By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Conservation Commission raised a series of concerns about Boston Clear Water Company’s proposal to reconstruct a building on the Lowell Street property during a recent meeting.
Planning and Conservation Director Emilie Cademartori said Boston Clear Water Company submitted a Notice of Intent seeking to raze and reconstruct a commercial building on a new foundation as well as regrading and repaving the 165 Lowell St. business’ existing driveway.
“Work is proposed within the bordering vegetated wetland and the 100-foot buffer to bordering vegetated wetland,” said Cademartori while reading the public hearing notice for the Boston Clear Water project.
Professional engineer Paul Marchionda of Marchionda and Associates gave an overview of Boston Clear Water Company’s proposed project.
“The project entails the razing and reconstruction of the existing red building, which is the water distribution building, on the Boston Clear Water site,” said Marchionda. “We think this building was constructed sometime in the 1930s. The foundation for the building has an unknown depth since it has a stone foundation. We don’t know how deep it goes.”
Marchionda said the water distribution building has been in “deteriorating shape for quite sometime.”
“There were efforts made to try and reinforce it to prevent it from eventually falling down,” said Marchionda. “It has gotten to the point now that the building needs to be replaced. The proposal is to construct a new building on the exact same footprint and the exact same location on a regular reinforced concrete foundation.”
Marchionda stated in a Notice of Intent application given to the Conservation Commission that, “the sill elevation of the reconstructed building is proposed to be approximated 3-feet higher than the existing (building), which will prevent runoff from ponding up against the building and will reduce the depth of excavation required for the installation of the frost wall.”
“To accommodate the change in the building still elevation, the proposal includes the removal of the existing asphalt driveway and parking areas,” stated Marchionda.
Marchionda said during the Conservation Commission’s meeting that the current building was “constructed way too low.” He said water coming down the driveway “flows right up against the building.”
“It has contributed to its deterioration,” said Marchionda. “To make it a lasting structure, we will raise it up.”
Marchionda said water that flows down the driveway will be directed away from the building and into “a very small swale area.” He also said the driveway’s existing asphalt will be removed.
“We will then replace it,” said Marchionda. “The net result is there is no increase in asphalt. It is just being put at a different elevation, which would be a little flatter than what is there right now.”
Conservation Commission Chair Don Gentile asked if Boston Clear Water Company is looking to install a new stormwater management system as part of the project.
“We are not proposing any kind of stormwater management because we are not actually making any change or increasing impervious surfaces,” said Marchionda. “The impervious surface will be exactly the same as it is now.”
Gentile asked if there is “significant water that drains down the driveway now?”
Marchionda said water coming from Lowell Street “doesn’t necessarily go down the driveway” due to a berm on the property as well as a gutter line on Lowell Street that helps redirect water.
“That is how it works today and is how it will work in the future,” said Marchionda.
Gentile asked Marchionda if the project entails temporarily altering the wetlands behind the proposed new water distribution building.
Marchionda said yes.
“We calculate that about 250-feet of wetlands will be temporarily disturbed,” said Marchionda. “They will be restored. At the end of the day, there will be no loss of wetlands.”
Gentile inquired what is Boston Clear Water Company’s plan to restore the wetlands.
Marchionda said a wetland seed mix will be used.
“It works very well,” said Marchionda. “It’s only 250-square-feet.”
Gentile asked Cademartori what details has Marchionda provided in the ConCom’s Notice of Intent application about restoring the wetlands.
“The narrative is very brief,” said Cademartori. “It just talks about that it will be temporary and seeded upon completion. I was looking for DEP (Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection) to provide comments because usually when there is wetland replication, they make reference to certain guidelines that were not included. DEP has not commented on that yet.”
Marchionda said Boston Clear Water Company will be using wetland seed mixes from New England Wetland Plants, Inc.
Gentile asked Marchionda if the proposed new building could be pulled farther away from the wetlands.
