is now 6:29. Uh the date is Wednesday, February 11th, 2026. Uh condition, uh Commissioner Vendetti is absent. Um we'll take a roll call. Jim Franklin is here. Megan Hickey >> here. >> Don McFarland >> here. >> Marlin Kosoy >> here.
>> Brian Payne >> here. All right, we will uh we'll now open the meeting. Please note that we are doing a hybrid meeting with in person and virtual attendance. If a member of the virtual public would like to make a comment during the public hearing, please use the raise a hand
function on Zoom and you will be assigned a speaking time. If you are listening in via telephone dialin, please press star 9 to raise your hand and then press star six to unmute yourself. This meeting is being recorded by the local scene and a record of this
meeting will be posted on the local scene website as soon as they are able. Anyone intending to make a audio or video recording of this meeting should notify the chair at this time. All right. Hearing none, um there is an announcement. Um Kingston Conservation
Commission is seeking a new member. Commissioners are responsible for protecting the town's natural resources, including um through enforcement of the state and local wetland protection laws. Uh those interested should reach out to the conservation department by calling
Matt at 781-5850537 uh or emailing at m panella pen linkstonmass.gov. We'll move to signing documents. Will the agent brief us on what needed to be signed? Uh >> we have an invoice from Strong Free Engineering for survey and planning of
the Rocky Neck storm water improvements and Apex invoice for year 8 MS4 support >> microphone. >> And we added a Thomas invoice for a >> Matt microphone. >> It's on. >> It's on. Oh, >> this happened last time too.
>> It's green. >> Anything now? turn I tried turning it off and turning it back on. >> Okay. So, Strong Tree Engineering uh and >> Apex for stormwater support and then we added in Bees and Thomas which was a
peer review bill. >> Okay, I signed two. Did I miss one? >> No. Okay, we have some time. Let's uh do enforcement. Matt, um can you walk us through 51 Main Street and
then 53R Main Street? >> Yeah. Um it's up to the commission. Um I mean I think for conversation purposes they're they're directly next to each other and these came about by um us getting complaints from both property
owners about the adjacent property owner uh about actions that were taken um initially when I got the first reports of this from the owner of 51 Main Street, Steven Buckus. Um he had talked about his the abuing property owner
cutting channels to divert storm water onto his property and said it was going towards the wetlands. And you know sometimes we see these things and they're just property rights issues and they're legal issues where if neighbor does something you're supposed
to deal with it with them, take legal action, that sort of thing. Um, I told him we should talk to the zoning department and I looked online on the RGIS D wetlands layer did not show wetland particularly close to where he
was talking about. Definitely in the back of the property, but it wasn't, you know, hugely concerning at the time. Um, and then we got a a walk-in from the owner of the other property, 53R, saying that the owner of
51 was causing pooling of water on his property by building a burm. Um, said there were things in there like Christmas trees with lights strung on them and um and other things, sort of making a a burm on the property line to prevent water from going back there, you
know, supposedly to, you know, dry his property up. So, we didn't have as many wetlands. And when he came in, he had a picture on his phone of a of a plan that was being worked on for wetland delineation, which showed wetlands much
closer to um that area than the D layer showed. So, uh, we had a little little bit of back and forth there where both both property owners either came in or, um, you know, we had a complaint to EPA, which they usually just route through to
the the town conservation departments. So, I spent some time just trying to get information together, do a little background on on both properties, um, and see whether there were real violations there. um you know asked both property owners to send me whatever they
had for you know factual information, photos, videos, things like that. Um and what I came up with was that there were there appear to be violations on both properties and the best way to deal with it is just to bring both property owners in, send notice of violation and have the commission deal with it, see what
needs action, what doesn't need action. Um, for 53R Main Street, the violation that I found through review of aerial imagery predates the current owner of the property. Um, you know, my
interpretation of wetlands law and, you know, conversations that I've had with town council about these things in the past was that, you know, certain violations, you have a two-year statute of
limitations on wetlands law and then three-year look back period when property changes hands. My understanding through council, unless I've misinterpreted it, is that if it's a violation where something is remaining in place like fill, pavement, things
like that, every day that that's there as a new violation. Um, we sent out the notice of violation based on that. We received a letter tonight from attorney Adam Brodsby, who's over there, you've seen him before. um saying that that
interpretation is wrong and that this property owner is not liable for that based on the three-year look back period having expired. So, I forwarded that to town council. Um he didn't have the time to review it for tonight, but I told him the way we would probably handle that is
to not make any decisions on that tonight. So, I don't think there's anything wrong with commission discussing that property and all the issues here, but I don't think we'd take any decision on that until we get some information back from council on whether or not that's um factual.
I had conversation with the property owner um anyways and sort of explained that you know the commission typically is not looking to brutalize people over things that they didn't do but they want to see things you know put right from
the wetlands perspective here there's sort of a he said she said on you know who started this you know who or who's causing this who's you know causing water to go one direction or not allowing water to go there I In this in this situation,
strictly based on aerial imagery and the timeline, it appears that that area used to be some form of turf or, you know, low cut vegetation and it was paved and it slopes down towards where the wetlands are. So, it's feasible that the
paving of that area could cause more water to get down in that area because now it can't infiltrate into the ground. Um, I don't know what steps the owner of 51 Main Street took. I have not done a site visit on that property yet. Um, and that's one of my recommendations, but I couldn't tell from when I was there.
