##VIDEO ID:j_t0F6LQnBg## e e e e e e e e e e e e it to you and you'll just so before we start I'm not sure if everybody wait a minute do you want me to get people uh in Zoom okay so we're gonna be starting so if you can just keep it down and uh uh it'll give him a few minutes to uh sign in and have to mute them all um access in the front is uh is sufficient see I'll let you know that I think everyone's pretty much in so you want to wait while it's comeing in good you want to say something or you want me to start I just want to say first of all thanks for coming second of all if you haven't yet signed in on the sign in sheet in the back corner over there please do so that's so we'll have your names help be smell spelled and everything when we get to the uh to the notes haven't said that after you check in your Spiel sure uh Walter can you can you hear me I can hear you thank you uh hello everyone this is Chuck tone readings administrat this meeting will be conducted in person and remote format consistent the 2023 which further extend the co uh certain covid-19 Provisions regarding remote participation in public meeting until March 31st 2025 please note that not all material all items listed may be in fact discussed and other items may not be uh brought up uh for discussion to the extent permitted by law this agenda includes those matters which can be reasonably anticipated to be discussed at the meeting please note this meeting is being recorded all materials available uh on the conservation division page website and I will provide a link in the chat once I'm finished with this script um Brian Bo is conservation chair and he will facil fa itate this meeting please note there will be a public comment period at the end of each hearing each vote will be taken uh during this meeting will be conducted by roll call and we will begin with a roll call attendance Brian can you please review tonight's agenda and take the roll call attendance okay sure uh 702 um call it to order the roll call order will be uh starting with Walter talit commissioner present Tony Tony rakas commissioner present shro chro siker member presid Tim to Michelle member present Martha Martha Moore Vice chair present rinbo chair present okay now I'll review the agenda quickly we're going to start off with opening the hearing on zero Stout AV uh this is um an noi for the DPW then we're going to do 32 Harvard Street uh this is continuing AER on an noi followed by zero Vine Street which is also continuing here on noi and the next Ticky page um eight Morgan Park which is opening a public hearing uh for an RDA we then have usual old new business and some discussion items hav't said that um our first item is zero strout a um is there anybody here maybe Chris Co Michael kman and I'll find Mike online okay good evening Chris Mike Mike's coming on DPW director hey Mike hello there so uh so we just started this you're you're online can you introduce yourself uh Chris Kohl's here also but can you introduce yourself for uh the record and I'll bring up the plan yes my name is Michael kesman I'm the assistant director of the reading DPW sure Mike uh let me see where the plan is okay as soon as Chuck gets the plan up do you want us want to walk up us through it sure just give give us a second and it'd be good if you talked and not your son but it's up to you try to keep him quiet my wife's out right now so bear with me all right Mike we get the plan up I'll try to point to what you're uh talking about but uh plan's up there I hope you can see it I can all right so this is the end of stout AV uh Stout AV is uh access to the town forest and the compost site um this is an existing paved area um you come in on the right uh used to be the water treatment plant um so where Chucks if you come in um to the site here on the left there is a building that is an existing two-car garage that is uh not being used right now um for anything more than storage up at the top of the site the next build building it says existing garage that is an old uh Pump House related to the water treatment plant um so what the DPW is looking to do here in the area shown with the hash marks where Chuck's highlighting um we would like to uh site two storage containers down here for the purpose of storing extra rubbish and recycling carts after uh the townwide rollout in April of this year um the containers measure 8 by by 40 ft each and what we're proposing to do is dig out the existing grass area um install a gravel base and then sight the containers on top of the gravel um the area is within 100 foot uh Wetland buffer zone um this plan was prepared about 20 years ago um but it is uh fairly accurate um Chuck confirmed that the Wetland line is primarily in the same location as shown um also included in this noi is running a new dedicated power source from the utility pole um there's a note that says proposed underground electric conduit we want to give this building its own dedicated power source because right now the power comes from the other building and then we want to run power out of the garage into the containers for the purpose of uh safety lights inside of the containers uh the last piece of this noi is relocating a gate um if you go down to the bottom of the plan there's a small note that says gate that is an existing gate that um is is broken today uh there's another gate if you go down to the right at the paved roadway that leaves into the forest there's another gate down there we want to propose to relocate that to here to secure the site um the site is going to be accessible only to DPW employees um and Our intention here is to again to store extra trash carts um we're going to buy a pretty good supply of trash carts here we want to set ourselves up so we don't we don't need to go back and buy any more um and we just simply don't have the room at the DPW Yard to store these things um so we've identified this site um for storage for the trash carts and that's really um pretty much the summary of this noi sure Mike I just wanted to uh uh bring up something you said the the site is only going to be accessible for the DPW now you mean vehicle only uh pedestrians can can walk and and all that walking with the dogs and whatnot can go around the gate do what they've been doing you know they just can't bring cars down in this area anymore correct it's going to be a a vehicle gate we'll leave ample room for pedestrians to walk around the Gates still um within the paved Road way area and um people be able to access the forest and everything with uh their dogs and for for all the recreation that they can still do right please did you want to read that you want to read okay thank you Mike um I was remissed I supposed to read the word associated with this so I'll do it now um okay so this is zero Stout AV DPW Mike kesman the public hearing on notice of intent followed by Michael kman assistant DPW director pursuant to Massachusetts General Law chapter 131 section 40 the wetlands protection act and or the reading Wetland protection bylaw section 7.1 the applicant is proposing site work to include removing top soil and Grading out crushed stone approximately 840 Square fet French electrical lines and permanently plac in onsite 2 8 by 40t storage containers a new gate will be installed between the old water treatment parking lot and stout AV to provide security and restrict vehicular access all the work is within the buffer zone to bordering vegetated Wetland the application and plans can be viewed during regular business hours at the Town Hall conservation office 16 low Street red Massachusetts and on the a division and page under the project by year assessor map 43 lot 33 Okay um anything else you want to say Mike before we get the questions I believe that uh everything on our end here I'm happy to answer any questions you have okay um commissioner is any questions I had a question at the site visit which was were there any alternate places you could put those um containers that would be further from the Wetland uh this location is ideal uh in our opinion because one of the big things is getting power to these containers and we're going to be coming out of the building overhead into the containers if we cited the containers on say the other side of the paved area um they wouldn't be um completely out of the buffer zone um there's just no way to get them totally out of the buffer zone and then to get power to the containers would require more trenching on on underground work so this in our opinion is the ideal location for them hello I'm sorry not a problem could be worse many it's more common than you think anything else well a lot of times when somebody proposes a project inside the buffer zone we talk about possible mitigation um and often people are planting um Native vegetation in the um zone of natural vegetation is there any sort of mitigation that you might be able to provide for this project I think we could come to an agreement on some type of reasonable mitigation in the form of plantings if not in this area maybe somewhere else I think that's reasonable I'd also look to Chris calleda to see if he feels the same way he's nodding yes okay yeah that sounds reasonable that's all my questions Walter you have your hand up yes I do um we had a brief discussion on Monday about the risk associated with people bringing in dirty cans or you folks bringing in dirty cans rinsing them cleaning them and have the residual water wash into uh the wetlands um has that been addressed I don't see that type of activity uh happening down here um the intent is not to wash and say clean cans um would the intent would be to retrieve cans if somebody needs a new one or um or if it needs a new lid put on it or something like that um you know you guys did bring that up at the site meeting um yeah how are you going to ensure that cans that you bring there are either clean or there's something there that you haven't thought about that you could either like a trash container or a a wash out station or something like that is there something like that inside the buildings um there is not um I actually I'm not sure if there's running water in this location at all um in in this building um I can say if we retrieved anything that needed to be clean before bringing it here for any reason we could do that at the DPW Yard I suppose sure and Walter I think you can address that with a condition um because they're not expecting it so you might make a condition um that uh prevents clean out or coming back to the commission if such a process is needed anything else Walter you do it thank you okay Tony I have a question um what are the short and long-term maintenance requirements of this facility of the facility itself shortterm the building has a couple of broken windows that we need to replace otherwise it's in Fairly good condition um two new garage doors were installed either last year the year before they're in like new condition I'd say within 10 to 20 years it might need new asphalt shingles on the roof um but otherwise the building itself is in pretty good condition actually I should have been a little more clear I was referring specifically to the to the new structures to the containers oh the containers I don't expect any maintenance for those um in in the long or short term um we're purchasing they're called one trip containers they come over one trip overseas and it's the the most new container you can buy the paint will be all in tact they'll be weather tight and everything I I don't see any maintenance necessary for these things over say 10 to 20 years do you know if that's a lead based or cadmium based paint I do not know what type of paint the containers are painted with thank you anything else um so I have a couple of questions and actually more um points um we in the conditions we will be uh asking for a limit on the activities so um if any other activities are received in the future to be added here we would want you to come back to the commission to discuss those activities whatever they may be um also um I believe we when we talked to you at the site visit on Monday uh you was saying that there was going to be no changes to the building is that correct Mike I'm I'm sorry can you ask that question again sure um so no changes to the building are expected right no no changes to the building it will remain a garage and if that changes you have to come back to the commission for that as well absolutely y also no changes to the parking area I'm sorry say that again uh no expected changes to the parking area no no expected changes to the parking area it's not going to be resurfaced or sealed or anything I I assume that's a yes um and limit on the frequency of visits I know you don't know exactly how much but you talked about once a month maybe twice a month so if if that frequency were to change we'd want you to come back to commission to have that discussion as well um obviously we're concerned with traffic on that road um and so uh if you if you're seeing you're going to need more than that you got come back to the commission I do just want to put it out there that you know right when we do the cart roll out there might be a brief period of more uh use of the building um and then we expect it to taper off after that once the roll out's kind of settled understood that makes sense that's fine but yeah absolutely long term if we see any kind of um activity more than once tce a month we can come back to you okay um parking staging and um let's see another question I had was uh so you going be putting this gate in are you going to be I assume you taking out the Old Post there already yeah the plan is to completely remove and relocate the post and the gate from its existing location okay so you're going to need to um do that um preventing any erosion of the soil as you dig it up um and not storing the pieces in the wetlands before they get moved off to wherever they're going to be for the final resting Point yep the plan is to use a chain pull those right out of the ground immediately fill the holes in with gravel and um we plan to use the vacuum excavation truck to excavate the new footing holes and the new location it'll be a very clean and neat operation there will be no material I don't even see any material touching the ground honestly yeah I I didn't expect it to be but I just wanted to get it on the record yep but let's [Music] see that's all my questions uh Chuck did you anything you wanted to add um yeah so just just for the record Mike uh there will be no overnight parking or staging any other material other than these containers and that will be inside so everything left on site will be either in the garage those two buildings or the containers correct no over site parking uh everything will be contained to the containers or the garage uh no staging of any materials of any kind other than that you know outside of the initial uh startup date when you're expecting a flurry of activity uh do you expect the work to happen on the paved parking area kind of in front of the buildings and in front of this area yeah because the containers and the garage will both empty out um directly onto the paved surface there's no reason for anybody to be doing anything but stepping from the paved surface into the garage or into the containers so there'll be no work on the on the pavement say that again uh uh so my question was will you pull the containers the trash containers out of the garage or the metal container and work on them out in the open on the pavement no no there's room in the garage to do anything necessary okay yep that's all I have okay um so having said that any last commissions any last questions from the Commissioners any questions from the public either here or online if you have a question online go to the reactions button on the lower right of your screen and press raise hand can you come to the podium and introduce yourself please for the record KY torno of 43 Vine Street just curious if this is a temporary because it's just for the use of the garbage cans and if it's temporary will those containers be removed and if they're to be removed when this need is gone what's the remediation on the landscape Mike you want to answer that um my honest answer is I we haven't really considered you know say 10 20 years out here um if it gets to the point where we don't need these things any day I guess one day we could pull them out of there I'm not really sure how to answer that question honestly so is it safe to say that there's no short-term date by which this activity will be done it may happen in the future you just