do so. They also imposed the standard erosion control conditions that erosion control must be installed and inspected prior to commencement of any site work. Silt fence with straw waddles or straw bales and silk socks over the catch basin shall be used for erosion control. Erosion control must remain in place in good condition until given permission by the Conservation Commission or its Staff to remove it. The Applicant noted the project is proposed to be completed as soon as possible and will take about 8 weeks to complete. The Staff’s recommendation is for a Positive 5 and a Positive 6 Determination with standard special conditions for erosion control and to maintain the status quo of the stormwater runoff to the wetland. Motion to issue a Positive 5 and Positive 6 Determination was made by Charles Payne and seconded by Sharon Balcom. Vote was 4 to approve, 0 opposed and 1 abstention to issue a Positive 5 and a Positive 6 Determination. Meghan Balakier abstained from the vote as she is a direct abutter to the project. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Sharon Balcom X Item 2: Minutes from September 7, 2022 Motion to approve the minutes was made by Sharon Balcom and seconded by Richard Valcourt. Vote was 5-0 to approve. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Sharon Balcom X Item 3: Sign Bills - Staff noted there were no bills to sign. Item 4: Upcoming Projects/Discussion • Emergency Certification – Westover ARB – Perimeter Road over Stony Brook – The road was severely damaged by a flash flooding event that occurred on September 5 and 6, 2022. o The Applicant will use the 30 days to inspect the roadway and the culvert and determine the extent of the damage and if needed they would submit an NOI for needed repairs. • RDA – National Vinyl, 7 Coburn Street update. o Project was approved in the Spring of 2022. Staff visited the site to inspect the project however, the erosion control was missing required components. Staff contacted the Applicant to inform them of the incomplete erosion control. The Applicant noted they overlooked some of the special conditions and apologized. They installed the remainder of the required components the next day and were given permission by Staff, to move forward with the project. • NOI – Lower Bemis Pond Dam Removal and Szot Park Stormwater Improvement Project - The NOI for this project will be placed on the October 5, 2022 meeting agenda. Item 5: Adjournment – Next scheduled meeting is October 5, 2022 Motion to adjourn was made by Charles Payne and seconded by Sharon Balcom. Vote was 5-0 to adjourn. Member Approve Deny Continue Abstain Celeste Donovan X Charles Payne X Meghan Balakier X Richard Valcourt X Sharon Balcom X Meeting adjourned at 7:18 PM.