Conservation Commission - Regular Meeting

all right thank you so uh yeah Mark can't make it tonight so I'll be filling in as AC chair uh let's see first up we have uh approval of minutes so we're starting with the minutes of December 5th has everyone had a chance to take a look at those yeah and are there any uh um changes or edits or anything look GRE excellent um uh that being the case would somebody like to make a motion to approve the minutes of December 5th as written s so second all right we have a motion in a second uh Melissa uh Fairington yes yes yes right and is Liz gonna be joining us tonight I didn't hear otherwise I was just looking at that I'm going to text her real quick oh okay but we we do have a quorum so we can uh continue with things um next up we have the minutes of January 2nd again any uh edits or amendments I wasn't at that meeting oh okay um so Melissa because we have a quorum we can still vote on them even if there's an exstension correct I believe so um unless you want a forum of those present or if you want to see if Liz will join us later we can always maybe we'll table those uh uh um until the end of the meeting just in case uh Liz does join let's do it that way perfect uh so let's see first public hearing for the evening is a request for determination of applicability for 10 Dairy Farm Lane in accordance with the wetlands protection

act m ches general laws chapter 131 section 40 in the Southboro Wetlands BW the Southboro Conservation Commission will conduct a public hearing on Thursday January 23rd 2025 at 7:00 p.m. via a virtual Zoom meeting the commission will consider a request for determination of applicability for a project located at pen Dairy Farm Lane map 72 Lot 29 for the applicant and owner Greg Brown project description is replacing an existing Deck with patio good evening Mr Brown welcome good evening uh thank you for having me um I figured I'd just give a quick overview and then see if there's any questions if that's all right perfect sure um so our house was built in 2023 and it came with an existing deck um the deck's pretty small and so we've been looking at different options to replace the deck and um we met with um Stonefire Associates which is in Westborough it's a patio company they designed a patio for us and provided the plan that I submitted which has some specs on the side of it um and it's on the plot plan um for my lot and had talked to Melissa sort of about the need to get approval and so went ahead with the process um and that's basically where things stand we haven't obviously started um one thing I'd point out is after talking with Melissa you know we made sure to put on that that we'd add some massachusett group pollinators which I know is important and we're I'm willing to do of course um but other than that I just wait to see if there's any question great thank you very much yeah so Melissa um youve been speaking with Mr Brown um yeah please yeah and um he was great in talking with the contractor in terms of permability of the pavers um so they gave this back for their um you know per permeability spec um for their Crush Stone layers um to be able to do that

and then they use a jointing sand that has a 7 % permability rating um so that it seemed pretty consistent with what we have been requesting um in the past you know it is outside of the 20ft buffer in the open space easement um so in terms of that I think the you know one of the adjacent Lots we've had them fenced kind of up to that open space easement so this is kind of consistent with what we've allowed in adjacent properties in the subdivision um you know all things said and done it is a relatively you know it's a longer patio um but with the mitigation that um the Browns have provided in terms of the plantings and the previous installation um I didn't see any issues with this application great and you're comfortable with the erosion controls proposed um yes I don't think there was anything on specifically on the plan but typically Greg forget if we talked about this specifically but having that straw waddle um along that down slope Edge um of the work prior to the contractor coming out and doing that kind of grading for the patio work yep yep and but the builders had previously told us that we should put a silk fence up too I don't know if that also applies but um I'm happy to do whatever is preferable that is pretty flat out there um in terms of that area so if the commission's okay I think either a straw waddle or a compost tube would probably be better for this project than a silt fence the silt fence might do a little bit more um because it has to be trenched into the ground it might just cause a little bit more disturbance than might be necessary for for this project yeah in Mr R of those too a um a

straw waddle is uh uh quite a bit less expensive than a compost tube um so that would probably be your your best bet going forward um so uh to the commission uh questions comments concerns doesn't like it um if there's anyone here from the public who's joined us tonight and wishes to uh speak on this matter please use the raise hand function on zoom and we will uh promote you up to do so does not look like all right uh yeah I don't I don't have any comments myself on it um uh Melissa I think you captured it all it's it's in line with with um uh the way we typically handle projects like this it looks great um would somebody like to make a motion to uh uh issue a negative determination of applicability uh conditioned upon the installation of straw Waddles or uh excuse me conditioned upon the installation of uh erosion controls um subject to the approval of of Melissa Bri of the start of construction so moved thank you and is there a second second thank you Melissa uh zulik yes barington yes Upton yesth yes all right Greg we'll probably touch base by Monday um and if you have any questions in the meantime just feel free to reach out to myself or Laura and we're happy to help sounds good thank you very much Melissa it was a pleasure working with you thank you everyone thanks for joining us have a good night take care okay so it's only 707 we can't go into our next hearing yet do we have um we can go back to the minutes Liz is here that's right yeah Liz is here Liz have you had a chance to look at the