don't know for sure yet correct I would consider this a longterm um a long-term plan okay just maybe something that you know when it is removed that's not left busting away and stuff like that good point thank you yeah and certainly a removal action would also require a filing because they're in the the buffer zone I would say it would be reasonable for us if we ever did have to remove them to remove the gravel and put the grass back other questions from the public can you please come to the podium I live on Prescott Street 65 Prescott maybe I missed it but why doesn't DPW put this on their own land they these are I've seen I've been in that area it's a large grassy field that is sometimes used for for activities so you're covering it now with containers those activities are shot why don't they just put it on land that they have okay thank you Mike do want to answer that yes um the situation at the DPW Yard on new Crossing Road um we are completely overloaded down there we have several storage containers on site already facilities has a storage container on site the police department has a storage container on site site our vehicles um are left outside we we don't have room to even keep all of our vehicles inside um if you come down to the to the yard you'll see for yourself we are just completely out of room down there and putting these down there would would really just kind of be the straw that breaks the camels back in terms of what we have available for space and storage and um I think it would impede our ability to to complete our regular day-to-day operations down there um I just also want to comment um I think you misunderstood where these containers are going to go they're going to go inside a fenced area that's between the two buildings they're not going to be on the large grassy area that is accessible to people okay any other questions anybody online chff I don't see anyone raising their hand okay in that case can I have a motion to close this hearing move to close the hearing on zero Stout AV um container placement this is Tony I will second that Mr talet in favor Tony rakus in favor in favor in favor Martha MO in favor ran vote in favor uh what about conditions let's write down some conditions um the one I brought up was I'd like to have the DPW work with Chuck terone for um some sort of mitigation for this project and that doesn't have to be determined immediately also limitation on this activity only returning to us if there's something new uh no work to the building returning to us if that changes same with the parking area if it changes come back to us um and a limit on the frequency of visits after that initial flurry uh we're expecting one two times a month if that's going to change back to us any other conditions I'd like a condition that the exterior B be maintained and um that it doesn't any paint doesn't start flanking off off of what off of the exterior of the containers any other conditions yeah no uh no work on the paved area and I didn't this might be something to ask but um they don't intend to set up any exterior lights so I my condition would be to not have any exterior lights because we would beyond the street light that's already there over the hydrant okay has his stand up bther yeah uh no major cleaning taking place whether detergents or water whatever takes place okay anything else then can I have a motion to issue an order of conditions I move to issue the order of conditions for zero stoud this is Tony I'll second that Walter Talbots in favor Tony in favor Mich in favor Marth Moore in favor ran B in favor okay thank you Chris thank you Mike thank you Commissioners have a nice evening let's take a night to your son for us thank you try to get him in the bath now okay well we deal with that we won't all right bye [Music] bye okay the next uh hearing is 32 Harvard Street um this is a nose fent I'll read the blurb in the second okay continue the public hearing on a notice of intent filed by Elenor ton Pur servant to massachusett General Law chapter 131 section 40 the wap's protection act and or the reading button protection bylaw section 7.1 the applicant is proposing Renovations on a single family house a portion of the house will be rebuilt a small addition to the footprint will be added and a second story will be added the driveway will be expanded and walkways will be reconfigured the rear yard will be regraded slightly to resolve a ponding issue all of the work is within the buffer zone to border vegetated Wetland the application and plans can be viewed during regular business hours at the Town Hall conservation office 16 lower Street Reading Mass and on the conservation division page under project by year assessors map 26 slot 117 the EP file number 27- 0790 Hi Ian uh do you want to introduce yourself for the record and is is um the residents of 32 Harvard here yes I think they're under um Adam shanov you're looking at the um participants um so my name is Ian anley I'm an engineer from iser Bram uh with the engineer working for the homeowner aka the applicant um I am here with the homeowner uh Elanor and Adam shanov and we also have the architect on the project uh Steve defuria on as well from Phoenix Architects um I'm going to pull up the plan okay can you see my screen yes okay um so we were here at your December meeting uh you had made a couple comments about things you wanted to see uh get clarification on things you wanted to see on the plan going to kind of run through the list of things that we've done since that meeting um we've added a couple notes to the plan clarifying where the stockpile area is going to be clarifying that the existing driveway is going to be used as the construction entrance um clarifying that some debris and other material that are in the Wetland are going to be removed um we added two CeX storm water Chambers to take the runoff from the roof of the addition over here uh the two Chambers are shown here we have uh details of those on the plan we've added a rain barrel and that was something that the U homeowner wanted to do for irrigation purposes so we've added a rain barrel on the opposite side of the house that they had wanted to do um see we added a second line of erosion control right here along the 25 foot zone of natural vegetation and the thought process behind that was we have some rear yard work some grading and removal of a shed that we're going to be doing but I think the commission didn't want to see this rear Heros control line be used for the whole project when the work is primarily being done over here so the intent is to have this sort of 25 foot um limit of work for the vast majority of the project and then when they have to do work in here then they'll come back with a second line of erosion control back here so to kind of keep the limit of work as small and as far from the Wetland as possible for as long as they can during the project um the other thing that we did was the commission was looking for some mitigation some planting I think you had suggested a three- foot wide buffer or uh three foot wide planting strip so we have that three feet along the Wetland here it's that kind of Gray Line with the the dots in it and then we kind of winding out with the shed and the uh the fire pit is now and we have a planting schedule on the plan so we're going to seat it with uh New England conservation mix we're going to put in some shrubs uh High Bush blueberry sheep waral and uh red red eyes or Dogwood and uh those will be kind of spaced equally throughout the planting area Chu had also suggested um putting in a couple signs uh just saying conservation planting area do not mow so that any you know future homeowners I don't think they're intending to sell but if anybody down the line um goes back there they'll know that they're not supposed to mow that it's supposed to stay um unmaintained permanently um I think those are all the the big changes that we did and uh happy to answer any questions try to you know check everything that the commission was looking for so happy to answer any questions okay thank you um any questions from the commission okay I have some um first I want to thank you for all the changes you made you really went down a list of uh things we had talked about the last time I appreciate it I do have a couple questions um the first one has to do with that planting strip um seems to be a discrepancy between the note on the plan and what's in the summary can you tell me with that planting strip uh are you planning to put that in the the Wetland or along the edge of the Wetland so over here I would say Flags 2A to 4A that is going to be along the edge of the Wetland in the buffer once we get over here 4 a to 7A the Wetland Jets out into the lawn right now so you'd have this sort of funny scenario if you were to follow the Wetland line you would have lawn then planting area then lawn again I didn't really think it made sense to do that and I thought replanting in the Wetland would be more beneficial to kind of regenerate the Wetland rather than the buffer zone so we do have that replanting area following the tree line when it goes through that Wetland area uh that doesn't really satisfy the uh need for a vegetation strip there though I mean again in our regulations we can ask for up to 25 feet obviously we're not doing that we're only asking for three feet so um I really would rather see it be outside the Wetland than planting in the Wetland and quote unquote taking credit for the uh planting strip sure I mean I think we'd be willing to do that okay good thank you uh next one is I'd like to see an operations and maintenance uh document for the prvious pavers I'm I'm sure it comes with the product but just if you can make sure that we have a copy of it for the records sure y I can provide that uh next one has to do with the uh rain barrel so in your summary you talk about channeling the runoff from the back of the roof to the ctech chain ERS and yet on the plan it looks like the rain Barrow is situated to the right of that rear portion of the roof can you tell me what water is going where so the intent of the chambers is to take um sort of the new portion of the house that's getting torn down rebuilt right here so this sort of left side of the house and the screen porch back here is going to be put into roof drains and put into the chambers um um and then for the rain barrel we're just going to take a portion of the existing house they are adding a second story but essentially existing impervious area and just putting that in a different spot to capture a different portion of the roof than the chambers are capturing so a portion of the rear of the roof will go to the Rain Barrow the water from the new addition will go to the chambers and where's the remaining portion of the rear roof going I think it's going to capture um pretty much the entire rear the way that the um roof line is done in the way that the downspouts are aligned back here um the chambers are going to capture I would say about 75% of the rear of the roof and then the rain barrel is going to capture about 25% said I was wondering but then you had said that the the addition was the part that would go to the chamber but if if the bulk of the bear is going to the chamber that's good yeah yeah okay um those were my only questions um Chuck do you have any questions comments observations yeah hi Ian thank you for making all these changes uh I wanted to ask about the cult um did you uh perform uh groundwater analysis do you know if you have two feet of Separation um in that area I don't we have not dug a test pit um generally we kind of keep it generic on the detail when we don't know the exact water table elevation so we'll just say 2 feet minimum above the water table and then when they dig it out there and they see the water then they go two feet up from there um but I don't have a documented elevation right now do you have a contingency plan if you can't make uh two feet yeah think if if we can't get the depth back there without you know filling to a point that it's an issue um what we would probably do is look at maybe infiltrating a different portion of the house um because the entire house even the front I believe does flow toward the Wetland so we could possibly put it in the front yard and capture the front portion of the house instead and get the chambers higher because the grade is higher in the front of the house okay uh I know I appreciate that answer um that's that's what I had um so do we have any questions from the public either here or online anybody online give a minute I don't see anyone uh so if you're online and you want to use the raise hand function it's under the reaction use the reaction button and then hit the raise hand function twostep process yeah two steps seeing none okay then can I have a motion to close this hearing I move to close the hearing on 32 Harvard Street this is Tony I will second Walter talat has conditions but I approve we get to those rakus in favor J in favor Michelle in favor baramore in favor Ryan B in favor now we can talk about the about conditions what do you have Walter uh when we did the uh site visit a week or so ago last month um there was what I would call a lot of trash in the back uh old propane tank old flower pots etc etc I'd like to see those removed and cleaned up sure and that actually was one of the additions they put a note on the plan but it makes sense to have it as a condition too anything else good for me okay anybody else in here um then I have uh the planting will be outside the resource area like we agreed to in the meeting and and operations and maintenance plan for the previous pavers you anything else chck yeah so on the plan uh we typically ask that the uh 25 foot line has the uh granted bounds and so I want you to address that in tonight's meeting so typically we would just ask for them on the property line and then in between wouldn't receive any bounds so this is a crazy Wetland line it's be hard to follow but still it you know it's uh or we could ask for one flush with the ground you could somewhere in the middle uh anybody here have any opinions on that and these Granite BL bounds would be at the 25 foot line 25 foot line yeah no okay uh so we're add that as a condition that there'll be 25 foot uh boundary markers at the edge of the property not in the lawn itself okay I think that's okay um if you don't mind I think the homeowners are on I just want to make sure they're okay with what we're discussing hey we're here Elanor has the flu so she's uh off camera but um can you clarify what the what that the granite what this question was about sure there are Stone post if you will Square post about four feet high um most of it is in the ground uh Fort or two is above the ground and it marks quote unquote permanently the 25 foot um buffer line that helps commissions and whoever in the future be able to uh locate it easily and correctly is so where exactly is the proposal to put the it'll be 25 feet from the resource but on the edge of your property on either side of your property okay so they're talking about two I think sort of one at the property line on the left and then one at the property line on the right exactly I couldn't have had it better myself okay y age any other conditions okay in that case can I have a motion to issue the order of conditions I move to issue the order of conditions on 32 Harvard Street this is Tony Al second Walter talber in favor want Lo in favor Tim Michelle in favor Martha Moore in favor Brian bro in favor thank you thank you have fun with your project thank you okay next one is uh before we get started uh just I just want to let anyone know uh if they don't have a seat we have the conference room next door open there is chairs in the corner and you can try to find a spot we're okay with you getting closer to where we're at the conference room is open in the Next Room and the uh Zoom feed is on the screen but you would have to come in here to ask a question if you had one so okay so um this is the hearing for zero fine Vine Street I will read the blurb this is to continue the public hearing on a notice of intent followed by MBTA test paganelli pursuant Massachusetts General law one chapter 131 section 40 the Wetland protection act and Order writing Wetland protection bylaw section 7.1 the applicant proposes construction of approximately 400 4500 linear feet of turn back track adjacent to existing Mainline track within the existing railroad RightWay and existing railroad ballast portions of the work are within the buffer zone to bordering vegetated Wetland