There was some snow cover. Um, you'll have the photos from that. I can't tell if the owner of 51 built up a burm there or not. Um, I didn't see Christmas trees, Christmas tree lights, things like that, but again, there was some snow cover there. So, a site visit would definitely inform. um you know my staff
report does or timeline does indicate that um there's a possibility that that's what happened there and that would be a jurisdictional area. So beyond that that's the only issue that I uncovered on 53R Main Street was the paving which again was from the previous
property owner. Um, regarding 51 Main Street, the only thing that involves that particular area was the potential addition of fill to create a burm. If that is what happened there, I I can't tell that. But through review of aerial imagery, you see tree removal,
vegetation removal, turf expansion, an expansion of what appears to be pavement. It might not be pavement. It might be a gravel parking area or something like that, but it's essentially an extension of like a driveway or parking area. Um and I have no evidence of any permitting at that property. Um now again the D
wetlands layer shows wetlands being a little further back. The delineation that the neighbor or the abuter did shows wetlands you know much closer to these areas where the work has been performed. Um some of that is obviously going to be outside of the statute of limitations
anyways. Things like tree removal vegetation things like that. some of it wouldn't um conversion to turf um you know soil if you're bringing in fills things like that would be violations that would reset every day. So we have clear violations on both
properties and I've not yet done a site visit on 51 Main Street. I don't know if that's something the commission would be interested in doing or not, but at a minimum, I should probably do a site visit there to assess the area. I've only looked at any of this from aerial imagery. Um, and again, we shouldn't
make any decision tonight on 51 53R Main Street without having some information from council on whether or not that current property owner is liable for that unpermitted work. Now
we have something new that came in today, correct? >> Yeah, that's what I was talking about. That's from um attorney Broxy. Okay. >> So, it sounds like you haven't been on site. You haven't put eyes on it. We have we have
conflicting data from two different sources. We have some unre legal document documents that need to be reviewed uh that could impact whether or not we're even looking at some aspect of this. I don't see the
benefit of discussing anything until we get further on down the line and we actually have a staff report that's based on what we saw as a department. Um, also I'd like to see um what Talerman has to say about um this legal
document before we say that something's not in our jurisdiction or in this case if it is in our jurisdiction based on time. So from that perspective, um do >> you want to um we have 51 Main Street here if you want to ask if they're okay with a site visit.
>> Well, it's an enforcement issue. Do we need permission to have a site visit for an enforcement issue? I would say yes. >> Okay. Well, let's do this. I if the commission's good with this, I think we should push. I think we should postpone. I think you can have conversation back
and forth with them. There's still 2 ft of snow outside. We're not getting anywhere. >> It's not a I'm not going to be able to see anything for a while. >> I think we table this for for a month. Get the ducks in a better row. Uh if they're amendable to us visiting, I think we should take a look and then
figure out exactly what's going on here. What's the uh commission feel? All right. Perhaps we could have a motion to do such. >> Sorry. >> Since my name is Adam, I'm happy to go to the podium. >> We're continuing this. We're ready for a
motion on this. So, we're going to we're going to we're going to table it until we have the facts so that we're not discussing one thing without having the rest of it. >> Go ahead. It just >> n it's it's not open yet. If you want to
go up to the podium, I recognize you. >> I don't It's going to the horse before the card. If we don't have the information in front of us and he's going to speak to I expect speak to his letter that hasn't been reviewed by our legal. I would advise that we don't do
this. Make a >> motion continues to March 25th. Okay. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Yeah. >> Okay. open for discussion. >> So, you're not interested in hearing anything until we have more a second block and more information.
>> Yeah. Until we have actual information right now. It's just hearsay between two people. Matt hasn't been on site. There's there's nothing we can actually say definitively. And we don't even know if if any of this is going to be within our jurisdiction because it could just be zoning issues. But we won't know
until we get there and then we need the proper focus to get into there. >> No, I understand that. It's just with an attorney present. I was curious about that perspective. >> No, if there's a straight path for the commission, I think we need to take it. And in this case, I think uh waiting is
is the appropriate path. So >> So we do you need to open it for public comment? >> Um no, because we close for the >> That's what you're choosing not to do, is it? Not you're choosing not to. >> It's enforcement. It's not a It's not an NOI. No, but I'm saying there were
people here, so >> I don't want to I don't want to go sideways on this. >> I agree what Jim's saying. If we open it, then we open it. But we don't if we don't have all the facts and if we still have this letter that might state that half of it is invalid, then what's the
point of opening it if we can't get to the bottom of everything at once? I understand people are here and that it's frustrating. I've been on both sides, but why waste everybody's time to come back to throw half of it out because it doesn't anything before we open. >> Right. >> Correct.
>> So, >> Chair Franklin, could I just be not on the substance of the matter, just on the procedure? >> We haven't opened up to recognize you at this point. So, >> I just wanted the that request to be made. Thank you. >> Which request is that? >> Just to be heard on the procedure, not
on the subject. >> Well, at some point, you will absolutely be heard. Right now, what we're saying is we there was a motion and a second, >> sir. It's not open to discussion at this point. >> I'm just asking for the courtesy of being heard. That's all. >> So, we have a motion, a second. We'll
take a vote. Um, we'll do it. Uh, roll. Jim's a uh I Megan >> I >> dot >> I. >> Marilyn. >> N. >> Brian. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, it's four to one. Carries.
>> What's the date on that? >> We're going to go from >> 25th. March 25th, >> but you have to get the Okay, so >> we can um >> is that March or February 25th, please? >> March. >> One month the next >> is that the Did you check? Is it
>> a meeting date that day? >> Yes, it's the uh 4th. >> It's the fourth. Uh I'm sorry, the 26th. My apolog Wednesday, right? I was right. 25th. Sorry. >> What's the date? We said a month. Did we not? Did you Did you add a date to
yours? >> March 25th. >> Okay. March 25th. >> Thank you. All right. Um, so we'll move on. Meeting meeting minutes. Uh, November 12th, 2025. Has everybody had a uh opportunity to
review November 12th, 2025 meeting minutes? >> November. Yeah. I'll make a motion to accept meeting minutes for November 12th, 2025. >> Okay. We have a motion um to accept. Do we have a second? >> Second.