“Unfortunately no,” said Marchionda. “There is not a lot of room between the front of the building and the parking area for maneuvering vehicles. You really couldn’t move it enough to make a difference. We want to stay at the existing footprint it is at now.”
Conservation Commission member Maria Fernandez-Donovan said the plan revealed, “Some contours go past the property line.”
“How is that happening? Is the parking lot in front of the building being raised as well?” asked Fernandez-Donovan.
Marchionda said, “The existing pavement does go over the property line onto 163 Lowell St.”
“The applicant has permission to do that work,” said Marchionda.
Cademartori said Marchionda needs to correct the Notice of Intent application in order to include the addresses for Boston Clear Water Company as well as the neighboring Smith Farm, 163 Lowell St. Former residents John and Heather Sievers sold Smith Farm to Boston Clear Water Company for $860,000 in November 2019.
“The (Order of Conditions) will need to be issued to both properties,” said Cademartori. “I know the entities are related. I believe they are different LLCs.”
Cademartori asked Marchionda why Boston Clear Water Company is looking to remove and replace a concrete pad next to the building.
“This is a business operation,” said Marchionda. “They need space for equipment and things of that nature. That concrete pad is part of the project. It will be removed and replaced at the same location. It will not be made any bigger.”
Cademartori said the proposed grading change will result in the concrete pad being 3-feet higher.
“There is a slope behind it now that is currently not there and it is going to require all of the trees to be removed and I am guessing all of the vegetation,” said Cademartori. “Is there any proposal to revegetate or replace those trees?”
Marchionda said the tree located behind the pad is “overhanging the building.”
“It just has to go,” said Marchionda.
Fernandez-Donovan said the building project is going to be “more disruptive” to the wetlands because the area is being raised 3-feet.
Cademartori agreed.
“I think it is because of the grading that is required to achieve the change in elevation,” said Cademartori. “The footprint of replacing the concrete pad in kind would be minimal, but because it is being raised 3-feet, it is requiring the equivalent of twice its area to be regraded and be removed of vegetation in order to accomplish that regrading.”
While Marchionda said he does not believe the regrading is “a big deal,” he said he will look at reducing the amount of grading needed.
Gentile asked Marchionda if the entire driveway is “going to be ripped up as part of the project.”
Marchionda said yes.
Gentile asked Cademartori if a construction sequencing plan timeline should be submitted to the ConCom as part of the Notice of Intent.
Cademartori said yes. She said a construction sequencing plan timeline will outline how long it will take for the new building to be constructed, how much grading is needed and what wetland areas will be disturbed throughout the project.
Gentile told Marchionda that including a construction sequencing plan timeline as part of the Notice of Intent is “pretty important because of the slope that leads down to the building.”
“For whatever period it is left disturbed, there is going to be sheet flow going down that driveway area,” said Gentile. “There is going to be erosion. It is not your garden variety erosion control situation because it seems like the impact could be more significant than an every day project due to the slope and the magnitude of the work.”
Marchionda said he will provide a construction-sequencing plan to the ConCom.
“This is not a long range project,” said Marchionda. “It will be done pretty quick.”
Cademartori asked Marchionda if he has considered “crowning the driveway so that you are directing water along the length of the driveway to both sides.”
“That would be able to infiltrate rather than having it be graded so it is all coming down to the bottom of the hill,” said Cademartori.
Marchionda said he did not recommend crowning the driveway because “it is so narrow.”
“It is being pitched to the side,” said Marchionda.
Cademartori said the Conservation Commission has previously required some homeowners to have their driveways crowned.
“When a homeowner is building a long driveway that goes toward the street, we require that they crown it in order to keep some of the water on the property,” said Cademartori. “This is the opposite. You are going away from the street, but it is still a long driveway. If you crown it or pitch it to one side, you are infiltrating some of the water rather than bringing it to the bottom.”
The Conservation Commission will tentatively continue discussing the Boston Clear Water project on Tuesday, Nov. 18. The commission went on a site visit to the property on Oct. 20.