October 17, 2005
Board Members Present: Arnold Koehler, Charles Wentworth, John Kaufman,
Alternate Members Present: Stephen Sackter, Charles Dorman
Absent Members: George Carrington
Others Present: Bill Donovan, Land Use Inspector/Clerk
Chairman Koehler called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. C. Dorman was seated for G. Carrington, S. Sackter was seated for vacant seat.
Correspondence:
Connecticut Association of Conservation & Inland Wetlands Commissions: 25* Annual Meeting & Environmental Conference scheduled for November 5, 2005,
(2) Connecticut Association of Conservation and Inland Wetlands Commissions: Publication "The Habitaf Summer 2005,
(3) Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality: 2004 Annual Report,
(4) Letter from Charlene Wentworth Spreda dated October 17, 2005 (see Old Business: Application 03-04)
New Business:
a. Joseph A. Testa, 20 Barry Lane. Application for a septic replacement and piping of intermittent watercourse within a regulated area. Mr. Testa stated he recently purchased a house at 20 Barry Lane and discovered the septic system has failed. He has received Chesprocott approval for a replacement system. One condition of approval from the health department is to pipe a section of the intermittent open watercourse that is within 50 feet of the new septic system to comply with their code requirements. Motion by J. Kaufman, seconded by C. Dorman to accept Application 07-05 of Joseph Testa as presented. Unanimous. A site walk was scheduled for Saturday, October 22nd at 9:00 a.m.
b. Timothy O'Rourke, 15 Mixville Road. Application for thinning of trees/brush in wetlands and filling of wetlands to accommodate storage building and outside storage. Mr. O'Rourke described his intention to fill in an area approximately 60 feet in width back from his existing driveway behind the house. He also would like to thin several trees located in wetlands, create a water pond within wetlands and re-channel drain water flowing off his property into the existing stream to the rear of his house. Commissioners questioned how the wetlands boundaries were located. Mr. O'Rourke stated he did not utilize a soils scientist, as the back of the property is generally acknowledged as all wetlands. Chairman Koehler determined not to accept the application at this time but to set a site walk for Saturday, October 22nd at 9:30 a.m. at which time the commissioners can decide if a formal soils report is necessary for this application
c. Mark and Joan Chevrier, 215 Cheshire Road. Application for structures, outside storage and display area for garden center within a regulated area. Mark Chevrier acknowledged his error in placing structures on his property without first receiving the necessary inland wetlands permits. He described the property as 300 wide by 180 deep and surrounded on three sides by wetlands. Mr. Chevrier did receive prior wetlands approval for a plunge pool that has been installed. The greenhouse that is installed is within the regulated area. However, both the greenhouse and trailer on site are there on a temporary basis only. Mr. Chevrier's plan is to replace both temporary structures with permanent structures after receiving both Planning & Zoning and Inland Wetlands approvals. There are no fuels, pesticides or herbicides stored on site. There is a dug swale channeled around the boundary of the garden center that continues onto the abutting Town public works facility and eventually discharges into the storm water system
on Route 68. C. Wentworth questioned Mr. Chevrier on why he flip-flopped his original site plan that he presented to Inland Wetlands when he received approval for the plunge pool. Mr. Chevrier stated after he received wetlands approval, he realized the water flows over the lot in a generally easterly direction. Had the structures been placed on
the easterly side as originally shown, they would be continually subject to surface water runoff. Where the structures are now is on the high side of the property. Motion by J. Kaufman, seconded by C. Wentworth to accept Application 08-05 as presented. Unanimous. A site walk was scheduled for Saturday, October 22nd at 10.00a.m.
d. Frederick Slaney, 26 Roaring Brook Road. Application for pond maintenance. (Approved by IW Agent: For Commission's review and comment). Mr. Slaney stated he had received prior Inland Wetlands approval in the early 1990's to clean out his pond. Over the past few years the pond has accumulated silt and sediment and has filled in. Mr. Slaney stated he asked Bill Donovan in September for permission to clean out the pond again. Mr. Slaney stated he had persons available to do the work, which should not take more than one day. Approximately 15-20 yards of material were removed from the pond. He has placed silt fence before the outlet and has seeded and hayed the surrounding embankment and disturbed area. Chairman Koehler asked how the pond has held up with this week's heavy rainfalls. Mr. Slaney stated the pond's embankments and dug area withstood the heavy rams with no noticeable erosion. The water leaving the pond looks clear. C. Wentworth requested the small board in front of the outlet pipe be removed. Mr. Slaney stated he would like to leave the board in place as the board is what allows the pond to fill with water. Chairman Koehler assigned Application 09-05 to Frederick Slaney. A site walk was scheduled for Saturday, October 22nd at 10:20 a.m.