>> All right. Uh we'll do a roll call. Um we'll do a voice. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> All right. Hearing none. Uh we'll approve the November 12th. Uh perhaps we have a motion to approve December 10th or we have edits.
>> So moved. >> We have a motion and a second. We'll take a a call. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. >> All right. Hearing none. Uh that that carries. Uh updates. 17 Old Orchard Lane. Admin review. Matt.
>> Yes. Um got a admin review from the owner of 17 Old Orchard Lane for the removal of three uh mature ash trees that were dying or dead uh from emerald ashbor. Um unfortunate. We had thought
that area was maybe kind of hold out that they might somehow be immune, but that's very clearly not the case. Um I went did a site visit, was able to see the the damage um from the bores. Um and I approved the removal of those trees
with no um ground disturbance, no stump grinding, uh anything like that. And I believe I got word that the trees were being removed a week ago. I expected a flurry of phone calls, received none. Um I have not been out to review the site
with all the snow since then, but um should have gone out without without a hitch. And we are expecting an NOI on that property at some point. So some of the stumps or two of the stumps will likely be removed as part of an NOI
filing that will come. We had an NOI file in there when I first started here, you know, almost five years ago. So, okay, >> that's all. >> All right, looks like we got it. Um,
we're at 6:45, so we can do the public hearings, right? All right, so we'll move on to public hearings. Section A, Forge Pond Fish Passage on Old Lake Street, notice of intent. Uh, I will now open a hearing for a notice of intent for the proposed construction of a
permanent fishway at the Forge Pond Dam under Old Lake Street with associated dredging to restore the channel uh and improved diag. >> Come on, Jim. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that's you're going to have to give me more on that diagrammous
fish passage. >> That one gets me every time. >> No. >> All right. Right. So, as this is the first hearing of this project, we would hear the uh we will now hear an introduction from the applicants. >> We have Jill Griffith's online from
Gomez and Sullivan. >> Hi. Can you guys hear me? Okay. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you, Chairperson Franklin and members of the commission. Um, thank you for having us here tonight. We also have several members of the project team in sitting in the room
with you. I apologize I couldn't be there today. Um, but I'm just going to give an overview, a brief overview of the project and then others in the room can um can also speak and uh answer questions as needed. So, if I may, I'd just like to share my screen and show a
few slides, >> please. >> Okay, let me know when you can see that. >> We get we we have them. >> Okay, great. All right, so this is the Jones River and Forge Pond fish passage improvement project. Um this is being filed as an ecological restoration
project and uh there are three main elements of the project which I'll go through. Um but the primary element is getting fish diagramous fish as um you mentioned migratory fish um that migrate between the ocean and freshwater environments for their life cycle.
getting those fish over the dam, Forge Pond Dam, uh through Forge Pond here on the left and um also on the right is the downstream channel below the dam with some improvements there as well. So, I'll go through that in more detail.
Um uh project and funding partners that have worked on this project over the years include the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Rad Chase is in the room there. um he's been a a big lead for the project uh and working with all
parties to get this project um through. Uh the owner of the dam is the city of Brockton, so they are involved as well and have a memorandum of agreement with uh DMF on this project to do these improvements at the dam. The Jones River Wershed Association as well, as I'm sure
you all know, are a huge project proponent of restoration and fish passage in the river. Um, and I believe Pine and maybe Jimmy are in the room with you as well. Um, the Conservation Commission and Matt have been an asset. Um, there's a um, project, an adjacent
project downstream, the Lake Street Culver Replacement Project, which I'll I'll mention later, but that's also kind of tangential to this. Uh, and funding has also been received from DMF, Jos River, and um, US Fish and Wildlife Service. Um, I am, sorry I did not
introduce myself. I'm Jill Griffiths with Gomez and Sullivan Engineers and I'm a water resources engineer and the design engineer for the project and we've also had a archaeological consultant as well pal. Um so as I mentioned this is an ecological restoration project which is
uh a certain type of project that can be filed under the wetlands protection act and there are several different project types such as dam removals, culvert replacements. This is one of those project types um known as restoring restoration of fish passageways. And uh in order to be an ecological restoration
project, there are a number of checklist items that have to be met um which you'll find in the application. Uh but you also the project must also further at least one of the interests identified in this section. And this project does uh further several of those interests,
most notably the protection of fisheries. So goals and benefits of the project uh are many. Um this is a very good project. It doesn't have a lot of negatives. It has a lot of benefits. Um the primary goal is to enhance that
passage of those fish uh into Silver Lake, which is an important spawning ground for them. Uh again, these are migratory fish or diag. Um some of the species here are listed below that would benefit from the project such as a river herring, American eel, sea lampray. Um,
and as I'm sure many of you know, it doesn't it it doesn't stop at these fish. It extends far beyond that because they have a huge impact. Um, they're important food sources for wildlife. They're important to recreational fisheries and so forth. So many benefits um that come from the restoration of
those fisheries as well as by uh implementing this project, it will improve the flow regime through the river um and restore some of that flow and improve water quality and aquatic habitat. This is just a map of fish passage in the Jones River wershed. Uh the teal
shows the migratory fish runs and the red is where there are blockages and inaccessible habitat. Um so Silver Lake, as I mentioned, is a huge important uh spawning and nursery habitat. And it is accessible, but you'll see the yellow
dots are kind of partially impaired sites. The green dots have been restored or no longer impaired. Um, so you may be familiar with the Elm Street Dam which was removed in 2019 that's here. Um, but the project that we're focusing on is up here at the headarters and the Forge
Pond Dam is a partial impairment. Um, and then the junction into Silver Lake as well, which will be addressed as part of this project. Here's just an aerial map showing some of the site features. Um, so zooming in on that little purple rectangle that I showed you in the previous slide, this
is Forge Pond. Um, Silver Lake is over here on the left and the Jones River flows down um to to the right of the page downstream. So this is Forge Pond Dam is damning Silver Lake. Uh, previously it was a natural
outfall of from the lake into directly into the Jones River. So Forge Pond is an artificial impoundment. Um, sand has built up here at the edge at the junction between Silver Lake and Forge Pond over time due to uh prevailing winds, but that is not a natural feature
that's built up due to the operations of Silver Lake for water supply by the city of Brockton. Um, and so over time, uh, you know, fish can get up to the dam and there is an existing fish ladder now, which I'll get into in a little
bit, but it's it's not super effective. the fish have a hard time and the pond is also hard for them to navigate through. This picture makes it look nice and open, but I'll show you some other pictures later that show you the amount of vegetation that grows um at different times of the year.
