Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Commission - Regular Meeting

and we have the live streaming. Okay, I will call the Bloomfield Inland and Wetlands Water Course Commission to order. It's Monday, March 16, 2026. The time is 7:02 and present we have Kevin Wilcox, Paul, Adam, Byron, and Steve and myself. Uh, so we have one, two, three, four, five. Right back, folks. Okay, we have six and a half. All right. Um

first application is a wetlands permit for 206 Terry Plains Road, Whittenberry Hills Golf Course. That is a public hearing. So we need a motion to open the public hearing. So moved. Made by Kevin, seconded by Seconded. Adam. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Abstain. It's unanimous. Paul, you inv you voted in favor of opening the public hearing, right? Yes. Sorry about that.

That's all right. Thank you. All right. Um, and who's here for this application? Good evening, members of the board committee. Dave Mlesco from Parks, Recreation, Leisure Services. Uh Dennis Petrauli is also an attendee right now as the superintendent of the golf course. We want to promote him or not. Yeah, I just promoted him. Thank you. Promoted him. Okay. Anybody else? No, that's it. Just for that's it from representing. All right.

Just want me to give a quick overview of the project? Yes, please.

Okay. Well, thank you very much for hearing us hearing this this evening. Um, working with Whitenberry Hills Golf Course. Uh, we've identified that there are a few swaths of trees that need to be tended to. um uh hole 11 and in between holes 16 and 17 uh we they run through the the water course in wooded area. Um there's currently long bridges between both of them. Um and um a lot of the trees there are are beyond their useful life at this point and that they are starting to um show their age and starting to rot and we've actually experienced some damage as a result of the trees coming down to whether that be to wind or just other natural elements. Um we had uh several tree contractors come out uh review the project for us and um this is something that we were looking forward to uh to do not um it would be late 2026 um mo most likely late 26 after this the the golf course itself closes. Um I'm going to pull up if it's all right for me to share my screen. I can give a a quick little overview with some pictures highlighting.

Okay. Hopefully you can see this here. Um this is actually what uh Mr. Casteli put together. Um can you make it a little bigger? I can. Going to see if I can I got one. Wait for I got a map. Yeah. See, I'm not sure if you can see. Do you see the full picture or you see the my slides on the right hand side as well? We're seeing your your slides. You're in the I guess the presenter mode or whatever. Yeah. Let's see if I can I love when that happens to me. How's that? That's good. Okay, that's good. Yeah.

So, I do apologize about the orientation of it, but I do believe that it still works for for this uh purpose over here. Um the the clubhouse, Terry Plains Road, if you can see my uh pointer and the clubhouse itself is down in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Um the two areas are coming up. As you as you come up, this would be hole um 11 and you're coming through. There's a a a pathway that brings you over into this area. This is the T- box for the 11th hole. And these are the trees themselves, the area that we're looking for in this uh for this specific location. And then if you move over to 16 and 17, 16th holes coming down where my pointer is in the cart path takes you down into where this is a wooden bridge going all the way over as you approach 17th T. Um, I'm going to slide over to my next. Just wanted to give you some photos of what it looks like. Um, some of the tree damage that we've that has occurred. This is the 11th crane, I believe, of the 11th bridge. Um, another picture of the 11th bridge. So, you can have a pretty good understand what the trees look like and the issues that we've had. They went out in um December and took and reviewed the property as uh with the tree warden as as me as well as many other members of the town. Just a better look of what it looks like. This is still 11 green. And this is the area. This is looking over from the seventh T box looking backwards over to the 16th green. Few more areas what the trees look like.

Some of the damages that we've received that we've experienced on that on that bridge as well due to fallen trees. And that's the end of the show. I just wanted to show highlight a few of the pictures over there so you could get a really good understanding with what it looks like. I think this was a good time of the year for us to be doing this as well. Um so you can without the the the leaves on there and full foliage. And so we we're looking like I said looking to remove these. Uh we have had discussions. We uh will go over and flag the areas as needs be. Um that I know that that was one of the recommendations from Mr. Castaldi. We will work directly handinhand with public works, the the tree warden um to make sure that the area itself is identified and the general area itself is flagged. Um we've also had discussions with the chair of the CEC who I know that also shared some concerns with some recommendations. I do believe that they may have submitted a letter to be entered in for public record. I'm not so certain that they were going to be here this evening. I do believe that one of the uh desires that they would like to for us to have is to morticulture, which is where we leave. Um, we don't necessarily bring the trees all the way down to ground level if the trees themselves are hollowed and they have a possibility of providing some shelter for in habitat for the wildlife. Um, so that's something that we would like to work with the contractor to do as well. Um, I do believe that they're planning on getting in there and climbing most of the trees. There will be no heavy equipment into the water course or into the area whatsoever. Um that's just kind of a broad overview um on what the project is. Dennis is here to join us. He'll be happy to

provide any additional um information or questions that the uh the commission may have. Um Peter, you want you have a report? Yes, I do. Uh Mr. Chairman, thank you. Um the uh I'm going to share my screen so we can see that plot the right way up. I hope

you don't have it, Peter. I do have Google Earth pulled up. I have it. It's just getting there and it's not working. So anyway, uh the um the the project um was um initially um uh for a a 50- foot wide uh clearing limit on uh both sides of these cart bridges. And uh we had a meeting uh with Dave and and um uh with the tree warden who's the director of public works and we had uh you know a good look at what they I think we met in December. We had a good look at these trees. Many of many of the trees are already dead and some of them were identified as being um as being uh um you know diseased. All right, let's see if I can get it this time. Yay. Uh, let's see. So, I'm going to try to zoom in a little bit more so we can see it. I don't know. It's not very big on my screen. And you guys got a copy of this in your in your agenda package.

So if you want to look back at that that's fine too. So uh Terry Plains Road is over here left hand lower left hand corner. Now this is the golf c uh golf course buildings. Now I don't know how the whole all the holes go but I know that this is one of the areas and this is another one. And when we were out there looking around at these, we we thought that, you know, maybe it would be a good idea to flag the 50-foot limit in the field on both sides of the of the uh uh cart bridges. And then we can, you know, really have a better idea of of uh what's in that, let's say, 100 foot swath. um and some of the uh you know some of the trees may be um you know uh worth saving. I can tell you that it isn't going to be very many because the majority of the trees are are dead or or are falling down. So um this is a um as far as I can recall a unique application for clearing. Usually the clearing that we see is on the edges of the wetlands. This is right right through the wetlands. Um, and as you can see from the plan, there's also uh water courses that come through under the bridges. Um, this is the uh the this black thing down here is the main irrigation pond and it discharges here and and this blue line is water course. So these bridges cross the water course and what is um uh you know a wooded swamp type wetlands.

So again it it seemed to us that it would make sense to make uh you know make a little bit of a closer study of what was going to be cut down and and what was going to be uh um possibly saved. Um, don't let me forget that I have uh I have a written document from um the Conservation, Energy, and Environmental Committee um for the record that I'm probably just going to read. Uh anyway, there's u there's quite a few trees there and the plan is not to um take out either the stumps or the logs that come down. So there's going to be a you know quite a bit of um quite I'm assume I'm guessing there's going to be quite a bit of cutting of trees and and uh they are going to fall you know they're going to they're going to lay where they fall I guess is what I'm trying to say. No stumps are proposed to be pulled out. Um there is some concern about um you know where they fall where the trees fall and I don't think it would be a good idea to to fall you know to fell them so that they fall in or across the water course. I think that's a uh you know that should be a pretty easy one. Um I do have uh a staff report and a and a bunch of uh recommended conditions. Um the uh the the stakeout uh we were hoping to do the flagging and or have the golf cart uh golf course do the flagging and get um and get the commission out to see what these areas look like. Um but that

didn't happen and we had a pretty pretty uh snowy winter. So um it wasn't it wasn't something that we we were able to do before this meeting. I think I'm including that as a requirement as for a condition of approval. Um the other thing uh is that um the uh uh the removal of what essentially are going to be canopy trees is going to open the the wetlands floor or the wetlands uh ground um to open open sunlight which it doesn't presently have uh my guess in the middle of the in the middle of the uh summer. U I think those these things are pretty much shaded. Um so I'm recommending that some consideration be given to a replanting plan. Uh and it can be you know it could be shrubs and uh also to uh work with uh trying to eliminate um invasive species which there are a lot of. And opening up the canopy like that um will bring the invasive species uh the sunlight that they need and they will really take over if there isn't a uh if there isn't a mechanism to control it. And one of the ways to control it is to plant native trees or shrubs so that they take over from the invasive species. Um, one of the other things that I'm recommending is a uh some kind of a uh comprehensive long-term vegetation management plan. I don't know if there's a better way to say that, but this is going to be a regular thing. I'm guessing there may be more areas where trees are near the golf