the application of plans can be viewed during regular business hours at the Town Hall conservation office 16 low Street Reading and on the conservation division page to the project by year Z fine Street Vine Street from the train station to Willow Street near assessors map 20 lot 195 D file number 270-0795 do you want to speak to the uh the Pres so uh so I'm uh sorry I'm going to look for at least someone I recognize if if uh anyone from the uh kis or MBTA team can just use the raise hand function and I'll spot one of you and you can help me get the rest of you into the meeting yep there we go Jeremy okay hey Jeremy Fontaine is in the meeting and he'll be turning on his mic in a minute hello Jeremy hi everyone thank you for having me uh when you get set up uh can you walk us through it and do you want Chuck to um let's get the rest in there's more have to wait we get the rest in well I don't know who they are Jeremy can you let me know who's is who's with you tonight yep you should have Janice Kern as well on the call and we do have Alistair as well who is in person okay I found Janice so we're good to go okay um do you want to Chuck to put up a plan or do you have something you want to put up uh I can surely bring something up um so we did meet on December 16th and we're here being continued uh so we did have a lot of supplemental questions that were asked from the Comm mission that we have responded to but just I know you gave a summary but um just to kind of go Basics there's about 567 linear Square uh linear feet that fall within hang on can do you want to display something that you talked to or oh yes I thought I was oh that's okay I was trying to get your attention but it was not succeeding yes that up now I don't use oh here we go all right do you see my screen not yet there it comes coming up okay we see it okay um so I'll go to this um image so we have like you mentioned 4500 ft of track we consider turnback track going in um this is the engineering plans so you can see this darker line here would be where the turn back track is proposed and our existing track is adjacent to it so if you looking down this is how it would look like um looking westbound towards Willow Street so this is an area where we had existing uh double track in the area and we are proposing this to allow for 30 minutes service from Reading to Boston and again all work is within buffer zone um its existing track its existing ballast it's within our RightWay we' not be encroaching into the uh neighboring Wetland at all throughout the project and then for a little slight additional work so down closer towards the station um you can see this is the 100 foot buffer we would be um putting in some conduit to allow for a new signal uh per the wetlands protection act that work that's within the buffer zone we um consider exempt uh per the wetlands protection act and I can cite that it's also set uh cited in the notice of intent but that's just all to allow for the train to be able to uh go onto the turnout switches which are right here which are outside of um the buffer zone so I know there was a lot of questions that came up supplemental questions we are here to answer answer any additional ones um we have a great team here so please let me know if you have any additional questions okay thank you are there any questions from the commission have we had a site visit uh no can we arrange for one we can yes yes we wouldd like to do that um while we're on the topic we probably should try are you guys able to pick a date now uh so I would just have to check with operations since it's an active track so we would have to you know um get the appropriate people out there we wouldn't be able to my knowledge we wouldn't be able to walk the entire track just due to the timing um and for the rightaway certifications that are required for this but we would be able to see a lot of the track and there's also the bridge that goes over that we can see a lot of the track as well but um that is something we can arrange like to be sure that we got to see whatever the narrowest part is so we can understand that so I know that was a question that came up the our RightWay is consistent throughout there is no change in um distance like the width so if there is an area of concern that you consider maybe more narrow that is definitely something we can um we can try to visit um I would just want to clear with our safety team first but yes understood that's a good idea um so what's the mechanism um with will you be in contact with Chuck to figure out uh a few days or times as that would work and then he can ask the commission what would work yeah absolutely that work yeah I would I would suggest uh let's suggest a couple of dates now I'm I'm here so I'm not an issue but we usually do it on m nine o'clock on Mondays does that work for everyone because that would be one possible time that uh you could shoot for Jeremy about 9 o' on the Monday before a meeting is what we typically put aside talking next mon okay he's talking next Monday that's different but fine um that's the 20th yeah yeah that's a good Monday for me is that by Chance the Monday of the holiday yes oh yeah oh it is that might be yes why we're all free Okay so so I Tony what about the 21st of Tuesday uh 20 yeah 21st in the morning is okay all right so looks like um should be okay I can do the morning on my day so by morning You' mean nine well I'm in New York I'm free until noon so nine would be fine I think the trains go less frequently the later in the morning we get so question what window do we look into Wednesday at 9ine for everyone so Wednesday n is better for me than Tuesday morning but if if push came to shove I could do Tuesday but Wednesday sounds better we're looking at Wednesday the 22nd yeah so that's the same day as our next heing yeah and it sounds like the whole commission could be available at that point unless you're going ND your head okay so that would be better for us is Wednesday the 22nd okay yeah I'll work with chuck on that and I'll just go with our operations and um get a train schedule and make sure we have the appropriate safety um staff on site what about the previous week as well could we what about the 13th and the 14th and the 15th 15th I could do I can't 15th is wide open for me 15th the best n so the 15th works out also Jeremy okay that's good to have multiple so I have a couple options yes we'll we'll most likely be able to make one of those days work yeah 22 I'm gone okay so Jeremy the 15th is the better of the two dates I'm in Italy I forgot okay Jeremy we'll also be bringing uh or inviting the engineering staff and the planning staff to come out there with us thought you g to say he's bringing the coffee but okay um Brian one objective I have for the site meeting is to take a look at the Wetland conditions um I'm especially interested to see if if there might be flowing water or a drainage Channel along the embankment which is a frequent condition along embankments um is there any particular place you might expect to see that other words is there an area that we should Target yes there's there's at least two that need to be investigated okay so when you're coordinating with Jeremy could you be sure that sites is on the uh is within the window that we have yeah so what Tony's describing is a wetland on one side but the some sort of like drainage ditch that somehow always has water in it on the other side and there's two of those situations uh along Vine Street yeah so if you can just when you're talking with Jeremy just make sure at least one of those areas is those are quite accessible so I don't think those are going to be an issue good good okay um what I would most like to see is the parts of the track that are in the um jurisdictional area I mean that's the parts that we're in charge of yeah so and there seems to be two blobs of jurisdictional area on the track so so one's equivalent to uh Hunt Street the end of Hunt Street and I don't know if there's any access down there this is where I don't know if Jeremy can get a out there but I'll uh I will uh talk to Jeremy and he'll talk to his team about getting the commission out there because it's not just like on Vine Street some of it's in back of people's property but that particular are is not only in back of someone's property but there's another parcel of land it's like a big walk through the woods you know or up the tracks right and the commission doesn't want to be in the woods clearly so okay um yeah we never go I haven't said that but have a site visit are there any other questions from the commission before the site visit and I will just make one note um just due to safety and I know you just mentioned a lot of people it could get tricky and I'll get more details you know we usually wouldn't want 20 people walking the tracks that for safety reasons and for regulations both state and federal so I'll work with Chuck and we can get a number and then we can kind of go from there um you we could take pictures and maybe help people who maybe aren't able to if it's too many people just more of a I think we're around 10 okay yeah I'll be in touch with you Chuck and coordinate that okay okay um so any more questions from the commission before we um I think last I think it was one of the questions I think it's the first one said uh 4500 ft and the train was shorter if I remember correctly and where does it actually when it's waiting there for 30 minutes or an hour where does it actually wait and how short is it uh so on the map here and Alistair is also there you can speak more of the operations so it would wait to mine right up this area yeah alist if you want to yeah I can yeah that's correct second can you introduce yourself yeah sorry alista on the head of rail modernization so I'm actually the planning aspect of the te the commuter rail I'm responsible for the electrification and the increase of service levels this is an early Action Project it's meant to deliver 30 minute headways I.E two trains an hour PL face to that means same number of minutes past the hour to uh to reading and all stations along the line so that's the reason why we're doing this we're not just doing spe to interrupt you and we do understand it has an impact um the key Point here is when you enter a a siding like this U is to turn the train round so you're rather than physically pivoting or going around a loop track the engineer is getting out and moving to the other end of the train so to do that safely you have to get off the main line sufficiently so another train can pass so we're not holding up the behavioral trains uh they can go through on on the on the other track so that is the objective of this so we can run a shuttle back and for Frome reading every every hour but it was effectively every 15 minutes so this will be a very short dwell here so you talked about an hour it won't be an hour so with the 30 minute requirement because you're going back and forth it'll actually be at the most 15 minutes so that's the the first point make close to everybody so understand still has an impact they still have to get out of the train at front end they'll be coming out on a locomotive um at the front end the driver going into that turn track because they're coming at speed it takes a a distance to slow down again so that's the other point and you want to make the C speed I me having been at readings station but the passengers off you go into that turn track you're coming in at speed you then have to break again so it'll be near the end of that line there where the uh the train is stopped permanently for safety you know you have to make sure there's a sufficient uh braking distance um and the engineer will get out do visual inspection go to the other end of the train where there's cab car there going back into Bost oper that's how you turn the train you actually walk from one end to the other basically and once you get to the other end the other activity is to test the brakes that's an F requirement each time change ends is to test all the brakes so that takes a few minutes um so the actual dwell time is significantly shorter than the current 45 minute ter which is done at reading de reading dep station um basically bring a train out for the few about eight a day that are um Turned at Reading Station at the moment those sit there for approximately half an hour for the 45 minute turn so in aggregate the amount of idling is pretty much the same it's just more frequent short idling versus a long idle currently at weding station so it's not ideal this is diesel um I but we all know that takes a very long time to achieve but a job but this is a first step and we'll need it for the electrification too same same thing to provide that higher surface to thank you sure I answer your question y so before you sit down and I I had a question I'm just going to jump here a little bit it looks like you're at the very end of the tracks y why so you've decided to Stage right there with Wetlands on either side correct you have 4,500 feet but you have to be at the very end that is purely a safety buffer so we may or may not get that far into it but you need you require that braking distance in case there's a braking machine and you know leaves on the line and all the other issues that we do have in so that's the reason so we can approach the um switch at full speed so I don't know if you've run into this before but uh under 1022 B3 the Conservation Commission can impose conditions to protect its resource area and uh the interest the act and we can any kind of alteration if this commission feels like there's alteration or it doesn't want to take the risk they can eliminate that section out of this uh application so I'm not sure why you want to Arc at the very end in the most uh sensitive area although I understand when I say sensitive it might be an air quotes but still there's less sensitive areas on that run of 4500 square feet so you know I now I'm going to talk to everyone here so there is some um there's a difference between what the neighborhood wants and what the Conservation Commission wants and I think and I hope you all understand that so we're here to protect the wellons and that's our concern so we really want this out of the weapons which would push it probably closer to the train station and you know it might be the opposite for the community here and the residents there are other spots in town not so close to where this group of people are that don't affect either one of us but that's what you're going to hear tonight so it's not that I don't understand what you're going through and what this will add to your you know Daily Grind but um for the Conservation Commission we're really supposed to think of the eight interests of the act so that's why I brought that up that's where we're going to be coming from and I know we want to see the site and then we would have more more questions but that's the basis of where the commission can um draw its Authority that's right out of the WPA that's all I wanted to say brush any other questions from the commission before we go anywhere else and just to restate though we are just in buffer zone okay well the work in the buffer zone is subject to that yeah 10 to 10 to to be 2 2B 2v3 and when you say you're just in the buffer zone the piece of the track where we're talking about the train idling is on the Dyke in between two Wetlands that are not buff resol correct it's on the main line on the ballast it's the Legacy tra it's where it's raised up but there's Wetland on both sides so should there be a diesel spill it's going to flow down the ballast right into the Wetland the same is true the mainland so it is it's a risk and it's a risk on all that track yeah this through a wet one there but the main line is traveling along and getting out of there quickly this one is going to be sitting there for 15 minutes so there's higher possibilities of oil leakage while it's sitting there so both are extremely unlikely but yeah of course there's a chance and unfortunately the most likely chance is an accident and that's more likely on the mainline but yeah okay okay Tony you want to say um in in the applicant uh paperwork uh they included a law Department opinion on the applicability of local bylaws and my reading of that I'm summarizing is that local bylaws they're exempt from local bylaws where those bylaws would affect or interfere with the ay's ability to provide its basic function I think I've got that part more or less understood um there's already a service being provided the addition of a track would in in some ways