Uh this is just zooming in another closer drone image of the dam itself. So, we've got the spillway or excuse me, the spillway here flowing over with water. Um some stop log bays on the right. water goes um flows up the page under old Lake Street which has some old
stone culverts and then current Lake Street cover um is here just off the page. And then just a few photos of those same features. So here's the dam itself. Here's the existing ladder. This was designed as just a temporary fix um to
get fish to try to get fish upstream. And Brad can comment more on the effectiveness of it, but it was always intended as a temporary structure. um and it's not super infective. Here you can see old Lake Street downstream and it's got a number of stone culvert openings which you can see here viewed
from the downstream side. And then further down just a few feet beyond that is the Lake Street cover under Lake Street. And as I mentioned um there is a project that's been designed and permitted to replace the Lake Street covert with a more fish friendly larger structure that will pass higher flood
flows and aquatic species. Um and I believe that came before the commission. um a couple of years ago. So, you may be familiar with that project. We are uh working with Matt and the design engineer on that project. We have worked with them to obtain their materials and
make sure that our design ties in with theirs. And it is now anticipated that this project would be constructed prior to the Lake Street covert. So, we will be sure to work with them to make sure that those projects tie in seamlessly. And here's just a excerpt from their design plan showing the replacement
cover. You can see it's a much larger structure with a a um a a channel designed for aquatic species. Um this is zooming in on Forge Pond. As I mentioned, just showing another view with heavy aquatic vegetation in the
summer and a photo showing the same. So, as you can imagine, this is heavily filled in with sediment and it's difficult for fish to navigate through. And just one more view, drone view looking towards Silver Lake beyond. So this project has been through many
years of feasibility studies and alternatives analyses even long ago looking at dam removal which again is challenging currently due to water supply operations. Um bypass channels not enough space to properly design that. Um and then various types of
fishways have been investigated over the years. You may be familiar with fish ladders. There are also nature-like fishways and other types um that can be considered. And ultimately what was selected and what was being fabricated for this site is um uh design an
innovative fish ladder designed by BK Riverfish is the company and it's called the Canard alternating side baffle fish ladder. Caspull doesn't really roll off the tongue. Uh but it is an innovative fishway. There's only one other installation a pilot installation in the Midwest. And what's unique about this is
it accommodates a wide range of not only those migratory fish but also resident species as well. So it's very great for restoration um for many species and it operates under very low flows. So those are the advantages and why it was selected for this site. Oh and this is
just a photo showing although the fish ladder is there um it's not always effective. So many fish have been netted and act manually put on the upstream side of the dam by many of the people in the room with you. So um there are two main components of
the project. One is to replace that existing temporary ladder with a permanent fish ladder. This is an example photo from the Midwestern site showing how it will be lifted into place in sections. Um, and the other component is to dredge a channel through Forge
Pond for fish to uh navigate through the pond. And this is a photo of the boat that would do that work. It's a hydraulic dredge, meaning it uses suction to dredge the sediments up uh rather than getting excavators and mechanical streging in there, which would be much higher impact for the
wetlands. And so, just diving into those two pieces. Um this just some excerpts from the design plans showing the fishway installation piece. So the dark blue here is the fishway and then as I mentioned some features would be con graded and constructed in the channel
downstream, a resting pool for the fish and some diversion uh features to ensure that they don't go the wrong way and kind of run out of water. Um so that's that's the uh fishway piece of the work and that is targeted for this summer or
fall summer into July through September essentially. And then the second piece is dredging of that channel through the pond. So you can see that here with the lines. Um and that sediment would be placed on the shoreline. There's a there's a mechanism
for uh disposal of clean sediments that D allows called shoreline placement and it can be placed within 100 ft of the bank um within the 100-year flood plane um and obviously not in any wetlands. Um, so these purple areas here show
available possibilities of where that sediment could be placed. And that would just be uh taken from that hydro hydrojudge boat through hoses and sprayed applied onto the bank surface. It would it would enhance the soil there
adding nutrients and and native seed. It would have native seed bankank in the sediment that would regenerate and um establish itself naturally. So that's the plan for the sediment. And it is clean. We've done sediment testing that's been reviewed by D and um
determined it to be clean. That's the dredging. Um so those are the components of the project. This just shows um kind of the anticipated temporary impact areas um which I'm happy to go through in more detail. Uh no permanent change anticipated. And
then just a reminder that the ecological restoration projects do allow for temporary uh loss or conversion of resource areas. because it's for the overall benefit. It's it's viewed as a net beneficial project for the resource.