course or in you know where these bridges are. And so uh having a plan um that has uh you know like a long-term plan. What do we do when a tree falls down on the golf course? um you know, is there a uh um you know, is there a um an area where trees like these bridges are where if there's a there's a hanging branch, you might not see that it's a dead tree, but it can still come down even in the in the summer. So, um I think it would be uh you know, a good overall uh thing to have. Um, I understand that there is a uh um there is a townwide uh tree um program. Uh let's see. It's the town uh 2025 forest stewardship plan. I don't know if any of you guys are familiar with this. I know Dave is. Um, and there's a lot of good stuff in there about saving or, you know, protecting the uh the forests. And this golf course has a lot of forests on them. I'll bet more than half of it is is forests and all the rest is golf course play area. So, there's no forest there, but it's a it's got some nice wooded wetlands on it. And uh it it wasn't included in the plan. the golf course wasn't. But I think some of the precepts and some of the theories uh of you know retaining um uh forest lands is is is good. And if you don't know, I think everybody does. If you let the ground in Connecticut go uhow, if you

will, it will it wants to turn into a hardwood forest. That's what the natural ground cover is for this part of New England. And that's what these are, you know. Um I don't know if you noticed, um but there weren't a lot of big big trees in those photos. You know, there might have been one or two way in the background, but these areas, you know, were probably forested less than a hundred years ago, maybe closer to 50 years ago. Uh, based on what I saw for the trees, they're not, you know, there's no there's no real old old trees in these in this forest. But just the same, it's uh it's valuable habitat for lots and lots of wildlife. It's uh it's good to keep uh good to have a stewardish stewardship plan and I wasn't aware that there was one. Uh so that's that's something good. So I'm recommending that commission approve the uh approve the application with um several conditions. Um oh wait oh yeah then I'll read the thing from uh CEC uh the uh um permade which would be the the um town of Bloomfield or Mr. Molesco through the as the town's representative uh shall stake the limits of the proposed clearing area in the field and in coordination with the tree warden identify specific trees to be removed and retained. Um number three is provisions to protect trees to be retained shall be employed during the clearing operations. Trees to be cut down shall be felled away from the trees to re be retained. No tree trunks or

tops shall be dropped into uh or across any water courses. U any that get in there are going to have to be removed. Um there will be minimal uh ground disturbance but where there is ground disturbance they'll need to seed and mulch uh to establish permanent ground cover. Um uh peri shall plant native wetland shrubs along the limits of clearing to discourage the spread of invasious species. Uh we're going to do a preconstruction meeting. Let's see. And um the total impact is didn't talk about that. Uh let's see. It works out to be about 1.6 acres of land total. Uh you can see in the in the photo that I have up or the picture that I have up that you know there's 38,000 and 31,000. So that that comes up to be 1.6. Um uh and the uh the um this would include uh about 34 acres of uh vegetative buffers uh 75 ft from the water courses. Uh and the the 11th one is uh um recommendation that the permade shall prepare and submit within six months an overall comprehensive long-term vegetation management plan um to address future tree removal projects and manage the existing forest vegetation the golf course. The plan shall include measures protect existing forest vegetation, control or eliminate

invasive plant species, address the removal of standing trees that may be a hazard, and the replacement of trees that are removed. So, those are the there's 11 conditions, um, recommended conditions, and I'm going to stop sharing unless and we can go back to that if you'd like. Um, so, uh, I received, uh, written communication for the record from, uh, Paula Jones, chairman of or chairperson of the conservation, energy, and environmental committee. And she writes, uh, thank you for this opportunity to submit comment to the commission on behalf of the conservation, energy, and environmental committee. um initials are CEC and um this application came to the attention of CEC through an inquiry from Trap Rock Ridge Land Conservancy uh and their uh uh TRLC's Beacon Hill Preserve abutz the golf course. I'm not exactly sure where their where that is. Beacon the Beacon Hill preserve. But anyway, so the conservator received a notification letter. Oh, so they're one of the abutters. Okay. Um they uh um the um Land Conservancy is very familiar with Winterbury Hills Golf Course. In addition to having annual fall gatherings there, the conservancy has partnered with the golf course to offer popular first day hikes on the course of the last several years. The uh um the land conservancy uh also co-sponsors a winter lecture nature lecture series with parks and recreation and lever

services department. February program was the nature of Wittenbury Hills public golf course as a public access asset. Relevant to the topic of tree removal was our most recent February 2026 program, Morcticulture, the abundant life in old dead trees. As a Bloomfield resident who serves on the board, I was asked to look into the details of the golf course tree removal application. The the commission met uh committee right rather met shortly after I was asked. So I took the opportunity to ask the director chairman sorry director John Coleman about this tree removal project. The committee has a strong interest in the town's trees as co-sponsor with beautifification committee of the trees for bloomfield initiative. Uh the committee takes the lead role in planning the annual um uh town of Bloomfield photo contest or trees for Bloomfield rather photo contest. Every year winning the photo one of the winning photos features trees on the golf course. In fact, into the woods um 2021 winner was from the one of taken from one of the cart bridges. The committee acknowledges that dead trees that pose a threat to public safety need to be removed. However, cutting all dead trees down to the stump is problematic as some of those trees may serve as valuable wildlife habitat. We respectively respectfully ask that the commission require that snags with cavi cavities be identified topped rather than cut to the stump and left in place since tree cavities provide habitat for many birds and animals. The uh committee also urges the commission to support Mr. Castaldi's committee recommended conditions of approval in particular the selective

tree uh clearing of trees um planting native wetland seed and shrubs and the creation of an overall comprehensive long-term vegetation management plan. Based on uh our experience, state grant funding may be available for development of such a vegetation management plan. The uh committee understands the town's concern about falling trees pertaining to public safety and damage to the bridges. However, we believe that a balanced approach to addressing those concerns through appropriate vegetation management now and in the fe future should be utilized by the town. Thank you for your consideration. Um one they submitted for the next application is shorter. Okay. So, uh, that was from, uh, our folks. And I guess, um, I don't know if David wants to to talk about what what the, uh, you know, I until last week, I had never heard of of um, you know, more mortic culture.

Um, Mr. Will Cox as our lo as our local expert. Have you heard of this? Uh not by name, but I understand I understand what they're saying. The the concern I would have is if you have a truly hollow tree. Uh yes, it's good for wildlife, but at the same time, it's also good to be blown over onto the bridge depending on, you know, direction of the wind or the storm in particular and how close it is to the bridge. So if they do identify some hollow trees,

sure. As long as they're far enough away from the bridge, them and leave them standing. Yeah. Yeah. I I don't know. I think there's I think there may be some concerns, too, because it's one thing for for cutting them and or leaving a dead tree. Um, but if you just take the top off, you're right. It could still fall over on on the bridge if it's close enough. Well, you as evidence or the pictures that were shown to us by Mr. Molesco. So, I mean, most of those trees that were over had no tops. They were dead ash. They'd already lost their tops. And then some storm brought them over once they finally decomposed.

Well, you know, partially decomposed anyway. And unfortunately, that's the main problem. As you said, we have hardwoods, but what hardwoods really grow in wetwoods, uh, ash, elm, swamp maples,

swamp maples. And the thing with the ash is the emerald ash bore is killing them statewide. The American elm has always had a problem or has had a problem for the last hundred years with Dutch elm disease. And the thing with the elm is, they will seed in. The seedlings grow. Once they get to a certain maturity, they are seeding in once again. But once they hit a certain maturity, they start producing chemicals that then attract the emerald uh the uh elmbark beetle, the European elmbark beetle, which is the vector for the disease. So what you end up with is a a cycle where you have young trees that grow up, once they mature, they die. Uh and then they've already seated in more plants and then they start growing. So, it's just a constant turnover all the time of live trees and dead trees. And if you look at that that wetland where Laughler Road uh just about meets Simsbury Road, that wetlands has looked that way for the last 50 years to my memory.

It's never grown larger. It's never gotten any smaller for the type of trees that are there. So, this is unfortunately something that's going to keep happening on the golf course. Okay. Uh, any questions from the public? Rebecca, do we have any hands up? I don't see any.

Okay. All right. Any questions from the commission members? Um, I have a question. How do how do you plan to go in and cut these trees? Are you going to use like a cherry picker to grab them from the side or are you going to drive right into the wetlands and cut them? Believe that the plan is is for them to climb into the area, walk into the area, but Dennis was the one that actually met with the contractor. He could speak more eloquently than I can on that process. Can you shine some light to that, Dennis? Okay,

that's exactly what they were going to do. They were going to walk in um they're very limited on access and logistics into these areas. So, they would have to be walked in and climbed and dropped and drop them. And if laws are not in no water course, they're going to leave them where they lay. Right. That was that was heavily discussed not to uh block water courses. Were there many trees near water courses? Some of them are growing right at the water course. Yeah. Yes. That 11 that 11 tall almost all of them are dead. It's just Mhm.

