WESTFIELD – Compensatory storage was on the agenda at the City of Westfield’s Conservation Commission meeting at Westfield City Hall last night.
Rob Levesque of R. Levesque & Associates came before the commission representing Julie and Nabil Hannoush regarding the creation of additional compensatory storage for renovations to the existing building and construction of three retail buildings at 99 Springfield Road, the former home of a Balise car dealership.
The commission eventually decided to approve the motion, their rationale being that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)could revisit the project later should any concerns linger.
Levesque said that since the commission’s last meeting on May 13, he and his group have gone back and forth with the DEP, which issued an audit letter so they could acquire further information on the project.
“We have provided an additional alternatives analysis, which included a financial analysis of the property, in addition to a revised plan,” said Levesque of the eight-page document. “The revised plan has basically taken the compensatory storage area out of the riverfront area as much as possible. We’ve enhanced the plantings in the compensatory storage area and the re-vegetation of that forested riverfront area, as that was a concern of DEP.”
Levesque said that the project’s alternatives analysis was very detailed and explained the rationale of why these additional buildings needed to be done.
“It was based on a typical commercial real estate venture,” he said. “The anticipated return was directly related with how DEP has us do alternatives analysis – we looked at not only onsite, but also adjacent alternatives and offsite alternatives within the city.”
According to Levesque, a building has already been relocated out of the riverfront area, and the only work that is currently within the riverfront area is lowering some of the bank to create more compensatory storage space.
Compensatory storage is a term used to describe any artificially excavated, hydraulically equivalent volume of storage within the Special Flood Hazard Area of a body of water.
This storage is used to balance the loss of natural flood storage capacity when artificial fill or structures are placed within a floodplain.
Levesque stated that prior filings for the property, in 1986 and the early ’00s, lead him to believe that the current project had adequate storage.
“After going through the two previous filings, we thought we had the magic bullet and we were all set,” he said. “But because the original filing was adjusted or changed halfway through the as-built plan, the revised compensatory storage numbers we were able to find didn’t create the initial storage as we thought.”
To accomodate for the prospective compensatory storage increase, Levesque told the commission that the proposed buildings, which will house the Hannoush’s Expert Fitness franchise, indoor batting cages, a bistro, and other retail space, have been reduced in size, and that a riverfront restoration area has been created within the plan.
Commission Chairman Dr. David Doe asked how much land would be used for the riverfront restoration, and Levesque said it would encapsulate 3,150 square feet, in addition to the project’s 21,110 square feet in compensatory storage.
When asked by Commissioner Thomas Sharp about what DEP’s reaction has been to the proposed riverfront restoration, Levesque said they would like for them to stay out of it.
“My interpretation is that DEP would like us to stay out of forested riverfront area,” he said. “We’ve met the performance standards, and it sounded to me like DEP is of the mind that they would prefer the commission to exert their discretionary authority and not require the compensatory storage, because I think they care less about compensatory storage then about forested riverfront area, at least in the western regional office.”
City Conservation Coordinator Karen Leigh stated that the DEP’s compensatory storage regulations are rather murky.
“The language in the regulations does not have a numeric threshold for comp storage,” she said. “It has language that, ‘when in the judgement of the issuing authority, said loss will cause an increase of floodwaters.’ Whether that be one cubic foot or 100 cubic feet, it’s up to you (the commission). There’s no threshold.”
Leigh referred to the situation as an ‘unusual circumstance.’
“DEP is tenderly dancing around not requiring the comp storage because it’s currently forested riverfront area,” she said. “Basically, you’re taking out a mound of soil to create comp storage. It does have trees, not really mature trees, in there, but if you take that mound out and replant it, it’d be a forested riverfront area at some point in the future, but the mound would be gone and you’d have the space for floodwaters.”
“With this compensatory storage area, there is no loss. We meet all the performance standards,” Levesque said. “But DEP is saying we’d rather you didn’t do that. You have the discretionary authority to waive the requirement for comp storage, and that would keep that forested.”
“It allows us to do additional square footage of retail space, as we couldn’t do additional building without it,” said Levesque of the added comp storage this morning. “By utilizing old storage space from ’86 and ’01, we’re now able to move forward with these projects.”