improve that but not building a track there wouldn't be preventing that service from being carried out it would prevent 30 minute service so would prent there is a policy objective it's coming from the governor Etc uh that has been implemented by the NBTA to expand the service to readingin actually within Route 128 so it's an urban rail policy objective it's came through visioning documents that have been culated no and all the other sort of planning processes has come up with this objective so that's where it comes from and this would not be possible to reading it may be possible to Wakefield but it would not longly possible to reading if we didn't put a St track here so that's what would be changed right but we wouldn't be obstr not building a track wouldn't result in an obstruction of service it wouldn't it wouldn't even result in it wouldn't even result in a deterioration of service it wouldn't it wouldn't change service it would go against the policy set somewhere else yes so it would frustrate an objective of the agency but I mean that's would be the result I'm still a little unclear as to how a no action alternative that doesn't change an existing condition which is providing a benefit would would um fall under an exemption like this okay got so now we're going to ask the public here's how we're going to do it um a lot of people here we don't have forever so we need to focus our questions just on these proposed changes in this location we're not here to talk about what may or may not have have been considered in another part of the line we're not here to talk about Idols not here to talk about noise that's not our jurisdiction right so one by one I'll ask people to come up to introduce themselves for the record and there'll be two conditions that I'll be looking for please don't repeat a previous speaker and please stick to what I just said about what's in our jurisdiction and this is not about as Chuck said this is not about what we want as individuals or residents this is us paying attention to um our juristiction and you should uh alternate people are here people are online par okay everybody understand that we all agreed to it all right can the first said any time limit that's a good point um we're going to limit to two minutes per speaker just because there may be a lot and we're going to limit the whole thing to a half hour okay are you raising your hands to come up to speak okay hang on a question yeah to take up solution to this problem that you know you want to stick to the one subject but about when do you propos to do other you know take on other proposals yeah I'm not going to because that's not our jurisdiction if that wants to be addressed somewhere else in town government so what we're going to do we want to do is make sure that this is discussed in the context of the regulations that we have both local and State under the exemptions that have been uh uh ruled on by by the judicial system so that's what we're going to do we're going to stick to those guidelines because that's what we have to work with and none of our decisions here or anything else can we just do things because it feels good what we want to do it has to be according to the regulations okay that's that's our straight jacket that's we all it's straight jacket for all of us in this meeting hav said that you want to come up and start us I just have one additional question yeah you the short period of time and the number of people that are here tonight um if there are additional questions that come up or more people want to speak is there a way that folks could uh continue this into the next meeting it's so two things we're doing a side visit so there will be another meeting and we will take more questions at that point um and so yeah that's one opportunity I suppose theoretically you could email Chuck yeah because he has all the time in the world TOA so the best way to get cons to the best way to get the questions to the Conservation Commission is not to say them here it's lost it's not lost on deaf ears but you can easily add it to the record when you email so um you can find my email address on the town website you can call I can help you out with that but emailing is the best and all the conserv well some of them most of them the chair has his email on the Conservation Commission page and you can email the chair also um so that's the best way but so haven't said that let get to it thank you and and know introduce yourself before Toro 43 Vine Street two questions uh one in order to set this up and put the two tracks in there there was nothing demonstrated on how that is done in terms of what they're Avil bed is and if it has to get wider which is then encroaching rocks and stuff like that and then the other question is in terms of a train IDL in there these are diesel engines they have oil they drift they leak that's getting into the ground work do you want to come up and address addresss you they not supposed to be looking that way good point me to go first uh sure so I can just address the um s right away it will not be expanded will not be expanding into the Wetland we have already the ballast um and our right away there so we would be just elevating the current ballast there uh to meet the to meet the level of the current track but there will not be any additional ballasts that would be going into the Wetland or outside of our property limits yeah anything you want to add to that I was saying it's shown on the plan I mean the plan is on the record okay uh next question oil leak so in terms of the oil leak minimal oil leak there very short amount of time it's the same as the main line and uh there is erosion control protections already to sort over perod time excuse me excuse me you can't have it back and forth okay so that's is PR okay do you want to come up please identify yourself for the record please address your questions to me oh py 71 Vine Street um I'm here to speak on a couple issues one um we were here last night to prevent present to the select board because they were never notified by the NBTA and it gets to your point Tony that um the MBTA does not feel that the jurisdiction um is something that they have to inform the town about we see that as an exception it's not in a essential government function it's an add-on and they should have gone to the town about this they didn't and we are now trying to talk to people about this the other issue is discussion about the other location which we feel should be discussed because it however excuse me if I can jump jump not in this in this meeting not our jurisdiction so but it was part of the questions it was addressed to the MBTA okay but that's not part of this conversation not part of this meeting this meeting is about this proposed work in this proposed location all right that's our jurisdiction I'd also like to address the anti-idling laot of five minutes and that does affect conservation land if they're idling more than five minutes that's a violation they would be fined on that and I'd like to know how they would address that hang on one second so are you all done no um finish and then they can answer all your questions okay um we do have people here to talk on the conservation land and also to look at the location that I know um I don't know if the mvta has had a chance to actually walk the property the whole property and see the location of the tannerville property and I know that's included in looking at the effect of 80 units of dis disabled and elderly people who reside on the old reading platform of this old train station and those people are at ground level I think somebody has to be concerned and that's why we brought to other people watch jurisdic thank you um we do have a student that should be going home soon yeah so um uh there's uh a little bit of a presentation at last night's select board meting I asked them to give the same presentation tonight so I I don't know who is here for that but if they could be like lined up and do the same thing again we could do that now and then turn it over to someone online that may want to speak because we have some select board members on online and others so maybe that's what we should do at this point just get this presentation out of the way I think it educates um the conversation pass this presentation well um a is a student 10 years old that he is going to speak about the conservation land hang on a second he can introduce himself thank you hi I'm kayen MOSI I'm 10 years old and I go to bars Elementary School here in Reit I live very close to the train tracks and conservation land where they are trying to do this I love spending time down at the conservation land ice skating riding bikes and enjoying the sights and SS people mainly go down to the conservation land to enjoy peace and quiet and that would all be stopped if there is trains running and there fumes and smoke polluting the air I love to spend time outside doing lawn care and I don't want to get a headache Doe to the air pollution also in the spring my grade is going on a field trip to the conservation land but that might have to be changed due to the air quality and noise thank you for letting me speak tonight hopefully we do not have to do this taking away from our conservation land and neighbors backyards excuse me before you go what was your first name again Kaden bov and what's your address 27 Woodward okay thank you for coming here and doing this thank you for having interest in conservation land we appreciate it thank you do online first NOP name is Tom Gad daro from blind Street I gave the presentation last night with all of the photos but I think that a lot of them don't pertain to tonight so if we could just see slide number one I think that would be it and for the people who are wondering about Alternatives and things I could just mention that last night this presentation was given to the selectman so it is being looked at the selectman other than just conservation good um is this slide number five oh all right so let's get a map of the weapons oh I didn't and and grab that one I think you'll find that counting is not his skill um you're in NBTA go into presentation and I've got numbered page one two three four should have a folder there did you uh name it map or won Street existing sighting existing sighting MBTA response document BTA resp summary to new Crossing Road North New Crossing Road South this is another folder in there it says presentation yes there is page one page one there you go this is just a map of the wetlands and I've circled all the wetlands that are prob um and tannerville and the schools it's going to be near the schools which don't apply tonight but all of the wetlands are circled and the proposed track is there and that's all really applies for tonight the rest is the rest was addressed last night okay thank you thank you uh do you want to take somebody from online yeah someone uh perhaps there someone online would like to speak uh we have the reaction button and the raise hand function if you could just do that if you want to say something so far seeing none can you go back to this CRA okay somebody else from here want to come up and speak again last time my name is Jim Riley 87 Hancock Street Reading Mass I had a ton of things I want to say to you but he helped clarify and you help clarify what this meeting is about relative to the existing proposed second rail turn back track people have brought up and I'm going to rebr it up as trains idle they increase diesel fumes in the air and near that that area is 10 Ville Independent Living Center one and two right across from the area they're going to be sitting at is Parker Middle School Parker middle school has a ton of games going on All Summer Long brains idling in that location in my opinion are going to cause issues listening to the representatives here people brought up different points uh that there may be alternatives to the existing proposed line and one of the issue is the conservation land being a major issue and there's other Alternatives I would like to suggest that as you're going out in walking the proposed line if you have time or make another time walk the proposed Alternatives which are not in the conservation area I believe that is an alternative that is well defined many people have brought up that point so if you could one day walk to conservation and if we have to as a group get another group to walk the alternative because I'm not going to say it I believe it's the best thing for all of us right got it than you thank you he my name is P mcra I live at 76 Vine Street my husband and I have lived in running for 46 years um I was a reading school teacher for many years I'm here because of my concerns about the MBTA expanding into the conservation land and through our neighborhoods the implications are many but I wish to speak about the health concerns for the hundreds and can I SC for a second conservation we don't we don't get into health issues so this does the impact of the dicing fuel spills gasing and no matter where they put it it's going to impact your conservation land and the people that live near the air they breathe my husband is Parkinson's people have cancer so what I'm trying to say though is that that's not our purview our purview is the regulations under which we operate and that's it it's not Health even though we care about People's Health it's it's none of those things okay so unless you have something else if there are train fumes in the conservation area you don't think that's going to impact conservation area there are no regulations associated with that and that's our purview okay thank you thank you for your time yeah thank you for your time uh we have someone online okay we're gonna do an online first if you could just hang over there for a minute okay who's online can you uh give us your name and address for the record please um hi this is Karen herck um and um I'm assuming we don't have three select board members in the meeting or else I could just ask the question as a resident I only see one other one online and there none in the room okay thank you and um um thank you for all your time tonight um so we did have um a number of the residents presented the select board last night and it is concerning of the uh additional Health considerations in this area and but um the thing I wanted to bring up and what I don't understand is though so reading has it does have an environmental justice area which is along Vine Street and I'm not sure if it is um how your jurisdiction relates the environmental justice area and and and that is something that maybe we just want to make sure that the MBTA is paying attention to and if it was is within your jurisdiction um you know because you know this is this would be a classic example of why we don't want to burden already burden neighborhoods so um and honestly I I don't I can see on the map that it runs along Vine Street but I'm going have to defer to both the NBTA and you all to whether it is appropriate to even bring it up in this this setting so thank you thank you Ken really um you want to address that or Jeremy what Karen's question was about that area uh as for the uh EJ communities I at this point I might uh we might get back to you on that I we didn't usually that falls under meepa with an M which there were no triggers for the thresholds for that but that is something I can come back with an answer for yeah I can I don't can they hear me yes Jem sorry yeah we can we can um Janice K I'm chief of environmental we can um get back to you on that matter I'm not exactly sure um environmental justice along with the wetlands so I have to look into that that' be great thank you uh somebody else in the room somebody's getting pointed out oh yeah one my name is Mike deuch I live at 14v Road I'm only up here there's this little guy here have the courage to do this um you're scheduling a site visit what is the reason for the site visit and after you come back from the site visit what can we do for ourselves uh to come back better prepared after your review of the site visit in other words what kind of questions might we have for you guys after you perform your site visit so couple points first of all if you have questions you think you'd want us to give you answers to why don't you send them in the truck ahead of time so we can have them fresh in Our Minds when we're doing the site visit okay as far as site visits we do site visits I'd say to 99.99% of the projects that come before us a lot of that's because seeing something in person can give you a better feel for it than uh plans not everybody