And you feel comfortable enough that they could cut them so they fall away from the water course. I mean it can be done. It's they just have to be careful and uh watched. Um I mean this has been dead a long time. Uh, I mean, the whole point of being here is the ha the hazard hazardness of these dead trees. I don't want anybody to get hurt, right? I'm talking about, you know, someone could possibly get hurt when we're open for business or when we're not. Because when we're not open for golf, people are walking the golf course, right?

And I have to worry about not only damage to bridges, but equipment as well, maintenance equipment, beverage carts. So, you know, people first, uh, and then everything else follows behind that. It's one thing to have a tree come down and injure a human, to have the tree come down on somebody's pet, then there's hell to anyway. I don't need that on my conscience.

No, you don't. Now the uh of course the way they should approach that would be to start further away from the water course fell those trees. That way as they go closer to the water course they can cut the trees away. Or the other thing is if they're dead trees by no means are they going to climb them. Uh you climb a dead tree you're dead. More than likely it'll snap and down you go. So, and also typically it costs more to have a dead tree taken down because the liability of branches coming down and skewering you is greater. Widowmakers. Yep.

Yep. Okay. So, do you accept the 11 conditions from staff? Do.

Okay. Kevin, do you have any words of wisdom for planting of they want to do some planting? Uh the the difficult thing with a wetlands and planting is if you dig a hole in wetlands, more than likely water is going to well up into it. And if you take a plant that has been grown in a soilless mix or even if it's bald and burlap and put it into that hole you've just dug, you've basically just dropped it into a bathtub with no drain and then the root system will rot. Uh it might be better to wait until the wetlands actually become a little less wet before you plant. That way at least the root system can start growing in before they get water logged.

So like late fall. Uh no, I'd say like the end of the summer. End of the summer. Yeah. Okay, Mr. Chair. Uh oh, sorry. Go ahead, Kevin. I

I was just going to say more than likely if you can go with bare root would be better, but then bare root would be better planted in the spring. Uh, you know, it all depends on what you're able to do and what you're able to find. If you're assuming you're going to put back a few trees, uh, and the only one that I would really recommend would be the swamp maple or red maple, same plant, two different names. At least that isn't currently having an issue with insects or diseases, but we can talk again in 10 years. All right. Sorry. Sorry, Paul.

No, that's all right. I I just

I wanted to circle back. I I think um Mr. Molesco, you also mentioned the the the Morticulture and um I am familiar with the concept, but what I'm wondering is if anybody has information about just exactly how much needs to be left. You know, I've I've heard, you know, the top the tree. But is it possible that some of that can be explored as a as a lower height cut reducing danger um but still providing some of that hollow tree habitat and I don't know if there's been any looking into that. I know you know you you talked about the concept and and you also mentioned um I think a late summer target. So, in terms of that, I think, you know, you're in sync with what Kevin, what you were saying about it being perhaps the the least wet time, but I'm curious about if there's something that can be done regarding the, you know, settling someformational question on the the morticulture.

If I could I answer could I answer part of that? Uh the uh the thing to think about is you're going you're only cutting dead trees 50 feet away from the uh bridge. There are going to be a lot more dead trees beyond those that point. So almost doesn't matter how much you cut down in that band because there's still plenty of habitat otherwise. That's true. And then the other thing is it's just a matter of if the tree is 15 feet away from the bridge, well, cut it 10 feet off the ground. Yeah.

It falls over, it's not going to hit anything. Yeah. I'm I'm sorry. There's got to be an animal that likes a 10 foot tall tree. Yeah. I'm sorry, Paul. What' you say? Just saying there's got to be an animal out there that likes a 10-ft tall tree. Yeah. It's called a woodpeck. Home for every taste. Yeah. Yes. All right.

So, so not being a tree expert, um that was that was where where I was thinking right around that 10 foot range, 8 to 10 feet. So, you still provide something. Um but I don't feel comfortable making that decision on my own because it's not my area of expertise. Um Peter did mention the forest stewardship plan. We had a an organization called Conwood Forestry come on out and and put that together for us. Um, we'd be more than happy to get a price from them for them to come on in and to look at the golf course and also provide recommendations as well u for what the best course of action is and that would include for the best course of action for the plantings within the wetlands. This way we would actually have a report that we could work off of. Um, and it was mentioned in here that it would be late summer. Fortunately for us, removing the trees themselves would be after the end of the the golf season itself because if we were to do that work while the while course was open, that creates even a greater hazard for the the patrons of it. So it would be um after December 1.

Okay. Right. All right. Uh okay. Any other questions from the commission members? Any comments from the public? I don't see any. Rebecca, do you see any hands? I don't see anyone. No. Okay. Any comments from the commission members? All right. Is there a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Made by Kevin, seconded by

I'll second. Uh all in favor say I. I. Opposed abstain. It's unanimous. Okay. So what's your pleasure on this one? Anybody want to make a motion to approve with the conditions stated by staff?

Uh sure. Um, make a motion that the commission approve the wetlands permit application of the town of Bloomfield for tree clearing at golf cart bridges for the 11th and 17th holes at Wintonberry Hills Golf Course at 206 Terry Plains Road. It's unique uh ID number 7687 uh wetlands file 752026 05 and that the uh approval be contingent on the conditions set forth by the wetlands agent and

is there a map date with this Peter? can't hear you. The the wetlands permit plan has a uh a revised date in the lower right corner. Um that's the right one. Okay, that's uh 28th of January, 2026. Okay, that's the reference. All right, thanks. Thanks, Paul. Sure. Is there a second? A second. Second by Steve. Yes. Gota be quick. Uh all in favor? I

I opposed abstain. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thanks, David. Thank you very much. Thanks, David, for going through this. Thank you. All right. All right. Next on the agenda, wetlands map amendment, 141 Whittenbury Avenue. Who's here for this application? Kevin Costello. Remote Kevin Costello. Yep.

And Jim Cow. should be all set. Okay, that's it. Okay, good evening. I'm not sure if uh present if we could also give Jin Tao from our organization. He's here supporting us as well. Okay, Kevin, do you have a camera? I I do. I'm just trying to get it to turn on. There we go. Thank you so much. Sorry about that. All right. I like to see who I'm talking to. That's why

I am I'm the same exact I wasn't going to do that t I promise. I uh I use um Google Meets most commonly. I I don't have the Zoom skills up to the same standards as as I do with that client. But uh thank you for bearing with me and thank you all so much for your time tonight and uh hearing us out. I did want to include Jyn as I said earlier um going to be speaking a lot tonight in terms of the technical information and I wanted to just be here not only to uh kick us off and give us a nice introduction but to also answer any of the more uh business related questions that we might have on on the applications themselves.

You know what before we go any further um is there a motion to open the public hearing for wetlands map amendment? So moved made by Steve, seconded by Paul. All in favor? I uh denied unanimous. Okay. So now we're officially open. Very good. So ready to get started. We're good. Why don't Okay, great.

Now this is strictly for wetlands map amendment. just the wetlands map amendment. So, we won't we won't get off track here. Oh, yeah. At all. Okay. Very good. I I'll let Jyn kick us off here and then Jyn, if you have any questions you want to pass over to me as they come up, I'll be happy to to jump in at any time.

Sounds great. Thanks, Kevin. Thank you everyone for your time tonight. Um, and actually, I really appreciate these uh Zoom meetings. It's very great. I actually live in Boston, so saving myself a trip down there is fantastic. Um so we see C um my name is Jen Tao. I am with Burns and McDonald representing CEK as their civil site engineer civil site environmental engineer um in support of the Wittenberry solar project. Um as Alan mentioned this application that we're going to discuss first is the wetland map amendment application for the property located at 141 Wittenberry Avenue. Um the reason why we are presenting this wetland map amendment is for the second application which is a wetland permit application. Uh we wanted to confirm the presence of wetlands on site and amend the town of Bloomfield's wetland map with uh the field delineated wetland data and wetland map provided by Ecom Maps LLC. um back in I believe March, yep, back in March of 2025. Um and we are happy to present the wetland map amendment to the uh commission. I know Peter sent a memo um in review of this application um and I have that pulled up. I also have kind of the wetland map amendment plan to bring up if the council would like to see it and have me walk you guys through.

You have a map that you can share with us or you're trying to Absolutely. Yep. Let me share my screen. Here we go. Share. Got to click that button. All right.

All right. So, as you can see on this screen, um I probably should have done this in color for a little bit more visibility, but uh as a civil engineer, we're pretty used to black and white. So, unfortunately, I do not have color on this exhibit. Um I would like to point out, so the parcel in question is this shape here. And I can actually do some highlighting while we're on here. Uh so this is our property limit. So where is this parcel in relationship to the entire site?