minutes of January 2nd yes and any um edits amendments no edits on my end okay so with that would somebody like to make a motion to accept the minutes of January 2nd as written so moved thank you and is there a second second great zulik yes bton yes Upton stain Smith yes great and we still have two minutes to go um I'm looking through new Andor continued business I suspect I know the answer to this but any are there any Chestnut Hill Farm updates there are not okay I thought so um let's see number two might take some some discussion uh as would number three I can at least give the the highlights on the ones that won't take a lot of discussion on number three if you would like great that'd be great um so the St Marks the residential life uh the dorm building have submitted their COC requests fuss O'Neal has reviewed so there's just a couple things that um they need to go back and address um you know all things said and done really relatively minor in the grand scheme of things nothing that affects the storm water system in terms of compliance um but some cleanup actions um I think there was some more vegetation aspects that they might have to replace some plantings um so they're going to work on that um in the meantime but just so you know that that's kind of behind the scenes in the works um 229 parkerville uh Joe went out and did the first um first round of review on this one um this has been one that was around since 2018 right before I started um and I've kind of had discussions with the homeowner kind of throughout the years about the project um you know they were

supposed to kind of move the garden do some cleanup not pave the driveway which has been paved um so it's kind of a little bit of a interesting conversation um so the homeowner is working on responding to some of the comments that Joe made and coming up with you know a plan for the spring um and going out that way um so in progress not quite ready yet but I did put Joe's first initial review up on SharePoint so you guys can take a look at that um and just so an FYI that 20 and 22 Turnpike submitted their COC request so once we get a little bit of um uh melting out there um you know Joe can go out and maybe even a little bit later considering they had some mitigation plantings we need to make sure grow back so in the progress not quite ready yet um and the last one we can talk about when we're done with the hearings okay thank you very much uh so we now have exactly 710 uh our next public hearing is a notice of intent for 12 Wood Street in accordance with the wetlands protection act Massachusetts general laws chapter 131 section 40 and the Southboro Wetlands bylaw the Southboro Conservation Commission will conduct a public hearing on Thursday January 3rd 2025 at 7:10 p.m. via a virtual Zoom meeting the commission will consider a notice of intent for a project located at 12 Wood Street map one lot 22 for the applicant and owner Alberto jarra the project description is to replace a failing septic system and construction of a porch and deck uh good evening um I see Karen Skinner here good evening welcome yes thank you so uh do you want me to share so I have a we don't have a d file number so can't be closed today um I did go back out to the site at Joe's request and ref flag the uh Riverfront on the side of

the property and the BBW um it snowed so the um surveys had trouble getting out there to pick up the plan I did just get it tonight so I can put that up so Joe can take a look at it um we'd love we'd love to see it as you say we we will be unable to act uh this evening so Joe will have an opportunity to to take a look in depth but I would certainly love to see this evening great so um so the line did change a little bit Joe um so before the the um Port U the uh porch in the back was outside the 100 foot now it's just inside the um Riv the 100 foot um Riverfront area line ran just behind the back of the house so it's just moved up maybe 10 feet or so um so oh I'm sorry the com the owner is proposing a deck um a a small porch in the back and the replacement of failed septic system so um the septic system is proposed within the river front area and the um 100ft buffer um so we have this is the 200 foot here I did have a colored plan but this is all changed and I just just got it so this is the 200 foot Riverfront area this is the um 100 up here okay um and then this is the river here um the BBW runs here and along here and in the back um so the work is outside the 50