reads plans as well and sometimes you know see old uh figures lie and liar figure sometimes it's better to see it so we're going to walk it uh get our own sense about any erosion issues how close things are just seeing it will give us more information you want to add to that I a big piece of our site walkovers is to confirm the Wetland delineations that the resource areas that are reported on the figures match what what we see there also okay thank you very much I'm just gonna say one other thing we always like to look at what kind of vegetation there is and um whether that's going to be impacted by the project and um whether there is um yard waste is a classic thing we look at yeah yeah although I'm not expecting a lot lot of yard weight from the from the railroad but you never enough yeah I'm going to I'm going to chime in too thanks um you're welcome yeah thank you uh so when we're on a site visit we want to verify site conditions we want to look for um a ro control issues and we want to uh look out for potential adverse conditions that may affect uh may this project may affect um it's uh like the commission said it's something we typically do usually do it before we talk but still this is a bigger project and um I think that we would like some of the things mesh up good with the regulations such as steep slopes and proximity of the resource area and if we could verify that and say we went on a site VIs it and we have more pressure with our regulations and so that's another reason why we want to go out there just to verify things that we know exist but you know if everyone and as they should I've never walked these tracks or any other tracks swear to God um and uh and so I've only heard that there's steep slopes so uh we just want to verify that kind of information and we can uh make a better you know a better uh discussion with when next time at the next meeting thank you okay somebody over there going to come up just very quickly my name is Susan Nelson I live at 128 Vine Street I have two questions although I've studied the reports I don't quite understand exactly where the trains are going to be parked I would like to know the house numbers on Vine Street that are going to be directly affected by view by noise and by pollution with where you're planning on doing that and excuse me the second question is what is your planned or proposed completion date for the project okay that's okay thank you um right I'm gonna pull the map up so but you can take the next one and I'll just when I get it so if you can think of an answer to that one um and we can see if anybody else wants to come up in the meantime sure just give us your name and address please sure so my name is David Kido I live at 21 Woodward AV uh my family and I have lived there uh for 47 years I look at this as a conflict uh or an irony between the commission and the people here to the extent that you do your job properly protect Wetlands means having to have the trains idled closer to where these good people live because they live in an area that's not Wetlands they live in an area between say the mineral Street bridge and the end of Hunt Street and there are houses that line both sides of the tracks that are I believe not on wetlands so your goals in terms of what you're protecting are admirable Noble but they conflict with what people here are saying they're worried about noise they're worried about pollution they're worried about all of the effects that that have been talked about tonight they're not salutory effects they're obviously detrimental effects is it your job if and I understand you you can only do what you have jurisdiction for doing and and what the laws say you can do to then to therefore refer these problems our problems to someone else in the town is there a referral process do you automatically say to the selectman or some other department within the town that we're going to you know these people have a problem it's not our jurisdiction but we believe you should take it on do you make that referral do we make that referral because we obviously need a referral here so you made an interesting point I agree with your premise that the goals can be in yeah because you're going to be looking at Willow Street where there are a fewer houses I understand I don't know of any formal referral process Chuck do you know of any yeah so uh so the the staff that's at Town Hall has worked together for many years we're a tight group I work closely with the engineering department and the uh planning department and all the other departments Health we bring those in uh when we see an issue this has been highlighted and those departments know about it and each one of those departments uh and as a matter of fact that's how I knew that they would want to come on the site visit so um that Safeguard is a uh you know H it's a a town hall that works together and we certainly have that year can I ask a question about that more specifically I mean I mean to hone in this a little more I watch a lot of crime shows on Netflix has a case number been open has there an open case that's been assigned a number and a letter and you know all that stuff with the with some other department in the town okay we it's not an open case that's being addressed so the it was address no so there's not a there's not a case number we have a number a d file number for this uh portion of it but I'm not sure how planning works if they assign a number to each one but it hasn't risen to that level yet this is just something where the staff needs to be involved there's there's plenty of regulations that um I mean as you can see that the M MBTA came in here and their understanding of their regulations was that this can happen and but they knew they had to talk to the town and so you know the town looks at it with the residents in mind and us with the white uh in mind and we look deeper into our own regulations and find out if that is actually the truth and so that's what we're doing here we just we're just making sure that this assumption that the MBTA came in with actually is correct what do you think the timeline is for starting the project if it I don't know about starting the project I can tell you about the timeline for the Conservation Commission we probably have one two meetings left before I make a decision I wouldn't miss any of them because it may the decision may come at the next meeting and that's every two weeks unless the unless the applicant wants to delay it little correction it's not every two weeks it's a second and fourth Wednesday of the month and I say that because in January there's five nights so okay thank you I have that just gonna ask you one quick question he asked a good question and all I want to say is reach out to the town manager I sent a letter to the town manager on the related to the conservation issues I'm trying to keep it here the right way and to Phil Lang the CEO of MBTA and I'd like to pass these out to everybody here can you remind us what your name is James Riley or Jim Riley 87 Hancock Street Reading Mass okay we got it thank you thank you so before uh someone asked a question about where the train is staging can you use I think they can houses here is is that section right there this is where we're talking about yeah let me see I it's near the end of right in here okay so this is where the staging area is proposed so what is these ad 85 an Street [Music] long is 850 ft of train compared to the distance on that map what's our scale the key presumably the key point for everybody is the locomotive locomotive is a far end as in the outbound end the furest away from yeah divided by five you go to the other map so somewhere in that 567 ft is the lightly location of locomotive It won't always be the same because describe breaking distances all the other sight lines they vary by time of year but that's probably so it's not adjacent to any housing it's adjacent to the yeah so if I go back up to this other map it's actually it's up in here where they're where they're stopping and then somebody else asked how long it's going to take 12 months whenever you know we give permission to start um but it may be up to 16 month 16 to 18 months even depending if that okay okay so we GNA do is we'll take this woman and then one person beyond that and then we'll uh continue for the evening we at what time does this travel time start in the morning and what time does it end at night how many trains are going to be going back and forth from the beginning of the day to the end same Services we currently run so it starts around 5:30 ends around 11 but between 9 and 11 I think it's like 1 that's approximately so during the course of the day would be one thing no during course of the day uh every hour every hour it will be going back and forth back and so be like a train bar no there'll be two because there'll also be one going through Pap so we'll have doubles okay but knowing that this is the conservation and that's why the residents took it to the select board we've reached out to Senators Representatives the governor the CEOs everybody we can because we realize this is Way Beyond the conservation our issue but I never got my answer about the anti-idling law of five minutes you won't today well go ahead if you can answer it yes I can I can answer that so thank you for um your question on that so that's actually not for diesel trains for the diesel trains it's a limit of 30 minutes for idling and that's also our EPA um also that regulates that so 5 minutes is not for diesel trains and that's for that's 310 CMR 7.12 and um so our train would not be idling for that long what I said it pertains to diesel trains five minutes and that was the whole so if I can suggest that between now and the next meeting we can look into that and see if well you can look and we can look to so we'll have a better idea I certainly don't have that on top of my head take one more can I just respond to that of course so very briefly I mean part of what we were trying to say is the benefit of the turn track and the higher frequency servic is it's not sitting there 30 minutes so that 30 minute limit is never going to be hit because you have to actually make the 30 minute service which includes letting the passengers off moving the train onto the turn track doing the brake check that's bit idling and then coming back out it's actually if you add up minutes of idling equ into what happens right now at reading Depot the 45 minute service and reading Depot idling is a lot closer to the school the the old age facility or the low income facility so I actually think in aggregate it's the same amount of emissions it's just unfortunately affecting different people and at the moment it's going to be in the wets that's further away from people but idling always affects you so I mean you know till I get my electrification done that's what thank you before you sit down hang on one second Chuck is something to say first and then we'll go to you I was goingon to say before you sit down I was just going to ask who polies that 30 minutes because we so people let us know that you're GNA be ising for an hour when we first had our first meeting was like 10 minutes and I'm not sure if this came from officials but but that's what was in the air okay so now we're back down to 30 minutes and that can be a condition in the order of conditions but who polices it and the EPA but they're not out there every day so who we do track our idling we do track our idling times Janice could probably yeah yeah so EPA EPA has EPA has Federal enforcement uh jurisdiction on us but actual actually local Boards of Health I mean if you look at this if you look at the regulation it comes under the um it's also under the local Boards of Health for enforcement so that's where if you exceed 30 minutes local Boards of Health can um they can enforce against us but EPA and D can as well but you also track it so it like there's an internal mechanism to verify that you're not over going over the 30 minutes yes the the the the locomotives and alista can probably speak to this as well the locomotives have a number of I'm going to call them black boxes on them or other mechanisms where they can track what is being why it's being run when it's being run including on the line and in the layovers okay thank you g GPS location temperature speed all those things and this is this is important this is a MBTA policy that you make sure is enforced yes and when you see these numbers going over 30 something needs to be done okay all right I just wanted to make sure there was an internal mechanism so as this fine resident makes their way up I just remind everybody that that we will be having another meeting and there'll be another opportunity for questions at that point so this is not your last chance you have time to think about it in the meantime why not please introduce hi I'm rich week I live at 43 R Street in running and I don't know if this was covered in any prior meetings but is it within your jurisdiction to request an environmental impact statement and study to measure the number of emissions that are emitted into the air and the particles and types of particles I don't know what they're called carbon V I don't know um as you all know there's been a lot of uh investment in redoing the conservation area which is wonderful um we've already had an impact on the species the animals um can you request a study to determine that impact question any opinions that joke I believe the commission can ask for anything that would help them make a determination Jeremy I to my knowledge since we are only in buffer zone and Alternate analysis is we're not subject uh to that we wouldn't be providing alternate analysis um that helps answer your question because we were just within buffer zone and we're not impacting any Wetlands hang on so I think the WPA allows for an alternative analysis well whether you werein whether you're within buffer zone or the riverfront um but I don't think that's what we were we were asking and I can I can cite those sections to you uh because it's come up before and I've asked D that same question and I know it's clear within the riverfront but it's also allowed within the buffer um but I think what the question was is have you a have you been asked by any other town you went to their Conservation Commission for uh this statement or this um information gianis do you mind helping no I'm gonna say no because I believe what she's asking for is not within that's not within the conservation Commissions in Wetlands because what she's asking for is emissions data and information that have that has separate triggers under different regulations so you know you might be a different project May trigger air quality regulations which have different requirements under Mass D regulations as well as meepa triggers so that's generally when an environmental impact statement would come into play or be requested um not for wetland impacts um at that so you could change your question to to ask if we've have the right to ask for an alternative analysis which might be interesting so what I'll suggest is that we will look at this as well in the interim and see if we can find anything that gives us better information what we can and can't do there I think that would be very important for your decision- making process as he said it would be an interesting question thank you thank you br I'd like to point out this is where the W where the local bylaw exam becomes important because in our bylaws in section 3d1 under the zone of natural vegetation which is not the entire buffer zone but about a quarter of it um we have authority to consider things like light levels temperature um and then at the end of that section there some some very loose language about alterations shall be avoided or mitigated within the Wetland and it's possible that some of these issues like air quality I don't think we've gone there yet in in to to that extent under this bylaw but if if this project were to be subject to local bylaws that may be an Avenue where some of these questions could get further investigated through other studies or modeling exercises or you know other Alternatives analysis that's why the that's why the bylaw question is important I you get that citation 3d1 3D um I think we're done for tonight um so um I'm not sure who to speak to uh Jeremy Alister whatever uh would you agree to a continuation to our next meeting uh we do okay is it all right um would I be able to address two questions that weren't addressed um especially by the student about the conservation land is that