Um the entire site is actually just this parcel and in relation to where it's located to Bloomfield. It is on Wittenberry Avenue um in a residential zone uh just kind of northwest of the downtown area kind of just south of the industrial location. Is it part of the the dyke system? That I do not know. So this is the property parcel. Um it's right across the street from the Federation Homes and the Chinese Baptist Church. All right. That makes sense. Yep. Okay, I got it. All right, great. Y

So, this map is rotated so north is to the right um just because it fits on the page better. But as you can see within this parcel, the 2023 Bloomfield Town map has wetlands mapped. Well, actually it has the uplands mapped um since most of this parcel is uh classified as wetland uh in this pocket here, this pocket here, um and this pocket here. Um so originally in the 2023 official map, the wetland area is about 14.55 acres. Um for our survey delineation, um Ecomaps LLC delineated about 16.51 acres of wetland on site. And the difference um is that uh Ecoms discovered an upland pocket here, an upland pocket here, and an upland pocket here. Um this western edge of the site is also an upland region. Um and the boundary is slightly different um in the survey delinition compared to the official mapping of Bloomfield. There is also a existing storm water sewer system running alongside this uh western property edge I believe servicing the residential development to the west. So with this wetland map amendment application, we are showing that this property would have a net change of about just under 2 acres of wetland um on site. And we were hoping to declassify what was a water course feature since that is now uh captured in a storm underground piping system. Any questions?

So,

so the the area along the what is that? The western edge. Yep. You're saying that there's a drainage pipe there and they shouldn't be wetlands because Correct. And did you do um borings in the ground to test the soil?

Um I will have to defer back to I believe um we I I will make sure to touch base with ecom mapaps. Um in the report I don't know they actually did borings. Okay. All right. We'll come back to that. Yep. But here's a wetland sketch map for the essentially property. All right. All right. So, you ready to move on? Peter, do you have a a report?

Uh, yes, I do. Um the uh uh the site was visited um uh earlier this month. Uh we were able to find um and confirm the three upland pockets on this site. Um and it was actually more more open than I thought it would be. Uh there's uh there wasn't time during our visit um to check the westerly side uh where the uh where the uh storm water uh system is or to double check for that water course. Um and the when we were out there it was a little bit rough going. I thought there would be some some additional uh melt, but um Adam came out with us. It was uh uh I'm sorry, not Adam. Uh Steve came out and and we had a we had a pretty good walk, you know, for a couple hours in the woods out there. It wasn't easy to see um you know, uh with the uh with the vegetation. you couldn't see very far in any direction um when you were inside the woods. And it and there was some evidence too of areas that looked like they they were likely had been um mowed uh rough mowed, you know, like 4 in high kind of uh kind of mowing. Um, and something else that uh was was discussed uh or wasn't discussed rather, but um in the uh lower lower

edge of this picture, maybe we can point to it. Um there's a town of Bloomfield storm water um uh storm water uh burm and and storm water basin. That's on the other side of the other side of the project on the east side. So, right there where your hand is is a is a is a burm uh that extends partway into the subject pro property and has a uh you know there's a uh there's a uh it's a stormwater detention area. And yeah, and there is an easement on the on the subject parcel um where you see the northerly end of that clearing um uh you know it's a it's an easement for that particular uh feature. Um, and that that storm water basin was made w was was built with the uh relocation of of Wintonbury Avenue for the Seabberry project. Um, so uh my recommendation uh because I wasn't able to get out to uh uh see all of the wetlands is for this application to be uh tabled until the April 20th meeting. Um but the the uh uh public hearing had to be open tonight. So it was good that we were able to do that. Um the uh as my guess

is that there isn't that the soil scientist is not present tonight. Uh no not tonight. That's something we can um definitely shoot for on the uh the upcoming

April meeting. Typically I ask the soil scientists to uh describe how they delineate the wetlands. You know um not not everybody certainly uh not most of the public listening in is going to know what you know what they do to determine it. Um but I'll give a I'll give a brief uh description. Um in Connecticut wetlands are determined only by the soils. um vegetation and the presence or lack of standing water uh is not taken excuse me is not taken into account. So the soil scientist goes out with a hand auger and sometimes with a spade and digs holes in the ground and looks at the soil characteristics and those characteristics uh um as uh interpreted by the soil scientist um can can tell whether or or can point out where the wetlands are and where the where the uplands are. So in this case the um you know we usually see on a site that the uh we have them flag the wetlands and the wetlands are a small part of the hole. In this case it's the other way around. The small part is the upland. So as the note says there near the entire property is wetlands with minor upland islands. Um the 16 I think it was 16.5 acres of flag wetlands uh cover about 86% of the whole property.

Um and so uh there was a delineation report filed. I think we saw it briefly uh go by. It was definitely in your in your uh uh in your agenda package or should have been. Uh and so uh you know I I have I wasn't able to to to visit all of the site because of the snow. Um and also because the soil scientist isn't here to answer any questions. I think it's um it's uh um appropriate for the commission to uh you know maybe ask some questions uh make or or make some comments and see if there are any comments or questions from the from the uh public uh and then table the application. That's all I have for now, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Did Allan fall asleep?

Let's hope he wasn't blown off the map. I'm I'm sorry, Peter. Peter, is it is it my understanding that we can't move forward because the soil scientist isn't available? You're muted, Peter. also because I was not able to um I was not able to um visit all of the site all of the flagging particularly along that west side. So, so it was flagged. It just there's no soil scientist who

Well, right. Uh, typically the soil scientist is here to answer questions and to to um, you know, uh, give their give their professional opinion on the on the delineation. Um but I also look go out and look at the sites and and verify uh you know that the that the delineation looks accurate and I was not able to do that yet along the westerly side.

Okay. All right. So I would prefer just to uh table the public hearing until the next meeting. Yes, that's my recommendation. But if there are questions or comments, we might want to hear them now, but they wouldn't be final. We'd still have to do questions. What are they based on? There's no uh

Well, there's no this report. Uh if you look uh excuse me uh if you do have questions uh that you would like to ask the soil scientist, we'd be happy to forward it along to her um and prep for the next meeting. Okay, Diane Perry, you have a question. Try talking, Diane. It looks like she's unmute. Yeah, you're muted. All right, there you go. Okay. Correct.

Yep. What's your question?

Okay. Um, so I did have a question because I um I'm an impacted property owner resident um along that west side and I did read through the uh amendmentation and that delineation report and I'm wondering if um I don't know if Gentel can speak to this if um there is any desire to do a 2026 delineation report because report that was filed suggested that you all just used a national resource conservation services digital soil survey data and not an on-site visit. So, is there

Kevin, you want to answer that or Kevin? Yeah, sure. Hi, Diane. I just wanted to make sure I understood that correctly because it it cut out a little bit here and there. Were you were I'm sorry. Were you asking if the soil scientists performed the delineation on site or was just using online resources to do that? Well, the delineation report states that the digital survey was done solely. there was no on-site visit. So my question is, will an on-site visit be done in 2026? Because that report is dated 2025.

Sure. There were several um different visits that were done at the property by Michelle from ECOMAPS. In terms of the the original delineation, we had an on-site uh tree assessment in addition to a follow-up delineation after we had had some follow-up questions um from the town on our one of our first goarounds. But to answer your question, I I do believe um that she was on site uh numerous times for her for her assessment. I can follow up and see where exactly in the in the assessment it says that and and get some clarification, but I'm I'm quite sure she was on site.

Okay. Yeah, does this report dated March indicate that at all? Okay, I can I can double check on that and and find out for the next meeting that we're having. But as as I said, I I'm quite sure she was on site because she'd had to do uh an assessment of trees that were there, which I I didn't know that she would have to do in person as well as the um original delineation and the followup as well, but I can I can get get confirmation on that for you. Okay. And so then um is it fair to ask a question of Sorry, you're cutting out. Can you repeat that? I'm sorry.

Yeah. Is it fair to ask a question of the commission now? Uh, as long as it pertains to the boundary amendment and nothing else. It it does. Okay.

Um, so as I said, this delineation report is dated 2025 and only mentioned the um, what is it? The NRCS digital survey. And if you're looking to table this, are you going to require the applicant to amend or submit a new application? Because, you know, if they talk with the so the soil scientist and get new information, will they have to submit a new application or are you just going to allow them to amend this application? Well, well, what typically happens, a soil scientist goes out and does their report, do does little test borings for soil types, presents a report to town staff, and then staff will go out and verify those those tests. So in this case since we don't have the soil scientist and the town's uh town um staff could not get to the whole property. He will be going out and verifying all the test results that the soil scientist has presented. So in that case it it does bring it up to date and then what happens is if the town disagrees with the soil scientists they work it out or you know it's up to the commission to decide.