Uh this is just a list of all the regulatory reviews that are being undertaken for the project. Everything has been either completed or filed um at this time. Ecological restoration projects are kind of a moving target um of you know a catch22 of you have to
file this first before you can get file this but you have to obtain that before you can file this. So, it's it's a bit it's not quite clean and perfect in the way it's written in the regulations. So, um we are filing this now and we have filed the 401, but we do need to wait
for the 401 to be issued before the ecological NOI um order of conditions can be issued. Um there's another we're also currently undergoing MISA review with Natural Heritage and they've given us some comments which we're responding back to. we don't anticipate an issue there, but that's another box that will
need to be checked before this could be issued. Um, and lastly, just a recap on the timeline. So, we do anticipate those remaining permits within about 60 to 90 days um by May. And then we're targeting the fishway installation for July
through October. And then the pond dredging. I didn't mention this earlier, but that needs to be done when the water level is at its highest and there's as little vegetation in the pond as possible. So that's targeted for the fall, October through December.
So that's all I had for initial content. Um I don't know if Brad or Pine or anybody in the room wants to add to that or I'm happy to take questions. >> I think I'm happy to feel questions. Sure.
>> Just uh state your name, address for the record, and if you haven't signed in, please do so. >> Sure. >> Brad Chase, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, Ditimus Fish Project Leader, and our address is uh 764
uh South Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford, Massachusetts. So I I think Jill has described the project fairly well. I understand this will be continued given some other permits that need to be satisfied first. So I thought maybe tonight that myself and and Pine and Jimmy could answer any
questions that the commission might have. >> Okay. Um fine. Jimmy, if you're going to respond, please do so at the podium. And um if you are going to speak again with the names and the addresses. Uh at this point we'll open up the open up to any
questions from the commission that um based on what we've seen. >> I have a question. It's not particularly pertaining to this tonight, but I understand there were a lot of young fish in Silver Lake last year. Did any
of them get out? It it's an excellent question. There was no possible immigration out of the lake until May of this spring when flows came up for about a week and we anticipate some fish left but it's a question mark.
We're doing an eel potting study in Silver Lake and throughout the course of that study our sounder on a boat showed schools large schools of juvenile herring in the pond. We confirm that by seeing fish in the surface, but truly we're in a drought, a level two drought
for much of last year, and we don't think those fish could have left until May. So, they they had to to winter over, which isn't really a good thing for them. So, we're we're hoping the two years we had of the drought will not be repeated very often because that that's difficult to the goals of this project.
But I think this project was studied by Gomez and Sullivan extensively over a decade ago. And we found from that study that most springs we would have flow to get adult fish in. And then in most falls they would have to wait till after October and and hopefully get those
juvenile fish out in October, November. Okay. Um, Matt, do you have notes? >> Sure. >> Yeah, I'll try not to just try not to repeat everything that you just said. Um, but just briefly, I mean, this is
sort of a sister project of of our Lake Street Culver project. So, we've been working very closely with these guys sort of we've looked at both of these projects as one, you know, bigger fish passage and resiliency project in that area. So, um, doesn't change my review,
but it is something that I've also been helping push along because it's a really beneficial project. So, um, one of the things that's come up is the ladder design um, in the past. Uh, you know, we've been writing a ton of grants for all of these projects and some
people had questions on that. Um, it's it's a really good design and the one that she mentioned in the Midwest has been really successful. um it's passed 51 species of fish or in the first couple of I think four years after they installed it it you know their data
showed 51 species of fish had passed through the ladder in both directions from darts an inch and a half long to twoft bass. So in this case our main species of interest are river herring mainly ale wife but probably also some blueback herring and American eels. Um
have the out migration of adults for breeding and the inmigration of juveniles. Um this improved connectivity will help other species just pass back and forth and find you know more beneficial sections of of river to be in. Um but our main goal are those
diagonous species and this this ladder is definitely appropriately sized for them. Um I noted that the required O andM plan for the fishway is attached but it's a working draft. Uh peers don't have the signature from the director of
DMF. Um the commission should include a special condition requiring a final draft be submitted to the department before work commences um with any changes clearly noted. We had the required construction sequence submitted. Um it does detail the installation of the fishway between
July 1st and September 30th of next year and the dredging targeted at October 15th to December 15th, 2026 with follow-up work June 15th to 30th, 2027 only if needed. Um that sequence appeared sufficient to me. Uh we did
have a question from the water department on that. Uh looking for a sequence on that with questions about their water man. So I did provide that to the superintendent. Um he asked if we could if they could have a water department representative on site for
any pre-work construction meeting which should be not a problem. Um project narrative detailed how all of the project meets the relevant standards of WPA and KWPR. Um
ground conditions obviously prevent me affirming the wetland boundaries. Um as she mentioned, we're not wrapping this up. We have to wait for, you know, two other permits to come in on this. So, it's possible, you know, before we
talk about this again that I can get out and put eyes on that. But otherwise, as a beneficial project, being an ecological restoration project, I would think it's fine to issue orders of conditions with a special condition requiring a spring review of wetland flags and requiring the plan of record
be updated with any resulting changes in flag locations. Um, there wouldn't be any work performed before spring on this project anyways. And moving of flags would not really change the project. it would just shift the shoreland placement of dredge sediment a little bit. So, one
other thing I had a project of butter uh who's here tonight reached out with concerns about uh the dredging spoils. Um the dredging spoils are not going to be on her property or um immediately adjacent to it, but there's a concern about the potential for smell issues. Um sort of making it so you can't use your
property. You know, you can't use the outdoor portion of your property if all of a sudden it stinks for, you know, weeks or months um after this sort of project. So I passed those concerns on pretty early to the project team. Uh they put
together a odor contingency plan uh which which lays out some steps for um mitigating those issues. Um you I'll read through what those are. Commission can request any modifications of that plan if they feel necessary or they could add any special conditions to
any issued orders of conditions. Um, from the contingency plan, it says dredging activities will be targeted to October 15th to December 15th. That's a time of reduced biological and outdoor human recreational activity. DMF does not expect that nuisance orders will be generated to affect nearby properties.