Foot buffer uh the septic system rather is outside the 50 Foot bu buff buffer and outside the um 100 foot Riverfront area um the system is proposed I'm sorry there will be no stock piling within 100 feet of the buffer zone um all within 100 feet of the uh repairing Zone within the inner repair Zone there is no flood plane natural heritage associated with the project um we're proposing a straw waddle and um silk fence as erosion control so so we can close it if anybody has any questions or if there's any issues my uh the commission would like me to address I'm certainly happy to take your questions great thank you so I I know Joe's G to be taking another look at this this is is uh you know brand new to him tonight I look through his comments and the one that that really leaps out at me is have you had a chance to look into the the age of the septic system and and get a handle on when it may have been inst installed um I did not I didn't see a note on the plan from the engineer but I will take a not note of that and I will definitely get you the answer okay that's the that's a pretty critical piece of information which I think uh um um you know may help you out a great deal uh if it was built prior to August of 96 it looks like it's probably likely that is the case I pulled up property card there was you know the house was built in 1925 so so it's I suspect the septic system will predate um the requirement to comply with the riverfront act for a replacement uh another piece that that Joe had mentioned that that was also critical for work within a Riverfront area is is delineating and sort of

quantifying the previously degraded areas yes you know in order to to figure out if if we're we're talking about more than a 10% disturbance that's sort of a you know an important piece here and and with the the work being proposed you know we'll need that to to figure it out um I would say it my suspicion is it sounds pretty likely that you know permitting uh the septic system you know shouldn't shouldn't be really shouldn't be a problem um just give given a quick review um we just need that that backup information and then um uh with if we know the previously degraded area then um that would certainly help out with the understanding the uh the porch index situation so with that uh questions comments concerns from the commission [Music] okay doesn't look like um does anyone here this evening from the public who wishes to speak on this matter uh please use the raise hand function of zoom and we will promote you right up to do that okay it does not look like um uh before talking about a continuance uh Joe I read through your review you put quite a bit of of work into this I know I only hit couple of the the absolute highlights um um would you like to uh fill the Commission in in a little bit more depth sure um I did have several comments uh regarding the delineation it looks like some of those were address with respect [Music] to the the bank and then maybe the uh BBW Fringe along uh the river um I can't

tell from the plan um there's also Bing lands have the flooding present under the BW there's a buff Zone on that too I don't know if that's been added to the plan the the femal flood elevation or that I'm sorry I don't know I can't hear what you're saying that last statement yeah the FEMA flood elevation um I can't tell if that's an add to the plan uh the under the bylaw there's 100 foot buffer from bordering land flooding okay um also I don't know if you had a chance or the soils were frozen to look at that Northern uh butland boundary um I was seing bar I can look I can go back and take a look at that take a look at that y um I was more concerned about the River Front are and how much that would change it let's see just a couple of um items on the forms that uh need some revising with respect to I did I sent that today okay [Music] um and alternative analysis for work in the in the riverfront area is required so I submitted that performance standing standard sheet did you see that wonder that what was that submitted that was sub submitted with the original oh the original right I I think the uh had referenced the um septic system workc uh in the performance standards but I don't think you referenced the proposed Direct on the house yeah take a look at

that I think I think uh that touches on most of the items between what was presented and what uh what's been talked about and certainly take a look at the new revised materials okay great I will send this plan to you Melissa tomorrow tomorrow okay great thank you and then one last thing in terms of the um uh Joel mentioned it it reminded me um uh in terms of the uh the flood plane um uh because it is a it's a studied Corridor with a a flood plane elevation the um it looks like elevation data was certainly picked up it's just the plan that we got was so uh um the resolution was so low we just we can't really see the cont the existing condition Contours the proposed condition are are very visible but the existing condition we can't see so if those could be made more clear so we can understand exactly where that boundary Falls uh you know in addition it's 100 foot buffer zone that would be very helpful awesome okay I'll take care of that great thank you uh if there's nothing further from the commission would somebody like to uh make a motion to uh continue to our next meeting who moved and is there a second second thank you uh meliss zul yes barington yes Upton yes yes all right Karen thank you so much for joining us thank you so much we'll see you in three weeks great thank you have a good night you too thank you okay uh we have a couple of uh continuance requests for our next couple of public

hearings uh first up uh notice intent and storm water management permit for6 metal Lane in accordance with the wetlands protection act Massachusetts general laws chapter 131 section 40 the Southboro Wetlands bylaw and the provisions of the Southboro storm water and erosion control bylaw Southboro town code chapter 154 the Southboro Conservation Commission will conduct a continued public hearing on Thursday January 23rd 2025 at 7:20 p.m. via a virtual Zoom meeting the commission will consider a notice of intent in a storm water management permit for a project located at 26 meal Lane map 56 spot 14 for the applicant William hray the project description is the construction of a flexible development with three single family units in one duplex unit uh I understand the applicant has requested a a continuance this evening yes um and they did receive their planning Board review as well so they're working on revisions um from both sets of comment letters so that they can make those revisions in tandem for resubmit all so I believe they are planning to come to our next meeting having those revisions completed um I did talk with the engineer Peter beus today he was meeting with the property owner um and just going over some of those initial comments and responses so I think they already have things in the works um but since they have nothing formal to represent to the commission yet who wanted to request that continuance all right thank you very much so with that um is there a motion uh to continue this to our next uh public meeting three weeks from now we moved thank you and a second second thank you um zul yes carington yes hton yes yes all right thank you and we are once again early uh Melissa how about uh do we have time for an update on our open