Okay. And will that updated report be made publicly available? It's not an updated report. It's it'll be a report from the soil scientist to um the town staff. Um Peter, do you have the report? You don't, do you? Yeah, it's on your screen. Yeah. Okay. So, can I can I ask you to go to the front first page again?

Dated March 23rd, 2025. And the first the first sentence is I inspected the property located at 141 Wintenbury Avenue. It should be and they that's what the soil scientist does. Now in this particular case and I'm not sure if it's in this report. If it is I would like to see the soil the NRCS uh um uh mapping. I think it is. If you go down pages, you know, further down in the in the in the thing right there.

Okay, this is the this is the NRCS um soils report uh soils mapping. Okay. Um this mapping is not correct. And the reason I say that is because on this map the the soils that are marked with the single digit the nine are the soils of wetlands. Those are the wetland soils. The other soils, the 28A, the 26B, the 28, you know, those are all upland soil types. And the soil scientist who was on the site identified that almost all of the site was wetlands, which is done at a at a much more um you know uh accurate delineation than the than the NRCS. in my I don't know if it's in this one or the next one, but I mentioned that the the NRCS soils map shows most of the site to be uplands or not wetlands. The soil scientist who was on the site demarcated that all of the site except for a few islands are wetlands. So the NRCS soils survey is a good tool and they did look at it but in this case it's not very accurate.

Thank you Peter. Um Diane I might add that so the wetland soil test did go on site and did examine the site including hand augering. I just could not answer Peter Castaldi's question earlier because I do not have the logs of those handovers or the locations of those test fits, which is what we want to verify with our soil scientists. She was on site. She did a delineation properly following Connecticut standards and she verified the wetland soils like Peter mentioned in most of the site in comparison to the NRCS. I believe uh when you're asking the question of wetland soil types if it's coming from this sentence here to aid in the evaluation of wetland soils which may occur in the project area digitally available soil survey information was obtained from the NRCS but that's just as kind of a tool in the very beginning to understand a site to focus the actual field delineation areas where we are going to be or where she would be hand augering and doing on-site testing. This is not how this report was put together. This was the the information pulled from the NRCS and that map was just a starting point for the field delineation.

Yeah, thanks uh Jento. I I just think it would be helpful if she's going to write a report to indicate when the site was right and when the the soil test was done. Yes. Uh I think that's a glaring omission. Well, in her in her mapping, the wetlands were delineated on April 19th, 2025. Yet, it's on a March 23rd report. Yeah,

the date of the report is a little early, but the fieldwork was complete to match the report data. H Interesting time travel. All right.

So, you know, just so you understand, uh, the soil conditions don't readily, I know I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, change over a year. They may change with, you know, some flooding or, you know, that may move soils around or if uh a piece piece of land is um farmed out or if an intruder comes on and starts digging on a property, but generally it does not change. So, I'm not that concerned from tests from April till now. and and Peter will verify what was done in April.

Yeah, I'll this is why this soil scientist should be here for this application, right? Agreed. And we apologize we weren't able to schedule her to join us for this meeting. We will make sure that she is available for the April 20th. All right. Yeah, 100%. Uh Marie, you have a question. Uh Rebecca, can you Yeah. Thank you. and Marie. Yeah. Can you hear me, sir? Yep.

Okay. Hi. Um, yeah, when that test was done, I think that winter was pretty dry. If you go, my house is located between W15 and 16. I've lived there for 37 years. And when I first moved in, it was very swampy. Uh the town ca we had a pond in the back field which the kids used to go ice skating on. In fact, the town finally came in and put drains. Those have been grown over um for a long time. You can't even see them anymore. My yard is a swamp. My house has settled quite a bit. My front steps have moved away from the house, as well as my next door neighbor had to replace her steps as they moved away from the house. Uh, my sump pump runs 24/7. I've been through five sump pumps since I've been in this house. Um, either side of my house is a running stream. If you were to go there this week, you need garden boots to get from my driveway to my front door and you need a boat to go to the backyard. Um, the field is very wet. I am not opposed to solar panels. However,

let's not go there. Okay, let Wait, let me let me explain, Marie. Um, wetlands is not determined by water. It's determined by soil types. I understand your pain of the water flowing. Um, that is a different issue. Um, I I know I understand the soil type. However, I that doesn't that distinguishes wetlands, not water. So, what I'm concerned is, excuse me, if solar panels are put there. No, we're not discussing that now. Okay. We're discussing where the wetlands are. Okay. That's what we're trying to determine.

Okay. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Um, excuse me, Alan. I have a few questions from the Q&A box that I would like to read into the record. from where the we have a question and answer box and sometimes people leave written comments in there. Okay. Uh the first says uh is from Beverly Brown at 137 Winintonberry Avenue. She asks, "Are solar farms harmful to residents?" And I will let whoever answer that.

Okay, that is not part of this application. And this is just the wetlands boundary. And I apologize that we can't answer that now. Thank you. The second is from Sonia Osborne at four Hyde Road and she asked, "How much vegetation will be taken out and how will the impact how will this impact the surrounding homes with any potential water drainage onto any of the properties and the streets?"

Okay, that also is not part of this application. That would be in the second part of the application. This is just to determine the wetlands boundaries. Um, and that's it. I'm I apologize, but that's the way the the rules are. That's all I have. Okay. Thank you. All right. Anything else from the commission? Is there a motion to table this to the next meeting, which is what? So moved. April 20th. April 20th. Okay. Made by Kevin, seconded by I'll second

Paul. Any discussion? Mr. Chairman, but the the motion should also include continuation of the public hearing. Yeah. To uh the mot. The motion was to table it. Yeah. Not to close, but to table. Yeah. Right. That's what I said. I'm sorry. Did I say close? I meant continue the public hearing. Yeah. It's going to be tabled. Same thing. Or continue. Um I'm okay with any way you want to word it. Yeah.

All right. Continue to the April 20th meeting. I will accept the friendly amendment. Okay. Thank you. And uh any discussion? All in favor? I

opposed abstain. It's unanimous. Thank you. So with that, um we cannot go forward with the next one. Would you agree, Peter? Um, I I think that the commission should open the public hearing uh whether you want to take uh testimony or not, but the public hearing timeline is running out.

Well, do we also need to discuss what you and Allen were talking about when I logged on? Uh, yes. We should do that in the public hearing. Okay. Uh, so the uh I'm just afraid that the the public's going to get frustrated by not being able to get their answers their questions answered. Mr. Chair, regardless, do we need to open up the hearing at least even if we continue it?

Yeah. Well, uh, right. the the commission has 65 days from the time the application was submitted until public hearing has to take place. Yeah.

And the tonight we're at uh 55 days or 54 days. I think it's 55. It's uh eight seven uh sorry eight weeks minus a day because our last meeting was on a Tuesday. So the commission has to open the public hearing. They can open the public hearing and continue it immediately without taking any testimony or they can and it's my recommendation that they hear a presentation in the public hearing and take questions from the commission and the public. uh and then table the application because uh there is um uh the previous application to consider and also um uh you know uh because it can't this one the commission can hear testimony but they can't vote on this application until the previous application is is voted on. Well, my concern is that we don't even know if we have jurisdiction over this and um

then let's open the public hearing and talk about it and then we can always table it. Yep. I think that's the right continue it. Okay. You want to make a motion to open the public hearing? No, I'd much prefer somebody else do that, but let me see what I can do. Move we open the public hearing. That was Paul. Paul made by Paul, seconded by I I did not make the motion, Mr. Chair. You did not. Did anybody make the motion? Stephen. Okay. Stephen motion to open the public hearing. Yeah. Okay. Who second it? I'll second. All right.

I will second it. All in favor? I I opposed abstain. It's unanimous. Okay. Public hearing. um before they present which I'm really not in favor of going through that whole thing right now because my question well uh David Ayupa raised a question on whether we have jurisdiction uh to hear this because uh they are over one megawatt right one megawatt and it falls to the um siding council yeah sighting council.

I think the uh applicant ha may have a may have an answer. My staff report may be inaccurate. Jen,

yep. Sorry, I can't find the raise my hand button on Zoom, but I'm just going to raise my hand in video. Um, so, uh, this project, we are I think we end up presenting two different versions of mega wattage and that's associated with a DC and an AC value. Um, in Connecticut, the sighting council gets triggered when the AC system size is 1 megawatt or over. However, when you're converting from DC power to AC power, the conversion ratio, the DC is just slightly higher to AC. So, in this instance, our DC proposed I'm trying to find my site plans. Give me one second. Sorry. Um the DC system size is set to be just over one megawatt, but when it's converted to AC, you're under one megawatt. So you guys do the town of Bloomfield still currently does have jurisdiction.

