MARK CRESSOTTI
WESTFIELD – The Conservation Commission set minimal conditions on three projects last night because there was no significant threat of harm to wetlands or resource areas within the board’s jurisdiction.
Both West Springfield and Westfield requested determination of applicability to wetland protection laws for two projects near resource areas.
Mark Noonan, the Conservation Commission’s former coordinator who is now performing similar duties in West Springfield, and Deputy Department of Public Works Superintendent for Water Jeffrey Auer presented the details of the West Springfield project to demolish two houses on Shaker Road and return that land to habitat.
Auer said the city applied for a $400,000 state grant for the demolition project estimated at $475,000 and was awarded $200,000. The West Springfield Community Preservation Act accounts will be used to finance the city’s share of the project cost.
The state funding is a grant designed to protect sources of drinking water, Auer said. The two properties at 581 and 578 Shaker Road are within the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Zone II groundwater protection regulations.
The DEP’s Groundwater Protection Regulations are intended to prevent contamination of public drinking water supply wells through regulating the application of pesticide products within primary recharge areas. A primary recharge area is either an “Interim Wellhead Protection Area” or a “Zone II.”
“Our Zone II is the southern part and the northern part is the Westfield Zone 11,” Auer said.
The plan is to remove the houses and outbuildings, pavement and concrete foundations, then allow the property, more than 6.5 acres, revert to natural habitat.
Noonan said that all utilities servicing the two houses, located just south of Great Brook and west of Kellogg Brook, have been disconnected. Noonan said the most significant part of the demolition work is related to removal of a shed on piers which overhangs a resource area.
The commission added two conditions to its decision, that either Noonan or Auer have to be present during demolition and that the piers supporting the overhanging shed also be removed.
Auer said the city is assessing its options to seek a conservation restriction on that land and nearby property owned by Westfield Springfield with both Westfield and Southwick.
The commission also adopted conditions to protect a wetland resource area in proximity to Amy Drive where Westfield is extending a sewer line to capture a capped sewer system installed when Christopher Drive was constructed.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said an existing sewer line will be extended and that the scope of work is limited to the pavement.
“It’s cut and fill work that is supposed to take a week to a week and a half to complete,” Cressotti said. “Then we’ll be paving when we’re done installing the sewer line extension.”
Conservation Coordinator Karen Leigh said there is a small wetland, created as a stormwater structure, within 30 feet of the pavement.
The commission sets conditions to prohibit stockpiling of soil during excavation and a removal of loose soil from the pavement near the resource area.
The third project is the addition to an existing telecommunication tower by Verizon/Bell Atlantic which is seeking to locate an antenna and associated equipment at 14 Delmont Avenue, the headquarters of Lecrenski Transportation Inc.
Dean Gustafson of J.R. Russot Associated, East Windsor, Conn., presented detail of the project because the existing tower is in both a riverfront zone and flood plain. The tower and an elevated equipment deck was allowed under a previous application.
Gustafson said the only environmental disturbance will be the installation of a natural gas line from the pavement to the tower to provide fuel for an emergency generator to be located on the elevated equipment deck.
“It’s a temporary trench, which just encroaches into the resource area, across a lawn,” Gustafson said. “There will be no vegetation or tree removal.
The commission set a condition requiring the company to post a $5,000 bond until the work is completed and to give the Conservation Department a 48-hour notice prior to initiating work on the project.