However, there may be other times of year when dredging may be permitted, such as they mentioned that potential for the following June um, if need be. In the event that nuisance odors are identified during dredging, DMF staff will respond as follows. DMF staff will communicate directly with concerned
citizens to understand the odor conditions experienced. DMF staff will identify locations of cast dredge materials and inspect conditions. Clumped organic material will be raised to distribute spatially and covered with tarps if needed. If odor concerns cannot be resolved, dredging will cease until a
suitable solution can be determined. I also noted um in talking about the wetland delineation that um shoreline dewatering of the hydro dredging spoils should be fieldlo just to minimize temporary impacts on
existing vegetation and that's something that my department can work with them um when the time comes. Uh the last thing was we need approval from the property owners replacement of dredging spoils
before any permit is issued. Um you are one of the property owners. So um we do have a form that the commission could sign allowing that. You don't have to do it tonight, but it would be something um
that you could discuss. and the owners of the land at Windgate parcels 141 and 142 would need to sign the same thing. It's similar to the other projects we've had where you have a project going on on somebody's property, they should be, you know, they received the butter notification, but they should, you know,
sign something saying they understand that work is going to happen on their property. So, um, the project team understands the need for that. They did provide the the blank forms that are going to need, uh, signature and they're working on the windgate portion. Lastly, it wasn't mentioned here, but
there was a portion of sediment that did test positive for contamination that was very close to the dam, and I believe the project calls for that to be uh trucked off site and disposed of properly. That's all I got.
>> All right. Do you have any responses to Matt's statements? >> No, everything is consistent. I I think maybe that last sediment sample was um re-evaluated by D and so I'm going to ask Jill if she could give us >> Yeah, I can chime in on that. Sorry for
that, Matt. That was um that was there. The sediment is not has been determined by D to not exceed any contamination thresholds. It is not contaminated. Um that was more of a reporting error in the way it was being reported early on
um in a spreadsheet. It was it was it was a non-detect amount, but it was reported in a way that made it look like it was exceeding one of their thresholds, but it was not. So, um, rest assured that it is all clean. >> Perfect. >> All right. Is there any other
>> one of clarification? The, um, the dam will have a saw cut for the footprint of the new fishway. It'll lower it 1 ft by 2 feet and that saw cut will be contracted through Division Marine Fisheries. and we may seek to do the
that saw cut at the end of June if all the permits are squared away. And so I don't think that's been discussed, but that would be the only thing we would seek to do before July 1st this calendar year if everything goes through. That that's a case where you hire a company,
they come in and they make the cut and they're done in no time at all. But that's something that if the commission wanted to be done later, we could do it later as well. But it might be something we seek to do at the end of June. Could >> I could you clarify that for me? Did you
say you will be lowering the dam? >> Well, yes. Well, there'll be a slot cut or we call it a notch where the fishway bracket will sit. >> And so it'll lower the fishway floor 1 foot below the present damrest. >> And so that's something that will be
done. It's been approved by the owner of the city of Brockton. And it will have stoplog slots so you can put boards there to stop the flow. I see. >> So it's really to to allow the spring movement up and the fall movement downstream. And the boards can be put in
at any other time. But it it allows for better passage under a longer period of time of pond level. >> Last couple of years the water has been very low. >> Yeah. >> Um would that reach that passage or not? >> The last two years have been really
difficult. uh two years ago fish fish came up in the spring and since then the drought was persistent and really there was no spillover last winter that 500 500 almost 600 day days 10 days
>> so that that's something that I haven't seen in all these years working on the site I think >> there's a reason I >> pretty uncommon so we're hoping it doesn't happen often but again I think we can under most scenar scenarios get spring migration up into the Silver Lake
and then we'll have to actively work to get the juvenile herring out in the fall. There'll be years where there's no water on October 15th and those juvenile fish will have to wait and and hopefully that waiting will will happen until November and not much later.
>> Thank you. >> Right. Um we'll open it up to public comments. Um do we have anybody online? Anybody in the room >> just as much as I am? >> No, I'm >> You go first. >> You You ride both sides of that one pie.
Hi, I'm Heidi Whipple, 35 Lake Street. I am one of the abutters. Um I have some huge concerns about the odor, the traffic. We are our inlet to our home is the that side of Old Lake Street, which
is how people like pine get there. But there's rocks on the other side. There's no houses over there. So if we moved those boulders, it made it so that there weren't big trucks coming through. >> You know, >> I get >> it would make much more sense.
>> Agreed. pike. And you know, I don't know if you're really familiar with the area, but there was a gate there that commonly gets taken down and left down. And people I had an big huge Amazon truck go flying by one day down Old Lake Street.
You're not getting anywhere. But if we could put the rocks there, then we'd keep the big traffic from going by my home, which is a 300-year-old home. And so it can't tolerate some of the gyrations, >> right? >> I mean, we hear it from Main Street all the time. I know you guys have heard
this before. Um, other concerns I have are the odor, which Matt has been so gracious as to listen to me go, "Well, what about this? What about that?" And I am concerned about that second dredging that they're speaking of. It had a timeline that could encase over the
summer. And if we're dredging this over the summer, we are outside people. We are out in our yard all the time. My kids are probably some of the only kids on Forge Pond kaying up into Silver Lake. I don't see many other people doing it, but we do. Um, that being
said, with this dredging, I am hoping that the commission would grant us permission to have a seasonal dock to get to the dredged area because it's going to divert the water from our land. So, we won't be able to get right in on our
kayaks and it's going to be very mushy. So, I would like to be able to get the kids into their kayaks and so we can keep enjoying this area the way we do. >> Um, I can talk to the highway department about the boulders. It doesn't I mean,
the only real issue is the other side isn't particularly safe because it's a huge blind spot. Um, and the roadside is like falling off. So requires some work one way or the other. I know the town uh the planning department and highway department are working on a complete
streets project there as well that would get us a crosswalk from our little parking area at Cranberry Wershed Preserve across to Forge Pond which would be a pretty big win. Um so there are sort of long-term plans on improving that area and making it safer but in the
meantime it wouldn't be a problem for me. makes makes it safer for you and you know we already have sort of a whole plan about how the construction you know access and everything will work through
there. Um I can be in touch on that. >> Okay. >> As far as as far as the other part of it, I'm I'm not sure. Um, I don't think the fact that this will be dredged should not
affect the water level in the forest pond in a huge way. Um, there will be that section that will be cut lower than it is right now. >> Isn't it on the feed map? >> What's that? >> It's on the feed side from the from the dam to Silver Lake.