How much under are you on the AC? 01. Just under. Come on. Just under. And what happens if you go over a little bit? Well, we're not going to because that's how the equipments are rated and it just it it it that's the that's the game that we play with the sighting council. I think you I think you got to have more of a margin of error than that. It's uh this this happens a lot um on solar developments throughout the state. Say that again. This this happens often in solar developments throughout the state of Connecticut

of just being under that one megawatt. doesn't happen a lot in Bloomfield. I mean, I would just assume kick it over to the sighting council and let them throw it back to us. I if that is something that you are open to, then uh Kevin, I think that's something we were also kind of considering as well as uh to help us get through the planning and zoning commission process. Yeah, it was something we we touched base on um briefly during our our our quick call last week, but didn't really get any feedback um from the town as to what your feelings were towards that.

Yeah. How's the rest of the commission feel? as presented is as they explain the DC to AC as presented it it's ours. Yeah, but it's it's what is it less than 1%. How how close how this happened with the the board of education? Um they split it to keep it under.

Yep. And I think the general consensus from the developer or specifically CEK working in Connecticut, they do like to work with local municipalities when possible. Um that one megawatt limit just kind of allows the sighting council to expedite larger projects. Um, but if we are able to keep projects profitable and developable in that less than one megawatt range, it's we enjoy working with the local municipalities to just get buy in. Um, and that helps kind of with that approval process. Um, we we aren't opposed to going to the sighting council and as there are there is precedent set with the sighting council that projects that are under one megawatt AC system size can also go to the sighting council for them to take jurisdiction over. Um, however, again, we prefer to work with local municipalities when possible.

Yeah, well said. any uh opinion from commissioners or Peter or

I I have another letter from the uh conservation energy and environmental committee to read into the record if you want me to do that now. Is it long? No, not as long. Not as long. It's a It's a full page instead of a page and a half. Um Okay. Go ahead.

So, let me uh you know, I I think the commission has jurisdiction here. Um and uh you know, having a uh having a presentation and maybe hearing questions um from the from the public and the commission, I think, is is uh is valuable. um in uh specifically um because the applicant can then have uh the month uh until the next meeting to respond to those to those concerns. Um, so I would recommend that commission hear presentation um and um my uh staff report and the uh um letter from CEC and then take questions.

Okay. So let's just let's just table it until the next meeting. I don't like hearing incomplete applications there. Um I believe there are still folks here who were uh asking questions about the project that are online. I I don't think they're Yeah, I wouldn't say that their application was incomplete,

but it's just it's uh But but if the soil scientists and you don't agree and we move the wetlands boundary, then it could change their their layout. It could, but I don't think it's it could, but I don't think it will. Um, you know, there's I don't know. In my opinion, there's value in hearing presentation tonight understanding that the commission cannot act until

Yeah. But why do we got to hear it twice? And and and to me, you know, when an applicant comes in and it's not a a complete application, I just assume kick it over to the next meeting. Come back when you're ready. I get, you know, but let's take questions from the public. Okay. Well, how about uh Jen Tao has his hand up. Alan, sorry. Sorry, guys. I I can't I can't find the raise hand button.

Um Allan, I I don't I don't disagree with your mentality of tableabling. However, I do want to bring a few things prior to um getting the public's questions because um CEK and I would love to hear the public's comments and questions and try to address for the next hearing. Additionally, we wanted to just touch base with this commission because again generally the entire property is within wetlands and as part of our application um and our determination for what we want to propose as mitigation for the potential impacts of this system to the wetlands. Um we wanted to get buyin from the commission on our approach for what we would consider permanent impacts and um to quickly kind of give an idea of a solar facility. A solar facility development within wetlands is different than any other type of development within a wetland system or just generally. uh for a solar facility, the only real ground disturbance that's needed is the postmounted racking systems that are placed in the ground. So the the the racking posts themselves as well as kind of the gravel access road that you see here and any concrete equipment pads. Other than that, solar facilities actually function better with a lot more space between the modules and following Connecticut Deep's regulations for solar development in the state. The modules themselves do not need to be considered impervious if you have spacing between arrays that is larger than the modules themselves, which we are holding to. So, as part of our application and part of providing mitigation for our quote unquote impacts to the wetland system, again, we have about 7 and 12 acres of fence in array area, but we were looking to

minimize or to capture the permanent impacts associated again with just those grounding posts, the access road, fence post, and concrete equipment pads. if we were allowed to. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me stop you right there. Why don't you give us a quick overview and then we'll take questions from the public and then we'll table it. Sounds great. All right. Um, so CEK is proposing to develop a 1.3 megawatt DC Wait, you said under one

DC DC system um at the property located at 141 Whittenberry Avenue. Um this I have on my screen is the uh civil engineering site plan set um for permitting. Uh we were intending to use this as part of the PNC permitting effort as well. Uh but we are kind of holding off on that application pending this application with the inland wetland commission. I do fully understand that without locking down the wetland amendment map and understanding the full approved and agreed upon wetland boundaries, our calculations for what is going to be an impact is going to slight potentially slightly change. Um the property um at 141 Windenberry Avenue um has frontage in that is kind of split with another unit um at 51 Windenbury Avenue. Um the project itself is intending to have permanent access to Wittenberry on again. So this land sheet has north uh on the right side, south on the left side, west on the north side, and east on the south side. Um, we are planning to have permanent access off of Whittenberry Avenue with a gravel access road um that is going to come down into kind of the middle of the parcel where the solar array is located. The fencedin solar array and this solar array is going to be tracker modules. So, there's just going to be one panel on a tracker system. You can see how there's many gaps and these tracker systems are going to have a motor that forces the uh modules to turn with the rotation of the sun. Um, this solar array is going to be situated where we have kind of generally centrally located to the project because it was our goal to minimize any direct visual impacts to

our neighbors to the west and the town of Bloomfield property to the east. That being said, there are a lot of trees on site um which we have prepped now since our application a tree clearing exhibit as well as a tree map that we were able to conduct post our application in the winter. Again, with the harsh winter that we had, it was very difficult to get our wetland and soil scientists back on out on site to actually flag u and locate all of the trees that could potentially need clearing. That being said, I think what triggers the jurisdiction of this uh commission is principally the footprint of the solar array as well as the tree clearing need from a shading perspective to the array itself. Um due to the existing site being generally flat and as our neighbor uh Marie was mentioning that there's a lot of standing water problems, the solar array itself and the footprint of it will not require much earth work for the installation. Um outside of just kind of clearing the vegetation and the trees as needed. Um this air this parcel itself with a flat nature is essentially very conducive for a solar tracking. uh facility. Um and the only earth work that we're proposing as part of this site is to create uh an earthen embankment that actually is intended to manage the water on the solar facility site more so and better prior to releasing on the west side to that um existing storm sewer network um as well as to the souththeast side u prior to releasing. Now that thank you Peter for letting us know into the Bloomfield Towns storm water management basin. The reason that we were deciding to

create this kind of earth and burm embankment as part of our storm water uh management system is one with the trees cleared um we anticipate that the site may generate just a slight amount of increased runoff without the trees. Um, and using this kind of earth and berm system, we're only targeting to fill and not cut. So, we're trying to preserve as much of the existing wetland soils as much as possible. I believe that is the general idea of the actual solar facility itself. In terms of again with the site being pretty much essentially all wetland, the CEK is proposing to do mitigation for any proposed impacts to the existing wetland system associated with again the access road, the ground posts, the fence posts, the concrete pads as well as the clearing. Um we're targeting more of a naturalistic um enhancement mitigation on site as well as some supplemental plan plantings in this area here. Um that is part of a former parcel 2 that's been combined.

Okay. Thank you. Any questions from the uh public? Diane, do you have questions? Okay, Alan. Yes, thank you. Okay. All right. How'd you know? I guess. So, Gentel, thanks so much for um showing this diagram. I'm sorry. Can I'm sorry to interrupt. Can you state your name and address, please? I am Perry, 16. Thank you.

Gentau. Um, can you tell me more about that legend with the larger polka dots? I I can't really see what that is. Is that tree clearing?

