Conservation Commission

Minutes of the Taunton Conservation Commission October 19, 2020 Present: Chair Steven Turner, Commissioners Richard Enos, Jan Rego, Matthew Haggerty, and Joshua Borden. Commissioner Luis Freitas is absent. Vice Chair Debra Botellio will be joining in shortly. Motion to approve the minutes from the September meeting, JB, second JR, so voted. Continued Certificate of Compliance: 1. 505 South Boundary Road, Hawthorne Dev. Inc., (COC), SE73-2791 ​This is to close out the order of conditions for the construction of a single family home. See field report. Motion to approve the COC, JR, second JB, so voted. DB is in the meeting. Certificate of Compliance: 1. 272 Winthrop Street, K&M Auto Repair, (COC), SE73-2414 ​This is to close out the order of conditions for clearing of debris within the buffer zone of a wetland. See field report. Khalil Dobeib present. Motion to approve COC, JR, second MH, so voted. 2. 64 Short Street, Aspen Properties Holdings, LLC, (COC), SE73-2605 ​This is to close out the order of conditions for the construction of a single family home. See field report. Chris Moniz present. Motion to approve COC, DB, second RE, so voted. Continued Public Meeting: 1. MBTA RR ROW, Coutu/Kelois Commuter Services, (RDA), DSE-1239 ​This is for the renewal of the Vegetation Management Plan along the railroad right of way along the Middleborough Branch, Dean St. Spur and New Bedford Secondary Branch, from the Norton town line to the Lakeville town line. See field report. Present Clary Coutu, Holly Pomgren, and Matt Donovan. RE asked when they would be spraying? They said they have two big spraying events per year. ST asked if there was any danger to the spraying for people and animals living along the tracks? Clary said they cannot spray areas where there are people and animals. Motion to issue a negative determination with special conditions 1 and 2, JB, second DB, so voted. Motion to go out of order to hear from Finnian Parsons an Eagle Scout, DB, second JR, so voted. Finnian is an Eagle Scout, attends Taunton High School and is 17 years old. He wants to do his project at the Bird Sanctuary. Finnian will install 4 bat houses in certain marked spaces. He has pictures to show the spots he picked out. MR advised him to get in touch with AJ Marshall at Park & Rec to keep him in the loop. ST asked that he touch base with MR and when finished please come back to speak with the TCC and bring pictures. Motion to approve, JB, second DB, so voted. Public Meeting: 1. 71 Kiana Way, Babalola, (RDA), DSE-1245 ​This is for the installation of a White Knight generator to the existing septic system. See field report. Motion to issue a negative determination with special conditions 1, 2, 4, 18, 19, DB, second RE, so voted. 2. 396 Tremont Street, Hau, (RDA), DSE-1246 ​This is for the installation of a new septic system. See field report. DB did this fail? Yes. Motion to issue a negative determination with special conditions 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 14, 18, 19, DB, second JB, so voted. Extension: 1. S. Precinct Street (Assessor’s Lot 121-44), Cohenno, (EXT) SE73-2723 ​This is a request for a three year extension of the order of conditions for construction of a single family home. See field report. Motion to approve the extension, DB, second JB, so voted. 2. 595 Winthrop Street, Farrell Advantage Taunton, LLC, (EXT), SE73-2758 ​This is a request for a three year extension of the order of conditions for the construction of a 90,500 square foot self-storage facility. See field report. Motion to approve, DB, second JB, so voted. Amendment: 1. 1756 County Street, Rojas Design, Inc., (AMEND), SE73-2835 ​This is to amend the order of conditions to change the location of the proposed building closer to the wetland. See field report. Chris Gilbert present. ST asked is this moving left or right or just back? It is just moving back. Motion to approve the amended order of conditions, DB, second RE, so voted. Public Hearing: 1. 