and active sites sure um I did do a preconstruction erosion control inspection at Ruby Estates off Mount vicory um but they still have quite a few items that they have to rectify um in terms of the special conditions for preconstruction um in our decisions they had thing we had things like they had to have their Board of Health septic approvals prior to construction because everything was kind of approximate I don't think they had done soil testing yet so we wanted to make sure the grading was correct um you know final Swip onm Etc so I think they wanted to get started to at least build the roadway um but I let them know that they need to you know follow these proper protocols before um so they're working on those um otherwise trying to think what else there is it's been I hate to stay quiet and jinx it um you know but it it it has been um oh Kevin did make me aware of the salt pile that was back at the MBTA station so um I let them know and they were going to remove it post haste so haven't been there to check I don't know Kevin if you would never know it was there perfect even better I love that was in the buffer zone yeah it's in the parking lot um so last year they at least had surrounded it with cinder blocks this year it was just like a slight Half Moon of waddle um so it kind of was even worse than last year in the Suns um so you know I kind of I found my email from last year where we requested the same thing and um Kevin had provided a picture so I'd s that over and be like it happened again please address but they've been they're responsive and yeah they're very responsive good um and then Melinda there was something you told me about oh some trash along the

heee properties along Woodland Road um so I've reached out to Mr heee just to talk about that I think it's other people that have been dumping at least some um like boxes and Etc along the Woodland road side um but there's also like a tire pile and things like that interior to the site that might still be used by him um you know it didn't look like it was causing an issue to the wetlands in terms of the um tires um it wasn't a huge pile but it's it was still a good I don't know dozen in the half or so of them that were there um the trash along Woodland Road was probably more not necessarily concerning it was in an isolated marish area but um definitely not something that we want continuing so that's kind of what's been on the radar is he gonna try to get rid of it I haven't heard back from him yet I did send him a message um so I'll wait to hear back um he's usually he comes into the building department every once in a while too so if I don't hear from him I'll catch him that way not catch him in the bad sense but um Alissa is this the red house at the corner of uh Woodland and Maine yeah uh wood rout n not and it's it's it's a a structure that's um in disrepair you know and I think the the concern is that because it looks like it's not inhabited people are feeling free to dump and once you see some dump then other people add more dump and so it's giving the illusion that it's like a a sanctioned place to leave stuff I know that him and his um son-in-law do frequent the property too I've you know just kind of offhand move circumstances so I think hopefully that they are if

not already aware of it would be cognizant of people um and be willing to kind of work with us one way or another because I'm sure they don't want that either so that's the good part great um and we still do have three minutes um what's been going on at break neck hill we are kind of in a temporary stabilization Point as of now um all waste is removed um so we put some tacka fire down um for temporary stabilization over winter it just worked a little bit better than any straw that we would have to continuously maintain um we completed our groundw sampling that's required through um the mass contingency plan and some other post analytic samplings that we needed to do um so our engineering TRC has been in the works of creating that restoration plan to get in front of you guys and stewardship to get comments on I'm expecting that within a month um so that we have some time before I'm on leave to be able to make some comments um you know I've talked to them a lot in terms of preferred plant lists um and kind of what we would that are like for the area you know it's not necessarily something that's going to be used as a recreational space as additional Trail space and talking to stewardship so um you know some sort of better habitat um you know with education kind of aspect to it is kind of the route that we're taking I think I mentioned previously kind of a wetland mitigation area um you know because of the just the the elevations that they've now uncovered you know there's kind of a opportunity to connect some of those isolated wetlands and make them connect like they used to um so overall it's going to be a net benefit I'm excited to see the restoration plan I know that