>> No, no, it's on the It's on the downstream side of Forest Pond going out. Jill, could you put in put up your picture of the overhead shot of the Forge Dam forge pond because I can show you exactly where I am, Joe.
>> Yeah, >> I know. And I'm in the corner of the dam. >> I'm very familiar with your Heidi. Hi. I met you on site at one point, but it was a while ago. So, um but yeah, I'm happy to um address your three points as well. Whenever folks are ready,
>> do the one with the dredging. He tidy because >> you can do the one with the dredging dump on it. >> All right. >> The one with the dredging. >> Slide 15. >> I can't quite hear you. It cuts out the one. >> Slide 15. >> Oh, thank you. This one. Okay. Yeah,
you're over here. >> That didn't work. >> Oh, you don't see it? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> What do you guys see? Fish. >> Uh, it's a question slide. >> Questions with fish. All right. All right, let me try again. I don't know
what's going on. I'm changing it, but let me try again. >> So, she had to leave Zoom and come back. >> But yeah, >> she's Hi. So sorry about that. Can I try that again? >> Sure, >> please.
>> Okay. All right. How about now? >> Forge. >> Yep. >> Okay. Okay. All right. So, is you're over here, right, Heidi? >> Yep. I own a whole bunch of that.
>> Yep. Yep. So, um, yeah, to answer your your three questions, so or concerns, I don't see a reason other than safety, which, um, you know, the town and and DMF can weigh in on, I don't see a reason why we can't move those stones and use access from this side. We do
have a proposed deatering area shown here, but that's most likely not needed. Um, I will also say that there are no there won't be a lot of traffic associated with this project. Uh the dredging part is going to be accessed from the other side of Silver Lake. The
boat will be launched from the other side and brought in that way. Um so they actually won't even be using Lake Street at all. Um for the fishway installation, it's really just bringing the excavator on site initially and stockpiling the fishway fabrication, the fishway
sections. Um after that, they're just going to be sitting there and installing those sections and and grading. Um, there won't be any material coming on or off the site. Uh, Brad, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't envision a lot of daily traffic or hauling of materials or
anything like that. Um, so again, I think that that could be accommodated from the south side of Old Lake Street. Um, the wind the the odor and the dredging. I wanted to mention that June window. It's really only a 15-day period in June
and it was just if for some reason the water levels weren't quite right when they did it in the fall. Um that would be just a cleanup additional come back and do a few a little bit more and it would be uh at the at the very end uh where it connects into uh Silver Lake
and that's primarily sandy material. So it would not be mucky dredge um that would have odor associated with it. So that again that 2027 period is not anticipated to be needed and if it if it was needed it would just be to kind of do a little bit more here at the outlet.
Um so I don't think that will preclude you guys from you know using the pond all summer. And then lastly about the water levels. Matt was correct in speculating that this dredge channel will not change the water level at your site at your at your adjacent shoreline
there. And the reason being because the the dam will still be controlling that water level. The only time it would change is if it's um if if the if the boards are open for the fish ladder, which is in the spring and
the fall, um there will be a slight change, but not enough that it would be perceptively different at your shoreline. Um this channel will just, you know, immediately fill in. Yes, it's a deeper channel, but it will immediately fill in and still be held at the level of the dam or the stop log press, whatever is being maintained at
that time. Um, so if anything, it would improve I hope it will improve kayaking for your family because you'll have a nice channel to actually get through all the vegetation. So, um, I think I hit on the three things that you mentioned, but let me know if there's anything I missed.
>> I might nominate um, the Whipple children to help DMF with the dredging. They might they can >> then they can have some like some oversight of the smell of the material as it's coming on and you know you'll have a connection there if you need some >> they would enjoy it. They would pine
seeing them you know they're just outside kids and we like we enjoy where we live and we want to keep enjoying where we live and being able to access the pond is huge for us. So I appreciate you letting me speak and listening to my concerns. >> Heidi, did you get any all the
information that you were looking for? If I didn't, I'll get it from Matt. Matt and I have lots of conversations because I'm really concerned about the smell. It goes back to my husband's family are cranberry bog people. And when you go
and you do the dyke cleaning and the the channel cleaning of the bogs, it stinks. And it doesn't stink just for a day or two. It's it's a while. And I don't want my yard to smell like that. Yeah, they came out the cranberry
people. >> Heidi, just real quickly, I'll say too that um the the dredge the difference between that I I believe when the cranberry bogs are dredged, it's more of an open air excavation, whereas this the dredged area is still covered with
water. So, the water contains the odor. >> No, it's the material that's brought out >> the place. >> It's just like if my kids go down and get muddy in the pond, it's disgusting. It sticks. >> So, the shoreline. Yeah, the placement area will but it's it'll be just a few
inches spread over the ground. So, we feel that it will dissipate very quickly, not you know, not big stock piles and it's on the opposite side of the pond and I believe the prevailing winds are generally along the pond um >> if I'm not mistaken. Yeah,
>> between that and the season, the fall into winter season. >> You know, the other option would be to truck all this material off >> and not have me experience any discomfort of smell. >> There was language in there, Matt. Could you could you could you remind her of
the language that was in there about placement and and and monitoring the smell and all the >> contingencies? cuz I think um >> so >> I'm not sure the logistics of of trucking with the hydro dredge or even if even if it wasn't hydro dredge the
logistics of trucking on this particular site I think would be appropriate. >> So the point of the hydro dredge just so you know is to keep this cost down too >> and this is affecting my property. >> I pay taxes just like everyone else.