272 Winthrop Street, Dobeib/K&M Auto Repair, (NOI), SE73-2871 ​This is for the construction of a 4,800 square foot auto repair shop & used automobile sales lot. Present Khalil Dobeib and John Desousa. DB asked if there are wetlands on the property? No but the 100 foot buffer is on the property. DB where will they plow the snow? It will be stacked between customer parking towards the front. DB will they use chemicals on the back lot? No they will use sand. Motion to approve with special conditions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28-snow is not to be stockpiled in the back of the building and no chemicals to be used behind the building, JR, second DB, so voted. 2. Cotley Street (Assessor’s Lot 127-57), Malloch Construction, (NOI), SE73-2872 This is for the construction of a single family house. See field report. Ray Francisco  present. JB will the deck have stairs and if so where? Yes there will be stairs. JB asked that a condition be the addition of stairs to the plan. Motion to approve with special conditions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28 revised plan with the deck stairs included, DB, second JB, so voted. 3. 500 John Hancock Road, Crandall/Martignetti Co., (NOI), SE73- ​This is for the expansion of an existing facility with paving and grading within the buffer zone of BVW. Present Dean Crandall, Keith Hannon, John Mitros, Taylor Dowdy, and Hank Sueminen. ST stated that the first phase was done and looks amazing out there. He has no worries that they will continue their excellent work and great relationship with the city. DB asked how much intrusion will there be? Less than 5 feet. JB wishes them luck, they did a tremendous job with the first phase. Motion to approve with special conditions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, and 31- snow storage areas on the plan, JB, second DB, so voted. 4. 35 Highland Street, Abreau, (NOI), SE73- ​This is for construction of a roadway for a residential subdivision. Present John Desousa. John said they have no issue moving basin closer as requested by MR. They still have to go before Planning Board and expect some minor comments. Will have revisions to MR by the end of the week. Motion to approve with special conditions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 17, 18- deed restriction stating owner at lot 7 is responsible for the maintenance of the basin in perpetuity, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28-flood plain elevation on the plan, 29- , 30- , 31- snow storage, 32- revised plan, JR, second JB, so voted. Continued Violations: 1. 335 Hodges Street. ​This is regarding removal of material and dumping within a wetland on City owned property. MR said he has cleaned the violation up. Motion to remove, JB, second JR, so voted. 2. Hutt Forest, Staples St., (Assessor’s Lot 135-36). ​This is regarding filling a wetland with gravel along an access road to the Hutt Forest. Motion to continue to November meeting, DB, second JB, so voted. 3. 50 Partridge Circle. ​This is regarding installing an above ground pool and deck and paving approximately 4,100 square feet additional impervious parking area on previously vegetated land within 100 feet of a wetland. Motion to continue to November, JB, second DB, so voted. 4. E. Whitehill St. (Assessor’s Lot 65-423). ​This is regarding cutting trees and limbs within a BVW. Motion to continue to November meeting, DB, second JB, so voted. 5. Bunk Pond. ​This is regarding building an illegal structure on city owned property, cutting trees and clearing within the buffer zone of Bunk Pond. Motion to send a certified letter with signature required, that Brandon be present for the next meeting in November, DB, second JB, so voted. Other Business: 1. Request to purchase a new copier for the office. ​Motion to approve, DB, second JB, so voted. 2. Berkley Street. ​MR has sent messages and they have not returned her calls. They never seeded, the hydroseeding was not done at all. ST would like a letter sent that if not hydroseeded by the next meeting in November, they will start violating. Motion to send certified letter, have them present for the November meeting, JB, second JR, so voted. 3. Sabbatia Lake. ​ST had residents asking when the draw down would be and how they could go about getting the weed situation taken care of. MR said the drawdown was supposed to have already started. MR is working with someone to write a grant and get it submitted so they can have a plan and work to get rid of the weeds. ST would like an update on this at the November meeting. He would like a lake plan. Motion to adjourn, DB, second JB, so voted. Meeting ended at 8:30pm.