their environmental Engineers have been out there a few times taking a look at things from every angle um you know especially the that lowest kind of point if you're looking into the dump site kind of that lowest point to the right will most likely turn into a Vernal pool um as well just because that seems to be where everything collects so you know it's I think all all things said and done it'll be a very nice project at the end of the day it'll look really nice um and we are still running under budget um what was the last thing I wanted to say that was one other thing I can't remember I'll think of it just one quick question are we gonna see the plan yes so we we I should have that in about a month um and then I'll get it in front of you guys for comments and great and the um you said the tack power was put down is that was that sprayed down with like a mulch substrate over the uh yeah okay I I I did a drive by I wasn't able to walk into the site I just didn't have time yeah we didn't put any seed or anything with it it's just to to hold things um as is for now yeah you usually get about 90 days out of out a mulch that will get them probably to uh when they want to get going in the spring again excuse me out of attack of fire and mulch okay I've now got 7:30 and move along to our next request for continuance uh which is a notice of intent for 120 Turnpike Road in accordance with the wetlands protection act Massachusetts general laws chapter 131 section 40 in the Southboro Wetlands bylaw the Southboro Conservation Commission will conduct a continued public hearing on Thursday January 23rd 2025 at 7:30 p.m. via a virtual Zoom meeting the commission will consider a notice intent for a project located at 120 Turnpike Road Map 37 lot 12-4 for the applicant FD 120 Turnpike LLC the

project description is a construction of a 60 unit apartment building so we still have not received revised plans um so the applicant has requested a continuance for tonight um my understanding is they did receive their survey plan back and are doing their final reviews of it and that includes the um isolated vegetated Wetland area that Lucas called out that was um bigger than they even showed on the last plan submitted to zba um so that has finally all been compiled but not yet submitted so so kind of unfortunately in a waiting game um you know I did have a resident reach out um Mr Paul Carter who had some comments today um I let him know that we were continuing you know some of it was kind of non-jurisdictional about zoning aspects you know believing that there's no Frontage Etc so I let him know that you know we can't base our decision off that um but a lot of it um was more about the possible areas that we would be accepting as the town property um which would come up more so during the discussions of conveyance of the property versus this noi because it's outside of the 100 foot buffer zone in in a lot of spaces so um I've been kind of keeping my eyes out for that um because I think that would be our opportunity to address you know those issues in terms of vegetative screening Etc more so then in the noi process at this point at least for this application so we'll uh we'll see where it takes us but but as of now there is unfortunately nothing okay thank you very much uh so with that do we have a motion to continue 120 Turnpike uh to our next public meeting I moved

thank you and is there a second second thank you zul yes barington yes I guess well we've been doing this since May n May 9th last year so yeah yeah um and Smith yes okay now WPA horribly says two years it has to be kind of sat on under us and long also sadly we are not even close to the record for continuances Kevin I we're close uh okay uh let's see with that uh so we have some uh um COC requests Melissa you gave us some quick background on them yeah so the one I wanted to talk about more so that I think I wanted um Joe's input on is 78 Main Street um so Joe this was the garage within um the flood plane in 100ft buffer zone to the flood plane um their final grading was a little bit different than proposed so the replication area was a little bit different than proposed um I think they tried to the contractors during constru construction to kind of smooth out the back grading um not kind of thinking about the repercussions of that so they kind of moved it you know to the same ish elevation or same elevation but you know further down the lot not in the same exact area that we were thinking of um but there there were also some other comments um you know kind of things that weren't on the as built and if the compensatory storage was enough um so Joe if you want to go over those I think that would be helpful because the architect kind of wants to I guess a a discussion from the commission um you know if these things are really

necessary which I think some are um if not all so I'll let him take it away sure um so I they go out take a look at things um as is uh stated in the the applicants letter um the area around the garage is well stabilized lawn has building very well there no issues as Melissa mentioned they move the comp to storage area from where it was proposed next to the garage to an area further back on the property um and uh it's not as large as what was uh originally proposed and approved so the garage uh was buil for the garage was 147 cubic feet um the approved uh compensatory area was 257 cubic feet um and what they created uh is is listed at 150 cubic feet so they still meet the one to one um uh just need to run the one that's required however if you look at the Topo and the two plans there's there are some differences in the in the grades u in the area of the garage they went with the poose so it looks like there may have been some additional fill of the um the border line temperature flooding so that 150 cubic feet might not quite be enough to match what was actually filled I think it's probably pretty close but you know you can't really know for certain without you know getting the engineering calculations done uh properly um also uh just noted that the uh created compensatory storage area um is