okay appropriate long as you quick yeah I just want to reiterate that we are not uh encroaching into conservation land we're not like I we're not expanding it's within an existing right away where historically there was a double track so just for your concern I do appreciate your question on that we're not expanding or taking any conservation land okay is that it J M yes thank you so can I have a motion to continue to 22nd January 2 second I move that we continue this hearing on January 22nd second that I second that we're voting second that oh Walter tber approves in favor yes it's okay thank you will Qui for a moment to the room EMP thank you commissioner thank you everyone thanks H Jeremy thanks everyone that showed up Chuck I will wait for your email [Music] question just about the site visit the select board members be invited to that as well like there's multiple tracks noed limited to 10 I'm not sure seem like there's a couple of different avenues for multiple people to so your people are going down different tracks as far as this commission as well as the alternative which I know you guys don't to but if a select board member reaches out and says they want to be part of the this site visit we'll do our best to get them out to your select look at this that might make sense your efforts thank you that might be okay thank you there is more than process than just this commission for this approval for the town or is the only approval this is the only environmental are there other approvals that they have to go through in town I'm not sure what this is that dual tracks you're going to have to reach out to town officials and ask that question I I don't we're only conservation so I don't know collectively I think so um we have a permit coordinator that might know the answer to that and certainly the uh Town manager or someone else would I on as well for yourself but thank you all yeah app supporting what you're doing sorry Chuck I was just asking um do you want me to email you I I did take a summary of questions and just email you for times um I have the date I'll just get back with our railroad Ops and safety and then go from there this email is fine email is fine if you guys want to look over uh this meeting it's usually up on YouTube at rctv pretty quickly so so you get the rest of questions by reviewing that but email me what you have I'll add what I have and we'll make sure that we have the list between us as complete as possible okay awesome thank you very much for your time thanks J you good night good night and then there was one excuse me can you be a favor can you close that door is there a yeah you have to put the sign on it there just a lot of chitchat out here Town official will sign on it okay all right okay so now we're moving on to the next hearing which is 8 Morgan Park and while Chuck is settling himself I will read the blurb open the public hearing on request for determination of applicability filed by Michael aak under Massachusetts Wetland protection act M chapter 131 paragraph 40 and another reading weap protection byaw section 7.1 the applicant proposes installation of a new deck to replace the old Deck The Landing and stairs are in new location and the footing will be eight helal piles all the work is within 100 foot buffer zone to a border in vegetated Wetland the application of plans can be viewed during regular business hours at the Town Hall conservation offer 16 low Street Reading Mass and on the conservation division page the project here accessors map 20 lot 53224 D12 okay great hi hi hi I'm sorry I can't get my video to work I think the host needs to um am my my name is Cula veradis I'm not sure I mean not a big deal but not hiding from you one second um uh I'll be able to do multitask here there you go I see you now okay you should be good yeah I don't know it's not working let me see let me try this to three now try it okay hi hi all right so my name is um Cula veradis I represent the design build firm that is going to be um building the deck at 8 Morgan Park um I'm here with the homeowner his name is Michael axc and um what we're doing is we're requesting a variance of the encroachment on the 35 foot buffer line um what exists now is a deck there's already a deck there the deck is taking up about 23 feet of the buffer at that 35 foot buffer it's within that buffer I can I can share um my screen too to show you that that'd be great yeah so now you can see here there is an existing deck which I'm going to just put my cursor to the line where that is this is following the existing deck it comes out over here it's about 23 square feet we're adding um about 18 new square fet that would be within that buffer zone the construction of the deck will be solely on helical footings so there'll be no um excavation of any soils in that area and um what we plan to do as mitigation was to plant five native Winterberry shrubs by the stream as well that's pretty much the gist um and was wondering if you had any questions or anything sure we'll see any questions from the commission um it was hard for me to tell on the site visit where the fence was compared to the edge of stream and you're talking about planting the five shrubs are those inside or outside the fence wherever you'd like them to be we we weren't sure we knew we wanted to do some sort of mitigation we would um I'm believing on the other side of the fence by the stream would be the best route okay so then can you tell me where the fence is compared to edge of stream on this map yeah I'm going to the stream oh see I don't have no I don't have a photo of that I just have the existing deck there so let me try to show you on here the fence is right about here and Mike um you know you know better because you live there I just feel like it's right at the right behind the patio right at the edge of your patio is where your fence is there there a few feet but yeah it's generally uh kind of like it kind of hugs the edge of streamline um it's kind of a foot or two off from that uh at a streamline it's okay so that was uh that matches our impression when we were out there we looked through the gate in the fence and it looked like giant puddles either side of the gate um and be the stream where that door is is actually where the so if you look at the map here right the stream kind of Curves a little bit so the fence itself is straight um so there's a little bit of space on the other side of the fence like away from the door the door is kind of where the um the fence is pretty much in line with the the edge of the Pao yeah it's runs horizontal across the property there okay um yeah I think for my money I'd rather see the shrubs planted inside the fence um but do you know other people can get their two cents um and what's really important to me is outside the fence it looks like a lot of the leaves that were raped out of the yard were dumped through that gate into the woods on the other side of the fence which means there's a big pile of leaves damning up the we have people take away leaves but it's yeah it's just it's possible that you know we didn't go clean it I think what happens is the um the tannerville town is like doing a lot of wind blowing or Leaf blowing on that side and they don't necessarily walk all the way down the stream because on the other side of cerville um but I can we can do a better job of cleaning up on the other side of the fence yep yeah if you go look at it when you open the gate there's a clear mound of leaves in one spot stream and it's clear on either sides which is why Martha said our impression was that they came out the gate because it's in that one place of the Stream So out because we will want that to be cleared up sure yeah I'll clear it up um we did have some other questions from the site visit um I think I can go on to those questions um sure uh we noticed that there were down spouts at the back side of the house and what seems to be a su pump um Outlet do you know where those empty where the other end of those downspouts is uh I don't know for sure but I believe they're emptying near the stream at least at least one of the down down spouts empties into uh the edge of the stream um all right and there's a cover in the backyard labeled poisonous gas cover we about that I was curious when I bought the property uh so that's um it's I it's just a cover for where the Su well exits um so they just bought kind of a a container to to house that uh sump exit um so it's not you know it's not sewage or anything like that that would seem to be a strange design Choice the label it as poisonous gas I yes yes um that was all I had at the moment okay any EIC questions I have a procedural question and I hate these but I'm got to ask it anyway um do we typically issue variances under a request for determination of applicability or does that require question uh yes we've bro broken that uh I know what you're saying it should be a notice of intent but we have we pretty much consistently oper I mean I think to be honest with you we might want to make that change the next time we get into our regulations but variances usually go along with a notice of intent and that's how it's written in our regulations but consistently every every commission that's ever I've ever worked with here in Reading just looks at it as if it was the notice of intent so okay have they have to address it the same way right we're checking all the Box we're talking about Alternatives we're talking about mitigation okay yeah all right don't need to go draft bill again for some work any other questions on that Tony no that was it thank you anybody else Char Tim Walter to ask my questions do you have questions asked I think he said I already asked that's why I wasn't sure okay um the um top of the staircase is closer to the stream and the bottom of the staircase is closer to the street is that correct that is correct and will the posts at the extreme back corner of the plat of the deck be going straight down or will there be any can delevering of that deck um because of building ratios uh can of lever rules and ratios uh we're only 7 and 1 12 fet there so it's a wonderful for rule um there will be a slight cany lever I'm going to show you there will be a footing right here at the edge but that will only Canever about six inches in from um the front so there'll be one footing here another helical footing here and then on this Edge there'll be you know a Max one foot candy lever or so uh for the footing of the deck area um what you see here with the diagonal y I'm sorry on you've got a Archadeck of suburban Boston plan that um has a much bigger yeah right here there we go that one then we can see good idea um so we'll have a footing here and then the next footing will be8 feet away um it'll Canever more on on this end so the the footings will basically be in a line just like this um we're 26 8 16 there's going going to be three footings in this line and then there'll also be two footings here to support this landing area so you will be putting footings within the 35 foot not just deck surface okay correct there will be three footing within that area three helical footings I'm good I have a few questions um so you're tearing down the existing deck to put up a new deck um yeah the existing deck was not properly built it's more of a hazard but um so how are you handling the removal of that material excuse me how are you handling the removal of that material are you going to leave it around for a while you going to throw in the truck right no we we we remove it right away um nobody wants trash in their yard um so we get that so the same day that we are demolishing the deck we'll have plastic rubber made barrels that we keep on site these barrels we can keep in the driveway as well on that first day of demo we will put all of the materials in a pickup truck and that will be hauled away to our dumpster in an off-site location um for during the period of the build we will have rubber made barrels that um is where all the debris will be housed and every day we have one of our helper assistants remove those barrels um so that we can put the trash in the dumpster that we have okay and where do you plan on storing the material to build the new deck before you actually use it um good question I mean we're open to what you guys are comfortable with as well I would say it' be most likely on the edge of the driveway over here outside of the buffer zone yeah okay could stage materials uh right in this area where the the grass and the driveway meet okay that's all I had talk do you have any comments questions uh I don't I'm okay can I have a motion then to close this hearing Walter has a question Walter has a Walter has a question oh sorry I can see his hand Walter it's not that I hate you go ahead Walter yeah hi I had a question about the fence um looking at it it obviously is not perpendicular anymore and it's also looks like it's pretty much chewed up at the bottom I'm asking the question does the stream overflow and come under the fence into your yard I've never seen um so I I've seen definitely the water rise I've never seen it go to the extent where it got into the fence because the fence is about a couple inches off the ground I've never seen uh you know even during a flood or like a a heavy downpour I haven't seen the fence ever get um submerged does the water come on this side of the fence I have seen the um it's hard to say because you know there's a lot of water runoff so it's hard to say like where the water's coming from but during a heavy downpour I will see kind of you know a high amount of water in this entire area so I don't know it's not like um the water is not rising up from the the the stream right it's it's usually kind of coming from all directions and it's and it's for a brief moment in time during a heavy downpour um that I see like water kind of submerging the the lawn near the fence near the stream does that answer your question thank you okay now can I have a motion to close this hearing I move to close the hearing on eight Morgan Park Tony roock say second that Walter toins and favor with a condition is in favor in favor Michelle in favor Marth Moore in favor ranbo in favor okay can I have a motion to issue a negative determination of applicability um and do we list the conditions after we vote that's that's what I going to do yeah before we vote I don't know did we just vote you voted to close close conditions conditions all right conditions what do we have for conditions start with Walter he had conditions Walter any conditions yeah I I may be overreacting I don't like the idea that there's a mention of poisonous gas within the 35 ft range so if that can be spray painted over legally I'm okay with that but something has to be done that should not be a warning within the 35 foot range okay easy to fix if if you can legally spray paint over it without being inspected that's fine but that sign should not exist yep is that within our jurisdiction you willing the p paint it didn't paint but yeah I think it's threedimensional yeah it's engraved okay so you're not even if you paint oh jez yeah I'm gonna I'll look into getting a different covering or yeah it's it's not the right thing for what it is so another condition we have clean up outside the gate in the Stream yep we have planting inside the fence rather than outside the fence yeah and specifying when you're cleaning up yard waste you're going down to the point where it's pretty broken down you're not necessarily digging the soil up if it's in the Stream though if it's in the Stream it should be obvious what stream and what's not but you know that's just a typical you know when we say there's a pile of yard waste in your backyard we're not asking you to go down to be dirt I have a question Chuck um is that a ition with a time limit or is that just good advice um to clean it out to get the material the leaves and whatnot I mean obviously the condition is don't do it anymore but are they supposed to have this clean by the time this is done and I review the project yes yeah I would like to see it I would like to see it cleaned up this spring and also long been doing Whimsical thinking like to know whether once it's cleaned out whether you get water under the fence or not I wonder if that will improve your flow but as I said that's Whimsical okay any other conditions so what are the conditions we have planting my question is is is the painting the alteration of the sign or condition that's not a condition no it's request I have shrubs on the inside of the fence leaves of the screen before I sign off on