This is our proposed meadow seeding area. Uh, we aren't proposing a wetland seed mix for this area because it's upland. So, a wetland seed mix probably won't be able to germinate well in this slightly raised condition um with the soil types there. So the tree clearing that you're wondering, uh, we actually have a exhibit that we will, um, Peter submit to the town. Um, so we had our wetland scientists go back out on site, uh, January 13th this year, um, to flag all of the trees that were categorized as um, significant or above. Um, and we would like to present to this council because you guys haven't seen this yet. um that there is one large deciduous tree right in the middle um that is 44 in in diameter which would need to be removed as part of the project considering the solar array is going pretty much right there. Um all the other trees there are um so the yellow and brown are going to be your deciduous trees and then the green is and the green and dark green are your evergreen trees. So these were all the trees that were flagged with that kind of significant uh diameter. Um and as part of an overlay with where our project footprint is going, um the kind of dashed pink is where we are going to be doing selective tree clearing. As part of that selective tree clearing, it is our intention to uh similar to the previous project ahead of us, we are planning on leaving all the trunks in place. Um again with the target to minimize ground disturbance um as well as uh potentially doing um some of the what was the term uh morticulture where

uh trees that are cut can be left on site to function as habitat. Um not just dead but the the remaining the trunks that are cut. Um so that could help enhance the wetland features as part of this mitigation process. Okay. And so Gentel is your while this is being tabled are you all going to I guess amend your application and make this information publicly available. We 100% in

we 100% intend to submit the tree map as well as this exhibit for tree removal um to the commission as well as address the some of the comments that Peter Staly has made in his memo. Um we are looking forward to working with both the commission as well as the public to make this project um agreeable and um uphold the town of Bluefield Inland Wetland Commission's regulations. Okay. Also, Peter Peter, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't all their information posted on the town website under a wetlands commission? Yes. This this these last two exhibits are not. Yeah. So, come before us, yes, is going to be posted.

Yeah. I want to point out I'd like to point out rather that in order for the solar panels to work to be constructed to be installed um all of the trees that or the majority of the trees that are shown on this plan will be removed including right to the property line on the on the east side. So, it's not and it's not just the within the dashed pink. Um, I think if you go back to one of your earlier exhibits that shows the uh limits of clearing and limits of of project, that's the one. So, the all of the area that's shaded will will that and most of it is is forest is proposed to be removed. The forest is proposed to be removed and replaced with wetland seed mix. That's what the that's what the uh stippling is.

Right. In those other areas where they're uplands, they're planning to plant some other kind of vegetation.

Um that is almost accurate. Um, we are, and I mean this is splitting a little bit of hairs, but there are several trees right on the property line to the east, um, that we are intending to leave in place. Um, if we go to kind of this tree removal exhibit, um, anything that doesn't have an X, that is intended to be left in place. Um, we're able to do that because we don't need to fully clear to the eastern property line, we can hold about a five, maybe even a 10ft buffer. Um and that is associated with kind of tree heights and the shading for the array. And even if we and for certain ones if the commission deems that they would like to save there's a chance that we can just top the trees and not fully remove. Again it's a it's a shading problem to the east and west side.

Yeah. Okay. my uh I think the uh um the impact uh the direct impact to the wetlands is for the post but I think the the impact to the um uh um to the wetlands vegetation is more uh concerning um the wet I've been on the site uh through the you know we came in on Mark Lane so we saw about the southerntherly half of the site. And and these aren't swamp type wetlands, but they're they are forested land that was flagged as as you know, it was delineated as a wetland. So, it it qualifies as forested wetland. And in my opinion, the the biggest impact is the loss of that forest vegetation. Uh okay, I won't say anymore, but I would like to read the letter from,

you know, conservation. Can you just put it in our next package? It was it I could but it was submitted for this for this meeting. So I think we should read it or they should read it. I'll be quick. I got I got a question first before you read that. Sure. On the east on the east side, is there a drainage pipe? Did the neighbors say that there was a drainage pipe? It's on the west side. On the west side. Yep. Yeah, it's here. It's there. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, and Peter, before you start, uh, this is Diane Perry again, 16 Skinner. Um, Gentel, is there any thoughts on supporting the existing or amending or making the existing storm water detention area on the west side better or more effective? Because, as Marie alluded to, it is not effective. Yeah, I know. And I I I appreciate um the neighbors on the west side bringing that to our attention as part of this project. Um wherever we are going to be doing kind of that vegetation removal, um we are targeting kind of that invasive species and we can focus as long as the township approves because this is their easement if they want CEK to come in and clear out those inlets that are currently kind of overgrown and blocked. Um that is something that uh CEK would be amendable to do because they will be on site doing kind of that work anyways. Right Dan? Um, additionally, understanding that there is a lot of standing water that kind of hits that inlet system, our proposed storm water basin or storm water berm um on this side here uh is intended to actually stage water closer to the array side and do a slow release into the storm sewer system that is the town of Bloomfields, which would help with managing some of the water that you guys are seeing kind of staging in that area um upstream of it more so than not. You know, um I just want to add it would be appreciated to the neighbors in in the going along a good neighbor uh policy if you could look at that area a

little more in depth and come back with recommendations that you can do on your side or that the town may have to do that could alleviate some of those problems. You don't have to do it because it's not really a wetlands issue, but I'm asking if you would take a look at it.

Yep. And Alan, thank you. That is that is something that we will 100% look into. Um I think in my runoff models having this additional kind of earth and berm that would be staging water and controlled with a controlled release within our system here. uh essentially this is kind of where this pocket will now be more inundated prior to getting into this area which is currently inundated. So I believe that this would help the neighbor situation as well. Um but yes, we will also look more closely at the existing kind of easement and what uh provide additional suggestions of what could be done. Yeah, because because you want good neighbors. Oh, absolutely. Yeah,

that's right. looking forward to CEK. Um, if you do get approval, um, CEK being good corporate citizens and neighbors. And I think you could also write things plants aside from, right? Maybe something that that could uh the water or runoff. But um, thank you. look forward to uh this continuing in April. All right, Diane, don't run away, but Peter, go ahead. Um you can read your letter.

Okay. Uh from Paula Jones, chairperson of the Conservation, Energy, and Environmental Committee. Thank you for this opportunity to submit a comment to the Wetlands Commission on behalf of the Conservation, Energy, and Environmental Committee. Uh the CEC has long advocated for renewable energy in Bloomfield. However, the committee's position has consistently been that Bloomfield needs to identify areas in town suitable for largecale solar and then develop a unified plan. Suitability in quotes criteria for largecale solar would include protection of a site's ecological resources including wetland system functions and values of those systems and the abundant wildlife those systems support. Mr. Castello made an informal presentation about CEK's proposal to the TPZ at its August 28th, 2025 meeting. Commissioner Barry uh Byron, sorry, Lester recommended that Mr. Gello reach out to CEC to discuss the project and get the committee's feedback. As a result, this potential solar project was brought to the CEC's attention at its September 11th, 2025 meeting. In addition to talking about this project, Mr. Cassello proposed text amendment changes for the Bloomfield solar regulations. During Mr. Cassello's presentation, CEC members and members of the public raised several questions and concerns which are documented on page two of the CEC 911 2022 minutes. Uh, and then she gives a link to the minutes. In particular, one member inquired, quote, about wetland mitigation and expressed concern for the potential elimination of some wetlands unquote. She requested to see the results of environmental studies on the site. Mr. Cassello later provided the

environmental assessment report by Ecom Maps LLC dated July 22, 2025, and that report was distributed to CEC and other members of the public who had attended the meeting. The CEC had a follow-up discussion at its October 9th, 2025 meeting to talk about the environmental assessment report. Salent points are documented on page one of the minutes for that meeting. Um, quote, "Feedback included not including Samuel Wheeler Reed Park in the environmental assessment report, nor potential impacts from the solar farm on the park, using a user-driven database that may not be reliable criteria for the environmental impact report. concern regarding the net loss of wetlands, particularly without knowing all the species that may be in the area of wetlands and recognizing the role of wetlands in the cooling area," unquote. The committee asked director John Coleman to pass this input back to the TPZ as Commissioner Lester had requested and we are now also providing it to the wetlands commission. The CEC does not believe that this site 141 Whittenbury Adam Avenue is suitable for the large solar arrays being proposed for the reasons citing above. Thank you for your consideration. Um so let's close the po let's and I'm sorry let's post let's table the public hearing till April 20th.

Yes. Yeah. Okay. All right. Is there a motion to table it? So moved. Made by Kevin, seconded by I'll second by Paul. All in favor say I. I. Abstain. It's unanimous. Diane, have you ever thought of getting on the wetlands commission? We have an opening. I'm I'm always recruiting. You know what's your background? Not that it matters. Yeah, think about it.

I mean, you're articulate. You're young. You know, talk to Peter. He'll tell you what's involved and how to put in an application. It has to go to the council, but it it might be worth uh getting it. You know, it takes a little while to get they're a little slow approving people, but think about it. And on top of that, we need a secretary. And it's not nearly as demeaning as you think. No, not that easy job. Oh, yeah. Kevin, you're going to be secretary. Not again. Yeah. It's not on It's not on today's uh Yeah. The the secretary just signs the plans. Don't, you know, it's nothing.

It's easy. Rebecca on the line does the does the actual recording notetaking recording of of the meeting. Yeah, it's nothing like that. But we need a we need another commission member. Oh, you do. Eh, so we do we need more involved towns people. Think about it. You have until April 20th. No, no pressure. Yeah. But but if I join before April, would I have to abstain from being in, you know, conflict of interest? The council will never approve you that quick. Yeah.