still pretty thin on on grass growth um it wasn't conditions were not great they looking at it was there was some pretty good frozen snow at the side when I when I was out there but it looked pretty thin but I didn't see any any evidence of any erosion on the slopes or and the actual storage area is very flat so there's no erosion there there's still a water up on part of it so I'm not really concerned about erosion there based on what I saw um although the the grass is still somewhat thing maybe just need that water until you know spring sometime and the grass has a chance to to building of a better um although the GE might be a problem out there too eating any any grass that that I in because there's a lot of a lot of evidence of of can use out there that that um the uh the 100 foot buffers Zone to Bing L up for the floting was not on the plan um that was required to be on the uh original plan so think that the commissioner went that on the the has brought also and as that has changed with the comus storage area that should be revised to to indicate that change there's a standard condition uh that was on in the order uh regarding um the engineer an engineer of record certifying that all cut materials used on site are disposed of in accordance with the regulations I'm not aware if that if anything was submitted to the commission um regarding that I think that oh and also there was a um a low retaining wall was also constructed between the garage and a Stairway area that's not showing the AST that's in the it's in the buffer zone so

that should be in theor on the as that was outside the the flood zone so it didn't impact the condensator to work as Reed I think that pretty much covers okay thank you um uh let's see um did you see anything that looked like an increase in impervious area uh other than the garage which is permitted just that uh that uh stone wall okay okay so the big concern is the the uh compensatory uh storage the volume may be uh with the regrading May no longer be uh may not be sufficient for what was filled correct I it's probably not far off just eyeballing it but yeah really really can't tell without um yep absolutely okay uh questions comments from the commission okay so um uh Melissa will you be relaying Joe's uh comments to the uh uh to the applicant here so I did and I think what they were just hoping to get was kind of confirmation from the commission that these things were required even though um you know to me it kind of sounded like they were I think the one thing that you know maybe needs a more thorough yes or no is if you want that engineering calculation I think everything else is pretty clear that you know that should definitely be on the plan like the retaining wall um in the 100 foot buffer zone Etc um it's just I I don't know if that was what he was more concerned about or if

it was I I had kind of a trouble understanding if it was the stabil stabilization aspect even which you know kind of was the lesser of the concern of the letter um it was more you know kind of comments where it was on the just on the very outer edge of the flood plane but you know to us that's very important you know so I think it's not maybe understanding the full extent of the importance of flood plan and compensatory storage yeah it's it's important to us it's very important the D and you know we have a particular responsibility here it's a Sudbury River uh it's um that this ultimately does drain too um it has a huge drainage area and every incremental change to it changes the downstream hydrology um you we've got a a responsibility to make sure that we're not increasing um or well that we're not decreasing flood storage and that we are not allowing an increase in flood waters it's a it's a pretty critical part of what we do as a commission I would say um so unless unless anyone feels to the contrary I think we should you know let the applicant know that uh this was something that was committed to during the the pering process and we need to know that the compensatory flood storage is adequate okay right so getting that engineering calculation is a definite yes then great thank you and okay so you've been um uh um speaking with the folks from St Marks in Turnpike and 229 parkerville so they they know what would be looking for so they're comfortable there I didn't mean to skip over number two Melissa um that's okay so uh you you reached out to me a little bit uh via email about uh building permit sign offs and more than happy to

to help out with that to work with Lara yeah so my goal um you know I have probably two months left with you guys um it's more likely than not I'll have two more meetings with you as our 2 March is on my due date so you know if I'm still I'm still here he's still internal I'll be here but um Laura also brought up the good point today of the remote meetings does expire at the end of March this year um or end of March yes of 2025 um as of now I am not aware of any thing to kind of extend that again I tried looking today the only bill that I could see was the one that they had been proposing um in 2023 and that was just to make remote participation required at all meetings but a quorum had to be physically present um so you know I'll keep kind of on top of that but I guess more of a heads up too now that um she nicely reminded me that you know starting April you guys may have to be in person um I would probably suggest starting to meet at the public safety building instead of townhouse actually um because they have a much better Zoom setup have question so is this something that as a group we can vote on or have the town vote on or is this really it has to be done at the state level for us to even have the ability to vote on it yeah so it has to be um kind of an amendment of The Open meeting law or this is like something I would petition to like a Kate donah who about you could yeah okay yeah put put just keep chugging just keep chugging um so you know like not as long as there's a quorum in the chair present physically you know there could be a member or two