the um is complete I'd like a survivability limit on the shrubs I I want threeyear survivability of 80% of the shrubs or 100% of the shrubs we're only planting five shrubs any opinions well 80 would be four of them it's hard to have four and a half so right that's why I said 80 or 100 80 does anybody care whether it's 80 or 100 no 80% is fine okay so 80% threee survivability on the shrubs so I have shrubs inside the fence I have leaves out of the stream before I sign off on the occupancy permit I have um material staging in the driveway yeah and just a little bit of Pile in the driveway yeah and everything goes out the same day and the three years of viability that's all I have so if there's anything else I think that's it okay now can I have a motion to issue a negative determination of applicability I move to issue a negative determination of applicability with the conditions discussed for eight Morgan Park Reading Massachusetts Jer second that Walter toits in favor in favor J in favor favor Marth Mo in favor Brian B in favor okay thank you great thank you all very much for your time thanks thank you have a good night okay so that is it for the hearings Now we move to new business I don't think there's anything there to discuss we can go to discussion items the first one is the certificate of compliance for 31 Baker Road um any here for that I did I know I was looking on I want him to raise a hand and he didn't okay so we did a site visit on Monday in the nice bommy weather um Martha do you want to walk us through our site visit sure I was hoping I could find a thermostat to turn the heat down a little bit in here we froze the other day and now we're cooking that's why I said momy I don't know um the uh oh maybe there I think it's that one that's the uh open Town manager went over and said is the heat on let's turn the heat on I'm not feeling it okay all right okay sorry it's all right is that related to the WPA by the way yeah point of order point of order yeah hey have called on somebody else I wasn't the only one on the site visit um we had the general impression that this was not ready for a certificate of conditions of um compliance um there was still deck planking behind the building that had not yet been used to build the deck that's in the original plan there was um remains of a campfire right next to the building which was kind of scary given the drought conditions this summer um there were no gutters on the building yet and only downspout pipes in the ground in the front nothing in the back that would show where the runoff from the roof would go um I don't see anything on the plan where we asked for ctech Chambers or anything like that so maybe because it was no change in the technical roofline of the building maybe that's why we don't have storm water management but one would think there should be gutters um and the roof line on this building is much much fancier than the roof line on the ranch that it replaced so um where's all that water going um there was LOM and seed inside the 25 foot line which we thought was originally zone of natural vegetation um sort of on the back south corner of the house there was yard waste including rhodendron branches inside the Wetland line um and that's oh tree in the front had a lot of branches that had been cut off so were those done recently and is that tree not very healthy at this point the one right next to the front walkway um that's my list I ref few to add uh it appears from visual inspection that the driveway is going to get another layer that's just based on the fact that it's still the way it was before and there's a gravel area near the top of the driveway between it and the garage so that's an assumption uh there's a mat covered by mulch to the left of the driveway that was loose uh so not sure what the plan is for that um let's see oh and there were two boundary markers on the left which on the plan are marked as conservation boundary markers so I guess it's a curiosity question are there more that we just didn't find I will admit it was very cold and we were not hanging around looking extensively so maybe you would know if there more than those two and that was all I had so maybe you can address some of that you're talking about just yes yes I only see two of them and they not on my yeah that's one so yeah I only see only two of them okay I don't know if it's supposed to be more and I don't either those why yeah okay no I didn't find any anymore okay so that's not your issue then so for uh water management like I have contractor he already did assessment so he on this weather he's pushing me out but uh I hope in two three weeks it will be done but I don't have concrete time yet for that and what is he planning to do he plann just put in the front and the back and do whatever was on old house just to put gutters and put them so he will be putting in gutters yeah yeah yes and uh those uh was from original house in front and in the back they never had any additional it just was gone to the ground so it just fell along the roof line yes and remind us what your name is ah Andre bow 31 bak and three in the front was not was original Three and uh yeah it's an was previously done we we also had herborist who did some but we didn't cut any new branches so the reason that that caught my eye at least is because back when you first started the work I was out there with trucks and there was a big excavation around the bottom of it and we had some concerns about some damage to the roots and so the question that popped into my head was um were those branches cut since the excavation were they as a result of damage to the roots no uh so ARA did two time treatment already he put some special whatever he need to do it we didn't cut any branches so whatever was cut before this what you see this old uh whatever was left this past summer there was a healthy Leaf canopy yeah yes it was healthy but to me trees doesn't look healthy because it has in the middle has old whatever they cut before and it's rotten inside of the tree trunk so at this summer it was green um let's go down some of these one by one what about the yard ways or dendrin branches what have you that's to the left of the house in the resource area there I just put this to protect little bit but it's isman that I cannot do anything there okay so those are going to have to come out you mean on the whatever on the ground no so if you look um to the left of the builtup part of your yard out in the Wetland there's um some Rod dendrin cuttings and debris and yeah debris and what have you that's kind of in in the area there so um talking yeah sort of near 8 a and 7A yeah no further back yeah that's where the walkway is it was a lot of De that we took it out but maybe something still left but well when we were looking to Monday there were pieces of brand es that had green leaves on them that are rododendron branches that weren't there last summer so I don't know when they got put there well there no no I mean I don't have those true and yep okay I pieces of branches May well be on the neighboring property from you because I'm looking at the Wetland line and the property boundary and you're right they they might actually be off your property but funny to have them there in the Wetland so it could be your neighbor who was dumping near your property boundary okay so let's get to the so I I go to clean it let's go back to the gutter issue for a moment so you you're gonna have somebody put them in once you do that you're going to have to fix the erosion that has happened to the front right of the house where that corner six out it's dripped off and that area has all been eroded likewise going down that right hand side of the property there's a little Channel I'm not don't think big Channel but there's an erosion track running down that Hill that um should be addressed as well and that's going right towards the Wetland I don't know it's going to get that far but either way we want to see that addressed um what about the driveway in fact you going to be doing another yeah just make it old and put it new and when do you think that's going to happen Sprint okay um what about the matting to the left of the driveway with the mulch on it I can extend it or because it was just what's the plan what was the pro this is easement I cannot it's right next to the driveway yeah I just put it because I want to protect it that it will not blow and like no erosion but I can make it bigger smaller and put MCH I put MCH before but it wind just blow away so I don't know how to okay I mean we can't add anything to original order conditions but maybe some one there originally I would like that I have this green U like grass going from by the St if they will grow up I will be happy okay and the back left the Loom that was spread was spread too far in the back left and it goes inside the 25 foot now it spread and seated okay and we can see there's an edge of the looming and that's too far in so that would want to be returned to the Natural State which would mean taking the LOM out I would imagine and then doing some plantings right so to return it to least what's around it okay can put more well I don't know I mean uh are you adding something to the order of conditions well correcting something that was damaged so I I don't think it's adding something I think it's the the first of all the spreading in the loan was a change because there was a patio there and the change was to remove the patio and spread lone and and seed and in the course of doing that it was spread too far to the left Beyond a 25 foot so I agree with Martha it's correcting a step that was done improperly I would think you would I mean if they just pull the the top soil back out of the 25 foot and then seed it you were asking for shrubs no that's where I was like I I said planting which to me is anything but but something to restore it more towards what it was and I understand restore is a loaded word yeah but do something to counter the fact that LOM and Seed was put down incorrectly could raking the back and leaving it there I don't know what that achieves what's what's on yeah so just match what's on either side is that what I'm saying yeah a lot of it frankly is just moss and things like that so it's not is any spectacular growth but that's about the natural LS so if I will just not cut CER if it will return back or you want to do something or just do not cut too far I would like you to actively do something because if it's just left you don't know what's going to grow with it right it could be invasives might be something good might be something bad so if you do something on purpose I think that would be better so can I put more shrubs there it will be um you can put more shrubs if you wanted that's that's probably doing more than you have to you know but but as Chuck said if you could make it match the ground cover that's there now that would be at least the the target of what we Le trums is extra if you wanted to do it Hallelujah but that's not nothing we can tell you I would uh yeah you you're going to get to a point where you want this completed so maybe you want to look at whatever the fastest thing you can do is and that might be shr okay okay and they don't have to be big something right okay okay um and do you know what the story is with that little campfire Circle next to the back of the house yeah my children use it little bit okay months two months ago probably not a good idea it was after they took this uh fire and they allow to make fire actually yeah but um generally if you're having a campfire you want to prepare the ground so that there's no risk of fire and burning either the Wetland or your house and we had a big drought this summer so no it was done after that so okay so well we're still in drought conditions believe it or not but that's not well so well it's right inside the 35t 25t zone and what you do don't have your kids leave little bits of marshmallows it's a bad thing okay um so you have some things to do okay so process is what you would come back when you think you're done yep hold of Chuck and I can uh maybe I can bring uh some photo to CH that he will look before and we'll have to do the site visiting yeah but before side Fe I don't want to waste again I can absolutely all right thank you thanks for your patience through this long meeting okay so we don't need a vote or anything on that can we just go and take it up again which brings us to 445 Pearl Street update by Martha I believe it says here oh lovely um okay Brian and I went out and met with Mike rivers and his father Jack rivers and um Mike explained that he was unable [Music] to follow the plan that had been approved in the summer of 2021 and that's why he built this absolutely vertical wall down to the bottom of the stream and to the level of the driveway and filled behind it with soil and rocks um and he says he's always parked his boat there and so he wanted to have enough room to park his boat and um he just kept insisting that he was able to do this um wall and um brw Brian and I finally looked at each other and said we are not able to give you permission to um to leave the wall the way it is that would be something the entire Conservation Commission would have to vote on it's something not something Brian and I could do and so Jack Rivers suggested that he come back to a meeting the next meeting or two from now with a plan of how they would um a proposed a modification modify the approved plan from August 21 August of 2021 and see whether the commission would approve the modification that um he's thinking would uh give him some retaining wall at the top and um restore the stream bed at the bottom and um we said he could talk to Chuck about that so to add a little more flavor to it uh we did reiterate a number of times that there was an approved plan this was not the approved plan he um Mike said a number of times that he thought the goal was to make it the way it was before and um you know as vague as that was we said but the plan was this so it's hard to say what he really meant by the way it was before he said that he parked his boat there for whatever number of years I remember um even the time that I went there by the time I went there already had been an approval and enforcement order and everything else there already was a slope on both sides of the stream um I don't know if he had his boat there or not not doesn't matter the point is the plan was such that was approved that's not what he did I I right no just but you know again it was a cold day and we were standing there in the cold not making any progress whatsoever which is why I said you know so if you think that you can get the rest of the commission to um approve a modification of the plan you need to bring that plan to the commission and a modification after the fact right and the works done right yeah and by the way the work isn't perfect there's already gravel leaking out a number of the seams here in there so um yeah I mean clearly I think I'm making it clear I have some issues with it but uh is there a problem with them bringing back a proposed uh plan change this is an enforcement order and it's usually they can propose something of a plan change this was I yeah I was shocked when I saw this this was outrageous that it happened but it's you know it's always up to the commission what they think um you know he's taken the back away from one side of the stream and damage the other side and then you know put in this retaining wall and it's you know won't last too long it it will not have to you know be repaired I think it's only cedar boards okay so hold on oh you breathe That's Just Your Problem yeah this is an enforcement order we approved a plan the plan should have been followed they the question is the Conservation Commission needs to know needs to decide what they want to do you certainly have the right to say I don't even want to hear from you follow the plan you got to do it by this date and we're gonna move forward or you can I I don't see a problem with listening to whatever the changes that they're going to come up with they don't see that they can do it what I saw this was crazy that's going on out there yeah I agree and and it must have said nicer words than that any number of times kept on coming back to that's not the approved plan you said you could do the work for other plan you didn't and this has been going on for years so and who developed that original plan that got approved it was uh th Thor um acement yeah from uh I forget which environmental yeah but I can't remember the name but it was a