Old Business:
a. Justin Gill, 117 Cook Road. Application for tree/brush removal within wetlands and placement of detached structure within regulated area. (Original application denied). Chairman Koehler stated a soils survey prepared by "Soil Science and Environmental Services, Inc" is included with the application. Also included is a wetlands boundary delineation drawn by Thomas W. Pietros, dated August 18, 2005 that was produced on a copied portion of the "Francois Woods Estates" final subdivision plan on file in the Prospect Land Records. J. Kaufman questioned if the boundaries shown on the map are to scale with the distances listed. Mr. Gill stated they are not. Chairman Koehler asked if wetlands boundaries flags are still in place. Mr. Gill stated they are. J. Kaufman stated he would like to see a scaled map showing location and size of structures in proportion to the distances of these structures to wetlands and property boundaries. Mr. Gill acknowledged his intention to alleviate past issues that have occurred with his property, including addressing those items cited in the "Cease and Desist Order" he recently received from Bill Donovan. Chairman Koehler stated he will set a site walk for the property. The Chairman indicated he wants to see the wetlands flags placed along the wetlands boundary, and at the site walk he would like Mr. Gill to have a scaled, readable drawing of his property showing the location of his buildings, wetlands, and distances from the buildings to the wetlands. J. Kaufman asked for some permanent marker, such as a tree, from which they could orient themselves to boundary markers, wetlands, etc. Commissioners also asked Mr. Gill to locate his septic and well on the map. J. Kaufman asked for a larger scaled map from what has been presented. J. Kaufman asked for a report from the soils scientist on how far down he dug into the Udorthents (UD soils) to determine they are udorthents by definition. Did the soils scientist dig into the underlying undisturbed soils, and if so, what type of soils are they? Motion by J. Kaufman, seconded by S. Sackter to accept Application 10-05 as presented. Unanimous. A site walk was scheduled for Saturday, October 29th at 8:30 a.m.
b. Application 03-04: Prospect Estates, LLC, 193 & 193R Cook Road. Review of existing erosion and sedimentation control measures. Chairman Koehler read into the record a letter from Charlene W. Spreda, 35 Candee Road dated October 17th describing four separate incidences when siltation from the Prospect Estates project entered her pond. Pictures of the pond showing the siltation were included with the letter. Chairman Koehler stated he visited the site on Sunday, October 9th. At that tune, the erosion control measures in place were inadequate to contain water borne sedimentation from moving off site. Chairman Koehler re-visited the site on October 12th and noticed additional sedimentation measures (silt fencing and hay bales) were in place. Larry Beausoliel, representing Prospect Estates, LLC stated he had placed an additional 500 bales of hay with the sedimentation controls. On Friday, October 7th B. Donovan notified Mr. Beausoliel that Roaring Brook had breached its embankment from the heavy rains that was occurring all week and was flowing directly into the sedimentation basin. This added water volume caused water levels in the basin to rise and, mixed with the sediments contained in the basin that were captured from the construction site, crested over the embankment and flowed into the abutting wetlands. Mr. Beausoliel responded by re-channeling Roaring Brook away from the detention basin. Since then, more sediment and erosion controls have been installed. Jeff and John Descault, who are the contractors working the site for Mr. Beausoliel, were also in attendance. The Descaults described the additional measures they took to contain the sedimentation within the site and respond to the heavy rains (14 inches over the past week) that caught them unprepared. The Chairman stated that for the balance of the project the sedimentation measures in place have to be able to contain anticipated weather results. He acknowledged that 14 inches of rain over the past nine days is an extreme weather event for the area. The detention basin was not completed prior to the rain event and there were insufficient erosion control measures in place at the time. Chairman Koehler stated the applicant's engineer needs to come back with additional proposals to prevent a second breakdown of erosion controls. Chairman Koehler asked how the applicant will deal with further sedimentation getting into the Spreda pond. C. Wentworth stated the worst siltation seemed to occur after the above mentioned additional erosion measures were in place. Chairman Koehler stated if siltation is located below the detention basin it needs to be removed by hand. No siltation fencing has been placed around the stockpile of soil and mulch. Chairman Koehler asked how will the existing sedimentation of the Spreda pond be resolved? Mr. Beausoliel stated he would meet with the Spredas on this matter. B. Donovan asked how the project will be stabilized before winter. L. Beausoliel stated he plans to have a binder course down on the roadway before winter. J. Kaufman asked how functional is the detention basin at this time? The concern is the saturated ground from the past rains restricts the capacity of the detention basin to contain additional rainfall. Questions were asked on just what was the source of the sedimentation that channeled into the Spreda pond. Mike Gaglionne, representing the Regional Water Authority, was in attendance and feels there still needs to be additional erosion controls in place. Water bars need to be installed and erosion controls need to be placed around the stock piles and covering should be placed over the stock pile as well. He notified the DEP on this project. He does not feel the developer has followed his own erosion control plan. He further suggested installing temporary sedimentation basins to help divert and detain future runoff. C. Wentworth questioned the exact location of the sampling point associated with the Sanford Brook water level monitoring project. He feels there should be one designated and readily identifiable sample point from which to take the water level measurements. Commissioners discussed the need to have the contractor follow their plans as approved, and the possible need for the commission to make additional staged inspections to ensure compliance. The commission also discussed whether a performance bond should be placed on projects to further ensure compliance with the applicant's plan and to be available to utilize for additional erosion control measures that may be necessary for site protection and stabilization. Chairman Koehler stated he would attend tomorrow's site inspection with the DEP representative.
Adjournment:
Motion by S. Sackter seconded by C. Dorman to adjourn at 9:15 p.m. Unanimous.
Arnold Koehler, Chairman