that is still remote you know we could still have Joe remote or things like that you know to help alleviate travel um so it's we'll see where it takes I'll keep on top of it I know Laura keeps on top of that as well um but something else to think about as I throw Laura into the depths of running Kong Kong by herself um um and then otherwise open it's updating the open meeting law to allow for online for fully online or fully remote meetings what is the language there yeah it would be for yeah allowing public bodies to meet um completely remotely I'll find the executive order that's in place now for that language basically is that a a Statewide thing or a self BR thing Statewide yep you said what that's been done in public what did you just say it's been what is it is a what's the word you this the term you just use for what body what or executive order order okay thanks so wouldn't uh um so the previous executive order of course was was issued by the governor so it'd be up to more hey now if she wanted to do another executive order um I haven't heard anything about it um we I sort of rely on uh in the past we've learned about this from town administrator's office um he sent out you know emails uh in years past the past three or four years to let us know if there's any changes we just haven't heard anything from them yet but no and this one stems from covid so this was kind of extending the ACT special measures from covid-19 so um but they in 2023 kind of extended it to 2025 pushed it along because they were still trying to have remote meetings but the bill was more so just to have remote access and

participation be a requirement of every meeting of a public body not necessarily allowing for a public body to solely meet remotely um yeah one frustrating part of that is that uh without the executive order even if they require that you know we we open it up remotely having the physical Quorum requirement we couldn't use remote attendance to achieve a like if a couple of us are traveling or something this has happened in the past where I've joined in from Maine or something like that uh and that helps us get a quum we couldn't do that anymore you have to have physically have a quorum present um which would be it would be a shame it would make things uh much more difficult and much more potentially uh inconvenient for folks seeking you know uh conservation permitting um hopefully uh uh you know rationality will Prevail here and we we'll continue this it's been uh great for for achieving forums not just here I know with other communities around the Commonwealth we'll see yeah um but otherwise in terms of leave um so I am hoping to be off for 16 weeks so I'm going to be meeting with Mark purple on Monday um because I need to get permission to go longer than 12 so I do have enough sick time to kind of Carry Me Through uh but I um you know in thinking about you know daily duties you know Lara is part-time and how you know the commission can help if there's help from Lucas that we need you know I talked with Chris a couple months ago briefly and it's just kind of you know as needed kind of let him know if things come up you know there aren't any kind of large projects in the pipeline B besides 120 Turnpike and possibly 250 Turnpike um depending on when they get through zva and what that

process looks like we have the added benefit of Lucas being the peer riewer on both those projects for the zba as well um so you know my main recommendation for projects like those is definitely you know having Lucas assist in any condition drafting um for the very technical aspects of those order of conditions um as they probably already have some that they've been thinking of through the zv process as well so you know working with Laura to put those together in front of you guys to review um that's great yeah and as Ben mentioned he's going to be doing building permits Laura is going to filter through them um because sometimes we get ones that are just interior so she'll make sure kind of to filter those out um and send those along for approval it hasn't been crazy so that's the good part um you know I think like I mentioned having that restoration plan for the dump done before I'm on leave you know if not at least wrapping it up in those final kind of comments um so restoration will happen while I'm out final plantings Etc um I've been starting to make you know examples and workflows for Lara in terms of permit drafting so there's not going to necessarily be a change in timeline in those um you know we've been kind of sitting down every so often um you know having her draft determinations in the meantime and we've kind of been kind of lack on on nois so I'll probably have her do 12 Wood Street just to give you know her some practice on that one for a common one um you know how to submit those online who to send them to Etc so all of that's going to look very similar um you know the main they'll she'll probably have them ready for you at the meeting so you'll still be able to close an issue the same night just like we have been um

you know the probably the main difference is just the physical availability in the office because she is part-time so Monday through Wednesday 9: to2 she's in the office um Thursday remote so you know I've been kind of telling frequent flyer Engineers who come through you know that this is coming so even if you know they plan on submitting a project while I'm out at least if they have an inkling that something's coming you know if they wouldn't let mind letting me know so that that you know I can start to prep and just prepare um both you and Laura um and then what was the other thing oh the only other thing that I need an official vote from you guys about would be if you're comfortable allowing laa just to sign off on payables while I'm out um you know these are very minor um it's not it's not any of the dump bills or anything like that these are just kind of like um we signed Melinda for the conference you know so paying that Mac bill or dues the yearly dues that come in if we need office supplies Etc um so she would be an alternate in if I'm not available so in this case while I'm not on leave um but when I am in the office you know I'm the the primary so that's kind of the one official thing I need from you tonight but everything else um you know and just thinking about site visits as well if any of you are fortable you know doing um especially some of the smaller residential pre-construction erosion control meetings um I think that would be good if we we have an ability to keep that in house as much as Lucas is great you know it's like for those smaller projects it may not be worth it for us you know I hate to put money on the table but to get them out there is costly to the residents and to us sometimes um you