They're right in the middle of budget process. They're so slow. Famous last words. But yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. Uh And you don't have to accept the appointment until afterwards. More to come. Yeah, think about it. Seriously. Well, you know, whenever whenever I see a live one, got to grab, you know, Paul Shipman. Yes. Yes. It's nice to It's nice to hear your voice. That's right.

All righty. Okay, moving on. What else do we have? Uh new applications, Peter. Yes. Uh we have uh new applications for a map amendment at 46 Rockwell Avenue by the town of Bloomfield and a permit application for um 46 and 91 Rockwell Avenue uh which is uh they're calling it uh the Rockwell Park. Um, old-timers in town like me remember it as that's the the Bill Lee baseball field.

Um, you can see it uh right off Cottage Grove Road and it extends north to u across the street um at Rockwell Avenue. They're going going to do tennis courts and some other u recreational improvements and uh they've got some regulated activities. Uh the map amendment is a automatic public hearing. So I'm recommending that u the public hearing also be held in the general public interest for the permit application and I'm recommending that they be at the heard at the April 20th meeting. If that's okay with the commission, we'll pencil them in.

Okay, sounds good. Okay. Wetlands agent permits. Any Yes. Uh I um I approved uh the wetlands agent permit for 92 Hoskins Road, which we've discussed uh earlier uh at earlier meetings. Um I had approved it with conditions. Uh the conditions were incorporated into the plan and then uh the permit was issued last week. So there's going to be a new house at 92 Hoskins Road.

Okay. Any enforcement actions? Uh no. We've got a couple in the in the hopper, so to speak. Um, we're waiting on on 90 uh not 90 69 I think. Um or 65 uh Central Charter Avenue. That one he he requested a a month extension. So, we'll hear him um next month.

Oh, right. Right. Um but um that's the only thing I have for enforcement action. Um because it's springtime, we have a lot of new projects starting up. Um so I've had meetings with um folks at uh uh 57 Jolly Drive. They're going to build more apartments over there. Um, and we're also meeting um tomorrow to review clearing limits at 529 Cottage Grove Road um which came to this commission. It's there's going to be a um a small uh a small strip mall essentially with a drive-thru at one end. Um and they're going to be coming in off of an extension of Northwestern Drive. Okay.

Um but the uh the other projects that are active uh are closing up um including Ryfield Village um and uh the uh the duplexes at Blue Hills in East Wittenbury. Um there are a couple of other ones, you know, uh going on, but uh still too early for for uh most people to get started, but spring is always the time where everybody wants to get going.

Anybody have any questions about specific sites? Um anything happened with the one on uh what was it? Terry Plains, Peter? What was was it Terry Plains when I met you out there?

Oh, yeah. Uh I I uh I received a uh um notice that some work was had been done at 225 Terry Plains Road uh from John Coleman, the director of planning and land use. Um, when I went out there to the site, it looked to me like there had been some work done at some cross cover culverts that go under Terry Plains Road. Um, but there was no, you know, there was evidence of uh some material being removed, but there wasn't enough for a for a notice of violation. So, as we discussed in the field, I sent them a friendly letter to say, you know, work was done um on your property and on town property without a building, without a wetlands permit, and that shouldn't be done. Um, our public works was, you know, initially I thought maybe it was work done by by public works, but they didn't do it. Um, and so that's where it stands now. You know, clearly there was some work done, but I didn't have enough evidence for for a notice of violation.

But is public works going to clean out the uh covert? Well, I've been including them in the in the, you know, correspondence, but I I'm not sure what they're going to do. Uh these culverts are are they're twin 48 inch coververts, and at this time of the year, they're full to the top.

Yeah. Normally they're half full, maybe a quarter full of water, but this time of the year they're just, you know, they're inundated. So there isn't a whole lot that can be done right at the pipes, even if the pipes were perfectly clean, which they're not. The the water wouldn't flow any better than it does now. Yeah. All right. Uh minutes I'd like to file a complaint. Somebody apparently did such a good job that they wasted my time. I read them and didn't find anything wrong.

I'm very relieved to hear that, Kevin, because I thought for sure you would shame me again. I'll mark the day on the calendar, but it would start, huh? Okay. Yeah. You can do like the Amish do with their quilts. Make sure they put at least one stitch out of place because only is perfect. Okay. Can you make a motion, please, Kevin? Oh, yes. I I move that we accept the minutes as presented. The February 17th. February 17th, 2026. Okay. Thank you. Is there a second?

An enthusiastic second. Okay. Seconded by Paul. All in favor? I I opposed saying unanimous. Other business. Um I don't I I don't know if you were going to bring this up, but the question of the Vernon pool regulations came up by Glenn

who wasn't too happy about the way the regulations read. um and he suggested that we take another look at them. So, I would suggest we put it on for an agenda item on the April 20th meeting and we can discuss it and see how we want to handle it. Okay. How does that sound? Uh just just out of curiosity, was there some talk late last year, Peter, about us once again going through our regulations and modifying them if necessary?

Yeah, I brought it up and there was there was less less enthusiasm for it than I was hoping. Uh well, it's only been it's been less than three years. Yeah, 2023 was the last revision. As far as I know, there hasn't been any changes to the Wetlands Act, which would require the Wetlands Commission to revise their regulations. But yeah, I mean, there's, you know, there's lots of stuff in there that, you know, could be could be better. There always is. It's a big document. It's a it's a living document, if you will. Um, and we can certainly look at the um the vernal pool regs uh at the next meeting.

Let's look at the Vernon pool and we can bring up the whole regulations on whether we want to visit. Okay. Sure. That's not an easy project. The Vernon pool we might be able to handle easier. Yeah. All right. So, that'll be an agenda item for the next meeting. Right. Discussion and pos possible action. You have a lot going on next month. Yeah. You may want to set your parameters, Allan, to about 11 p.m. No. Well, or or whatever time Peter gets kicked out of town hall.

Yeah. Yeah. 11 o'clock he's kicked out. I like that. Right. Yeah. Diane, if you're still listening, we try to have our meetings over by 10, otherwise they throw me out. Um, public comments. Any public comments? Nothing. All right. Oh, well, you know what, Peter? We got to elect a new secretary. It's not on the uh tonight. We don't I know on the agenda on the agenda. We need seven seven members present. Yeah, we we would. So, you want it on the agenda for

election of officer? Yeah. Yeah. We're going to railroad. Well, Byron would like a nice job, wouldn't he? It's It's easy. You just have to go in, say hi to Peter, talk to him for a little bit, sign your name. He tells you what date to put down. He's been doing that for planning. He knows what it's all about. Okay. Do you need me to sign the plans or nothing to sign? It' be good for maybe Steve. Nobody. Yeah. Thanks, Byron. There are no there are no plans presently waiting for signatures.

Well, you know, I used I used to be able to just walk into Peter's office. Now the door's locked. I got to go sign in. They got to go down and get him. Then he's got to come up, say, "Who's there?" And then he opens the door. You know, if he just gave you his cell number, you could text him while you're walking in. Well, yeah, that that assumes that I I I have that thing in my pocket and I'm looking at it. Yeah. And uh Mr. Chair, I'm I'm watching in the Q&A and Rebecca is handling it, but Diane Perry is indeed still listening and I don't know that she's convinced about the uh the closing time. We're not going to talk for another hour.

No, no, no. We're going to look promise. Look for a motion to a motion to adjourn. Oh, wait. Before we do that, uh, Peter, so you you say you haven't finished going through that parcel for the solar array. Uh, are you planning on going back? And can some of us go with you? Yes. And yes. Oh, good. Uh when I figure out when I'm going to go, I'll let you know. All right. You just got to keep it under five members. Yeah. Yeah. If Yeah. So, uh five members of the wetlands commission is a quorum and that would be a meeting. So, yeah. So far that hasn't been an issue.

Um but I encourage the commission to get out and see the sites. Uh because you you you don't you don't get a full understanding of what's there by looking at aerial photos. You got to go out and walk around and you know see where the bushes are and bring your boots. Oh yeah. Yeah. Can you imagine what that site's like now, Steve? I'm sure. Yeah. All the snow is probably melted and it's it's marshy. That used to be part of the farm. Yep. Yeah. Soil's been tilled. You can see the old barb bar there.

It butts up to the Sam Reed Park, I believe. Yeah. Sam Sam we uh Reed Park is just to the east. Yeah, it's a it's the easterly of butter. Yeah. Okay. So, there was a motion. Was it made and seconded? No. Uh, there was no motion there. Made by Rebecca. No made by Paul. I move that we adjourn. I'll second. Seconded by Steve. Yeah. All in favor? I I opposed. Abstain. We're ajourned.

Nice meeting you, Diane, if you're still there. Nice meeting you as well. Good night all. Hopefully you consider come back soon.