Heidi, to be honest, it hasn't affected anything at this point. And there is contingency language that they read, I think, to you. So, I'm hoping that that's enough to see that there's a a planned path here. >> Did you read the path? Because it's not super great, Jim. I'm going to be honest with you.
>> But she also said that it's it's it sounds like most of what they're excavating is sand because they built up. >> That's only from the end by Silver Lake. It is mucky, nasty, gross >> throughout that pond. The pond. Yeah, I I haven't been.
>> Yeah, it's gross. >> But it's, you know, once you get up into Silver Lake, you have a great little kayak for yourselves. >> It is a kayak. >> Yeah, it's a water. >> It's a public water supply water supply. >> And definitely nobody ever does it either. >> Nobody ever does that.
>> You will have my cell number. >> There we go. Brad Brad Chase from DMF offering a cell phone number to the to the body. That's that's what we like to see. >> Love and beyond. Thank you. Hi. >> May I just uh contribute a couple things? I did not mention uh when we had
a conversation about this and partners and whatnot that we didn't include the Central County Water District Commission because that commission funded the construction and shipping and trailer and motor and pump on the hydro dredge.
And the reason why was that we're hoping to do um habitat restoration throughout the county. So this would be the first time for that use, but from what we've seen in terms of looking into this, which and we started looking into it
when we were doing the the uh Elm Street um dam removal. Um but then deer thought that it would be better to let everything go downstream, so we stopped looking at it then. You can't do that here. Um and we're not taking out the dam, so we won't be flushing it
downstream like uh happened at Elm Street. But um I think that was 75 to8 something thousand I believe that contribution was something along that >> that line and that went um in harmony
with the um with the uh uh water quality assessment of Silver Lake itself. So part of this whole thing is to improve the water quality in that outstanding resource water um not only in Forge Pond because we think it will improve Forge
Pond not only for fish passage but the quality of the water itself as well as downstream in the Jones River. So I would I definitely um I disagree with Heidi in that she will feel a lot of discomfort um uh and if and if she does
we're going to address that. Um, uh, you know, I don't want her sticking her nose in the stuff over there, but it's going to be on Windgate's property. And Windgate so far has indicated every kind of support for this that we need. So, we'll be getting that um notice of
support uh eventually as soon as they can get to it. They got the letter pretty late today. Just a small clarification that a portion of it will also go on the >> Well, we're we're planning we're we're not planning to do it on the on the um
Silver Lake Sanctuary side. Um I don't think it's the great place greatest place for it because it's steeper and closer closer to a wetland. Uh that is outside of Forge Pond itself. Um so so preferentially and in terms of moving
that uh discharge hose um it would be better to stay in line I think in terms of the um the effort it's going to take to do that and it'll keep it a lot further away from Heidi's house. >> Any questions for Pine
report? Yep. Um >> I think um maybe does Jill have a good idea of when I think Natural Heritage said something
like 30 days or do we do we know when this should be continued to I guess is the question. >> Yeah, I believe um I think 30 days would be a good start uh because we have some additional information to provide to Natural Heritage and I believe they have
a 30-day review timeline. Um I I don't know if that's each time you submit new material or not, but I think that would be a safe conservative estimate between that and the 401 being issued. >> So if we did maybe a March 11th
continuence and if we do not have that information um when we do the agenda, we have the ability to do what we did tonight for the other two NOIs, which is just to write this will be continued to Okay.
>> The next meeting. Does that make Does that make sense? >> Yep. >> We need a motion to move to which what was the date in position? >> March 11th. >> Do we have a section? >> Yeah. >> Can we do that?
>> Something on uh B. Section B. >> All right. Perhaps I have a motion uh to continue this to March 11th uh slot B. >> I'll make that motion. >> I have a motion. second. Um we'll take a um a roll. Uh all those in favor
>> I >> I opposed. >> I pass. We'll continue to March 11th. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> Thanks Joe. All right.
>> Good night, Bill. Good to see you. >> Thank you. >> That's a thing. >> All right. I will now continue a hearing for the request for amendment for the proposed insulation of a sentiment for bay and rain garden within 200 ft of a
riverfront area of Smokebrook at one Royson Drive, formerly 20 Marian Drive. Uh they have uh requested a continuence until February 25th. Do I hear a motion? >> I'll make that motion. >> All right. Do we have a second? >> Second.
>> All right. We have a motion um by Marilyn, second by Megan. Uh, all those in favor. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Uh, unanimous. Um, section C, 135 Indian Pond Road, map
A6, lot 16, notice of intent. I will now open a hearing for a notice of intent for the proposed construction of an addition to a single family home with associated septic system upgrades within the 200t riverfront area to a perennial stream and the 100 foot buffer zones to
a bordering vegetated wetland and a bordering land subject to flooding at 135 Indian pond road. They have requested a continuence until February 25th. Do I hear a motion? >> I'll make that motion. We have a motion
by Megan, second by by Brian. All those in favor? I >> opposed. That motion carries uh unanimously. >> Sorry, just a clarification on both of those. They didn't request continuence. There were procedural reasons for it just for
>> Okay. Sorry, I I should have brought my glasses. Um, so it looks like we're at closing. Did we cover Is there anything else, Matt? Okay. Uh the next meeting will be held February 25th, 2026 starting at 6:30.
The time is now 7:34. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So >> second, >> Brian seconded by Marilyn. All those in favor? I >> opposed. >> Hearing none. Unanimous. Uh we are adjourned.