WESTFIELD – The Conservation Commission voted earlier this week to continue a public hearing on a proposal to construct a contractor’s yard on Medeiros Way.
Business owner Jay Virgilio is currently operating his construction business at a leased facility just a short distance from property he purchased on Medeiros Way, formerly called Summit Lock Road, with the intent to build his own facility on the 22-acre site at 86 Medeiros Way, a short distance east of Timberswamp Road.
Virgilio ran afoul of environmental protection laws when he clear cut the site five years ago, leaving only one large beech tree standing on the site. The Conservation Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, all stepped in and issued enforcement orders and conditions.
The Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program determined that much of the land was a priority habitat for the Northern Box Turtle and required restoration of the wetland and habitat.
Tuesday night engineers Jeffrey Collingwood and David Cameron from the Northampton office of Stantec Consulting Inc. presented detail of Virgilio’s plan to construct a building, parking and a contractor’s yard on 4.77 acres of the land. The project has to be less than five acres to avoid triggering a more stringent environmental review.
Collingwood said the building will house both the construction business administrative area in the front area as well as a vehicle garaging facility in the rear of the structure.
Parking includes a paved area to service the office and a gravel area for trucks and material storage. The stormwater management plan includes a system of swales, deep sumps to trap sediment, catch basins and an infiltration basin with a forebay, also designed to allow suspended material to settle out of the stormwater. The infiltration basin is designed to allow water to slowly seep out during extremely heavy storm events.
The consultants also presented details on the wetland and associated buffers, proposing a 40-foot buffer on the northern wetland boundary. The Conservation Commission requires a 50-foot buffer and was opposed to the 40-foot proposal.
Commissioner James Murphy noted that many of the issues raised by commission members are resolved during earlier reviews by other boards, typically the Planning Board and in the case of contractor’s yards, the City Council.
“Typically people come to us after they’ve gone through the Planning Board permitting process,” Murphy said. “We get those conditions before we begin our review.”
Commission Chairman Dr. David Doe asked the consultants to “convey our concerns to the owner” who was not present, the consultants said, due to an illness. The board voted to continue the hearing to its Feb. 11 meeting.