Environmental Group yeah he he hired an environmental consultant right yeah yeah Williams and Williams and sprad don't you yep got so he hired Williams andrades to develop the plan they designed the plan they designed the plan they presented it and it was approved on August 14th 2021 and then it sat there for 3 years and he didn't even make any attempt to um complete the plan until we started really getting on his case So the plan was designed it was stamped by Engineers yeah it's a legit plan it's a legit plan wasn't drawn up on a napkin it was okay no no and uh I had the copy with me and I kept showing them the two slopes of the bank one is 1.5 to one slope one is two to one slope and we look at theirs and it's vertical and the revision the um constructed condition was not done under a an engineering design or an engineered plan whether it was approved by the comp by the homeowner okay who have some experience in home building right and so if you drive by you can see in the driveway the car logs that are supposed to be at the bottom of this stream bed piled up in the driveway you can see the pile of river Stones 2 to 4 inch River stones that looked more like four to six inch River stones to me piled up in the driveway and yet what got installed was um landscape tempers well and one last thing which I did say is that the there is a problem with time in this case um you know right now we've been in a drought there wasn't a lot of water rushing through there but I've been there times when that um embankment is very full I mean not to the top but a lot more water going through that's going to erode that was one of the problems in the first place because they had put stones Boulders down which altered the flow and it was undermining the uh Northern Bank so my fear is that that's going to happen again before this gets done but I think we should wait for the plan show an open mind and take it on you face value and once we see the plan and you all get to see the plan we should probably have a site visit before the plan so you guys all really see what we're talking about um then the question is do we accept their revised plan plan or do we insist they go back to plan A from 2021 and shirro you look like you found it on Google Maps yeah I was just trying to I see it every day on my way but like okay just wanted to see what it was before so that's the update they said they would have the plan to us before the next meeting or possibly before the February meeting yeah but I don't think we should let it go any longer than that if we don't have a plan it's time to go back and say you missed your window back to the approved plan and give him a date um for it to be completed and I don't know what that this spring yeah I think it really has to be done this spring we've been waiting too long okay is that conditions are ideal dry and winter are ideal times to do this work so that enough on that topic anything else you want to add to well anything else you should have um all right conservation DPW meeting monthly meeting uh so we had the meeting uh couple of days ago um Chuck and Mike kesman had put together together an agenda was pretty useful led us through topics Mike was Prett forthcoming in projects that they they had coming up some of them even talk in 2026 although that obviously was fairly vague uh we talked about a number of U discussion topics from our perspective one of the major ones being somehow dealing with the creating of a path around the outside of bare Meadow made from wood chips taken from the trees taken down in the th so we left it that um we would count on mayor tree to do it since Dan mayor had said that he would do it and then if in fact doesn't get done if they leave piles then we'd come back to DPW to seek help and then spreading that out into a p what else should I some what else should you talk about I know I just it was a productive DPW meeting I I have to give an update on bare Meadow later so okay I'll not do that okay well that brings us to administra report which sounds like it may be about be yeah so um so uh we had a lot of help uh getting Dan mayor to remember that he was going to um create a path and I still think that I'm a little worried about how they're going to create a path path but um they will they will they said they're going to they're going to do a path they they're hoping to use the chipper to do most of it and they're going to clean it up tighten it up to a five foot width with their uh skid steer uh that may not be the right way to do it so anyways we're going to meet out there and see how this looks after a little bit's happened um although the way these guys work yeah yeah I mean move pretty quickly yeah they're gonna be they're gonna be done so I want to let you know that they're pretty much done the Town Forest they're going to be moving to Bare Meadow Tomorrow there's a guy that's going to start um mowing in the mowing areas G to have all that material cut down and um uh work through it that way and then on Monday the fell buncher and all the rest material is going to mobilize they're going to show up and they're going to start cutting down the trees the way they work this might be just a couple of days yeah they're quick can you explain about the mowing area and the mower I thought we were mowing in Spring only now and not fall or is that in different kind of yeah so so there's some Green Brier out there and there's uh it's probably Japanese not weed no it's not it's Oriental P site and uh that's uh throughout one of the areas so that's going to be mowed down and part of their process is to mow these areas down so they can get in there with their equipment and their Manpower so we took advantage of that and we had a bunch of it hit um where you know this material has come in it's it's it's most likely just going to come back I mean we don't have we don't have one portion of to Forest plan which is we don't have a uh invasive control portion to this project we just have cutting and planting okay so what they're mowing is invasive um Thicket basically not they're mowing all around the building building they're mowing all around wherever they have to yeah uh work not the field not the grassy area we pointed out the field and said this is something that we're going to protect there's certain sections of the field that will be u in the work Zone and that will get uh either modowe or at least driven over but not the center sections so a lot of the part they're cutting is if you go in the Pearl Street entrance um kind of ahead of you and to the right where it kind of bows down to the tree line for example in there turns out that the mower does a lot more uh of this work than we thought so they're going to be taking all the scrub Pine down with the mower and all the small uh saplings you know hardwood saplings and that's consistent throughout the perimeter of the project it'll even go up the new um trail that we put there with the and do both sides um I think it just really pulverizes things also so certainly go out there tomorrow and take a look at where this where where they got but they're they're going to get all four sides um and probably some of the stuff that we want to grow back to because it's intertwined with what needs to come out and the access points so you going out there tomorrow I'm going out there tomorrow I've uh the DPW so we we made sure that every all the town officials know the police department knows it's starting tomorrow uh contact information is either myself a kesman we have a sign board up letting people know that it'll closed until end of next week hopefully it's only next Wednesday is this that electronic one that they program The Dot on yeah it's already there and we've have um I'm GNA call them saw hoses at the entrance passs into the meadow and four locations it's all the locations that get into the meadow but just something there so people understand if they come through a a different section of the forest to get into the meadow we've done all that it is starting and uh you know here we go what time you think you'll be showing up tomorrow me yeah um clearly I'm offering the tag along in case I hadn't come through yeah I don't know so I camp between 10:40 and 12 other than that that was the exactly when I was going yeah I figured that's why I made that n that's that's why I can be that n we can go after 12 okay but I think you're gonna miss a lot I'll go a second time after 12 well you don't have to I mean I I trust you it's a good chance you might get it right let's uh meet there let's meet at Mata at uh one o'clock one o' sure but I'm going to be there earlier because these guys are quick I mean I know the the Town Forest is they just blown through that yeah they uh they did they had they had the equipment but that also includes all the hand workk they did too I mean that's pretty lot of that's done we were out there this morning checking it out have you been out there yeah I was very careful because the signs up and everything and I didn't wear vest and you're here to tell the tale I know no trees fell on you no trees well okay so is that it for that yeah I don't I don't have anything else about that other than to say we've tried to cover all our bases with media blast all that all that information to get it out to the public so they know so the police department knows so the town officials know don't you say media blast right everybody say what does that entail it entails mostly it entails just going up on the town's Facebook page but sometimes they send it out to everyone whose email they have and so media blast is really um these sign boards that you see here the Facebook page anything that they have electronic anyone's electronic information um and then something in the newspaper that's that's what the media use but I ask for me blast all the time and then they decide where it needs to go and so it's hasn't gone to the level of a reverse 911 which calls everybody in town no okay I know that because I didn't get yeah I didn't get a call no we and I didn't get an email either and I know I'm on the town manager minute email list Ryan uh are you going to when we when you meet me at 1 if don't get the coffee early because it's not when you get there you got to get it on the way just letting you know 12 keep it warm but it can be really diluted I can use grounds that have been used 10 times right yeah just making sure you well don't hold your breath on that um okay can we move on yeah y okay minutes for approval 1023 by now sure everybody has read them was going to comments been sent that going be sent any last minute additions changes Walter is's still awake nope he's good so can I have a motion to approve the minutes from 10232 24 I move to approve the minutes of October 23rd 2024 I second J second toet in favor in favor J fav I wasn't here then Marth Moore in favor rbo in favor so five in favor one abstain yeah okay next one is November 13th 24 by way you don't have to have been there and long as you reviewed it but that's fine okay uh November 13th same thing thing everybody read it submitted comments who's going to submit comments I haven't read that say what I haven't read that um one two three four we still have a quorum um so can I have a motion to approve the minutes from November 13th I move to approve the minutes from November 13 2024 I second toits in favor lock in favor in favor Michelle in favor bmore in favor bbo in favor okay last one is December 11th 24 those I haven't read I haven't seen them yet I haven't seen them I knew I hadn't seen them but so there I figured I'd read it off yeah I was going to say I haven't read them but um doing those that's a fine question I was in here don't give me I don't know was it 11 you got at 11 oh you're right yeah because it was the December meeting so there Wasa say she was doing it no I think Tim volunteered firea say she didn't have enough time she didn't have nothing things to do yeah I volunteered to do today child oh sorry I'll do December 11th it's just going to take a while so don't count on it being the mailbox anytime soon okay anything else to discuss before we move on don't forget uh Sunday at noon time at Mata is the land you Summit is it noon or one good question sry one glad you asked is there an agenda I yes I did you send it out the agenda there is an agenda and I sent it so it should be it was posted it should be on the um I'll send it out but it it it was part of the media blast it did get posted I didn't get a media blast W need to I gotta make sure you're on it I do have an agenda and we're gonna have Melissa Murphy and Andrew McNichol was here tonight he had you know didn't say anything so um and everything 's topic is on it I I will send it out okay so but it's not in order of speaking because Melissa said she's got to go somewhere um she's got another appointment so she's gonna come in we're gonna try to get her to speak right away Andrew he wants us to hear a little bit but he also wants to get going and then I don't know there's really no Rhyme or Reason to the rest of it it's just who wants to go next uh know the groups that would be represented us Town Force committee climate advisory and open land Tri and I didn't get anything from climate advisory what they're going to talk about yeah you did did I well I did GNA has all the that can you send it to me slope and everything did the a description did he say I sent the actual presentation oh how yeah let's talk about that what is go what are you what are you asking me for when those emils because it looked like you said a projector yeah you said I have a laptop which I plan to hook up to a projector and to project it onto the wall I don't have a projector in my tremendous array of equipment in my house yeah I mean it was just I trying remember so when we've been there before for other pres no we got the projector right so I understand you said the link you gave me did not oh that was that was for the email when I sent the email to Bob using that link it bounced back it said you know no such number I mean oh so you mean the I didn't know I'm like long as there is a projector I have reached out to Bob he's going to bring his presentation on a stick and we can use this to so I so uh all right so let me just that's what surprised USB the other one's what's that one HDMI HDMI you need an HDMI capability to use this projector that I have does your thing have HDMI on it it's a fine question looks like it does doesn't that yeah I would guess that's it I'm double check the only other way to do it is for me to bring this laptop so which is fine but if you have it then we're good to go why you Le keep in your car in case we have to go to plan Z they want uh they would also like you to come by and check it out just make sure it works that makes sense you want to stop by [Music] tomorrow maybe after you walk or before you walk town uh the bare Meadow we can make sure it works yeah you don't want to get to Mata cabinet not have the right cable to go from they gave us a cable they gave us an extension cord they want it set up on a table and not to be touched once it's set up I guess it's like one of the best ones they have um so he sent it to you on Thursday Thursday January 2nd did did you find it just forward it to me again yeah I'm trying to break it out from all the other stuff it's on tree preservation and I'm just going to say there is a weather forecast for a little bit of snow on Saturday night I'm staying home um you know if you can drive in the parking lot we're having the meeting um if it turns out that a little bit of a snow is a foot deep um I think we will have to cancel because they won't have plowed Mata parking lot that's not going first it gets plowed after all the rest I heard it tonight was an inch or an inch and a half exactly finished by one o'clock on Saturday Okay so we're not expecting that we're not expecting to have to cancel due to snow but don't drive to Mata cabin thinking that the parking lot gets plowed first do we have uh you check your email see if you got it so I'll add that to the agenda and send it out tomorrow I mean I could send you it now but I didn't add this to it okay um so there will be Refreshments uh I think Marthur is making some uh brownies I'm not sure didn't say so I'm bringing cider and paper goods that's almost brownies okay anything else before we adjourn with the menu no anything else before we go home oh on 958 958 I move that we adjourn at looks like 10 o'clock to 958 959 I move we adjourn at 959 is there a second a second all in favor all right thank you adjourned good night e e