know especially if it's just like a deck permit or something like that um so if you guys are comfortable you know Laura can kind of send out a notice and whoever wants to take a swing by um and in the meantime between now and when I go out if you want to learn more about proper installation let me know and I'm happy to walk you through a couple things um go to a couple easy sites that I know have erosion tools up good and bad um you know and see what to look for um you know bigger ones like um like if 1 120 were to somehow get started tomorrow I would recommend Lucas be the one to do the preconstruction meeting for that you know obviously if commission members want to go but just because it's a little bit bigger it would have had more reconstruction requirements Etc just to kind of comb through so that's kind of where am Matt wanted to get um commission's thoughts if there was anything specific um that you guys had questions on or concerns about but also wanted to update on a lot of the things we're doing behind the scenes to make sure we're ready when when I'm ready to go thank you Melissa yeah so as far as the site visits um I will uh um um try to make myself available to uh to do a lot of that um so you will it it looks like you will be out until somewhere around July 1 is that roughly yeah depending on when this baby decides to make his appearance um yeah somewhere in July okay yeah as we get into the summer um uh I tend to disappear occasionally up to Maine um but uh when I'm in the area you can do it I'm certainly more than happy to do the site visits and then also uh I know

folks reach out to you uh um more than occasionally with questions about uh uh you know permit applications what permit to file how to fill them out that kind of thing and uh uh if Lara doesn't feel comfortable uh answering if she wants to forward those questions to me um I can uh I'll give Lara I'll give you my uh uh my cell phone number so that you can you can get in touch with me and I can uh talk with folks directly or answer questions that you have if I can and uh then as far as Lara uh um having the uh authority to to to sign off on uh the the day-to-day bills that sounds like a fantastic idea and if if if LA's comfortable with it I think it's I think it's great does anyone have any any discussion about that okay so um uh I guess we're looking for a motion to give Lara signatory Authority on the uh the day-to-day bills of the commission the moved is there a second second zul yes barington yes Upton yes yes perfect um but I'll also get keep you updated after I speak with Mark purple on Monday just to kind of confirm everything um you know and keep you more updated as things get along so I'm sure you know we have a lot of resources available to us which is great between you know Lucas commission members um you know Lara is very familiar now with the Mac hbook um you know which I even check twice a week still just to sanity check um you know I've created examples and made a list of like special conditions

that are you know not on our our standards but are common that we use for like um mitigation projects or um vegetation plantings and monitoring invasives pool stuff you know so trying to pull out the random things that you know are kind of stuck in my brain but may not come that quickly to her yet but it will be my mission um so you know appreciate you guys kind of stepping up in the meantime as the in this process but like I said if you have any questions or anything you know while and now you know I me and L have had a lot of discussion about it she knows how to find me if needed an emergency too um so I'm not going away for you know for good it's temporary leave yeah we we will we we will do our absolute utmost not not to bother you I mean we we I think we kind of expect to maybe get a baby picture at some point but that's fair that's fair yeah I mean fully expect like if we're doing something for the opening of Breakneck after the plants are installed like I will show up with a baby strap to my chest thanks awesome yeah awesome and then so I know you've got a lot to talk with Mark about just if you happen to think of it if you could ask him if he's heard which way the winds are blowing on remote meetings Okay seems to have sort of been in that Loop more than more than other folks in town in years past so yeah interesting to hear I was also gonna talk to C if Jim Hagerty had heard anything either um so and if there's anything we can do to express our supportive remote meetings as an option let us know that to okay I absolutely will yeah thank you for laara for reminding me because that I just was living in Oblivion for a little bit won't affect me right away so it's okay but it will affect you guys okay uh We've covered the whole

agenda just uh other business as may arise anyone have anything they wish to uh to bring up this evening and if not it's time for our final motion if someone would like the honors me time so moved is we have a second zul yes barington yes yes Beth yes all right guys 58 minutes nice job thank you have a good night by night everyone