Conservation Commission Minutes

Meeting date: 
Monday, February 12, 2018

Attendees:         Neal Brown, Karen Day, Carol Irvin, Roger Lessard, Janet Renaud, Karen Russell (guest), John Gryval (guest)

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Chair Roger Lessard.

This special meeting was called to discuss the application submitted for Lot R1-29 at 295 Sawmill Road, a proposed storage unit facility.

Carol attended the ZBA hearing and attended the ZBA site walk.  Her notes are appended to the end of these minutes.  Here is a quick summary:

The ZBA approved both variances and the special exception.  One building will be completely within the 100’ setback and close to the brook that feeds into Otter Lake. In addition, this lot is in the Groundwater Protection District.

Carol described the discussion about the water source for the wetlands that will be disturbed.  The engineering firm believes that the wetlands is fed from water running off the slope. The new slope that needs to be built, will not be as steep as the current one.  In addition, the project is designed to have no runoff and all runoff is sent into the ground (like how a leach field works).  If that is all true and they build the new slope correctly so that it’s stable, Greenfield will lose a small wetlands at that site.  If that wetlands is fed by the brook, then either a new wetlands may form in the area or the brook will run at a slightly higher level than before. The engineer volunteered that a retaining wall might be considered, which would minimize the impact on the wetlands.

Neal mentioned concerns about the removal of all the vegetation and that the channel may undermine the toe of the slope, even if a retaining wall is constructed.

John noted that any application that requires two variances and a special exception, plus being in the Groundwater Protection Zone, should be given more scrutiny.Building C is entirely in the setback.18,000 sq ft. of the project will become impervious.Suggested that the Con Com file for a re-hearing.

Janet made the motion, Neal seconded; vote was unanimous on the following:

To communicate to the Planning Board that the Conservation Commission is not comfortable with the project as it has been presented.

Possibility of appealing ZBA decision – will discuss next time we meet.

Karen – I think we should strongly suggest a retaining wall and a larger culvert under the driveway.

Roger will call a meeting for February 21st at 6 PM to craft the written statement to be presented to the Planning Board.Carol will draft an initial statement in the meantime.

Roger made the motion, Carol seconded, for adjournment at 7:15 pm.

Next meetings are as follows:

  • Wednesday, February 21st for the Pollinator Project at 7:00 PM, to which an hour will be added at the front end to finalize a statement to be presented to the Planning Board re: 295 Sawmill Road.
  • The next regular meeting of the Greenfield Conservation Commission is February 28th, 2018 at 7:30 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Janet Renaud to Roger Lessard for approval, corrections, distribution, and posting.

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Carol’s notes from the ZBA hearing and site walk are appended here:

Application before the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA)

The following are my notes and being shared as an FYI.

On January 24, 2018 I attended a ZBA hearing for an application seeking a variance to the town’s 100 foot setback requirements and a special exception to impact some wetlands. This hearing was continued to January 31, 2018, which I plan to attend.  I also attended a site walk on January 27, 2018.

The applicants will start the planning board review process on Monday evening, January 29, 2018.

Description of the parcel: The parcel is R1-29 located at 295 Sawmill Road, abutters are New England Forest Products to the North, state Department of Transportation (DOT) to the West, and the state park to the South.  There is a small residential home across Sawmill Road that is also considered an abutter.

The lot is 3.60 acres and is a long rectangle shape. The length of the parcel runs from the DOT access road south to another DOT access road where right now there is a collection site for cans as some type of fundraiser for kids. The current owners of the property are Gary Russell (a lifelong resident of Greenfield) and Duffy Fox the town’s former road agent and I understand no longer lives in town. The applicants are Dave and Tammy Blanchette, a couple who lives in Antrim and I understand that they have a tentative purchase and sell agreement for the parcel contingent on their plans being accepted by the ZBA and the planning board. 

This lot used to have a residential home that fell into disrepair and was torn down a few years ago.  The lot is not level and according to the Steep Slopes and Erodible Soils map in our draft NRI, this parcel has some of the steepest slopes in town, at least 33 percent.  Currently there are no structures on the site. There is an old pit where sand and gravel was excavated, and a couple of wells. The site is forested with mature hardwoods and pines. The property is zoned General Residence, it’s in the Industrial Overlay District, and it’s located in the Groundwater protection district.

Description of the project: The applicants want to establish a self-service storage unit business on the parcel.  Their application includes three long, rectangular storage buildings where the long-sides will run parallel to Sawmill Road.  One building will be on the southern half of the property and the other two will be side-by-side on the northern half of the property. Storage units will be on all four sides of the buildings with a gravel drive running around all sides of the buildings. The buildings will total 18,000 square feet, which means at least 18,000 square feet of impermeably surface on a 3.60 acre lot. Each building will be 30’ wide, 1 will be 175’ long, another will be 190’ long, and the third will be 235’ long. The applicant has not provided an estimate of the number of units because the interior of the buildings will be somewhat adjustable and the number of units will be determined by whether the demand is high or low for large, medium, or small units. They propose relatively flat roofs so that snow will drip off slowly and not pile up in front of the doors to each unit. They are planning for a fence that will run around the drive and there will be key pad access to get inside the fence. They propose a 12’ by 12’ maintenance and utility shed to house electrical components separately from the storage buildings on the north side of the lot, right next to the DOT access road. They plan to provide 2 visitor parking spaces. An emergency access gate at the south end of the property will also be included. The plans note that lighting will be pointed down and conform with current efforts to reduce light pollution in the night sky. The old driveway for the home will be reopened and upgraded and be part of the driveway into the units. 

The storm water management of the project includes catch basins connected by a 12” perforated pipe which will be imbedded in the soil to filtrate all run off. It was explained that essentially, the project will establish a runoff system similar to what we have for septic systems and that the project will not increase runoff to the area’s surface water systems.

Wet areas: Alexander Brook, which runs from Sunset Lake to Otter Lake, flows along and inside the eastern and northern boundaries of this parcel. The brook flows under Sawmill Rd., onto the parcel and thence into Otter. This brook was running quickly during the site visit. Associated with this brook are adjacent wetlands on this property. A notable one exits on the western side of the brook at the point whether the brook flows onto the property.  We saw two state maintained culverts, the most significant one that allows the brook to flow under Sawmill road onto the property.  Another exists on the northern edge of the property that extends under Sawmill road.  The property has another significant culvert on the property under an abandoned driveway that runs from Sawmill into the property. That culvert will be upgraded to allow for the driveway up to the three units.  The project will replace that culvert with the same size, but it will be a longer culvert and they will add aprons to help manage erosion.  During the site walk we found two other smaller culverts that appear to be used by the former owners to walk over the brook from the home site.

Why they are before the ZBA:  They need ZBA approval for two reasons.  First, the town’s 100’ setback requirements from boundary lines and wet areas mean that on this parcel, only a narrow strip that runs a parallel to the Sawmill road is considered buildable. All three buildings will encroach on the town’s 100’ setback limits. One building on the northern end closest to the road (known as Building C on the plan documents) will be completely within the 100’ setback. Only portions of the other two buildings will be within the setback. 

Second, this plan needs a special exception because they need to disturb one of the wetlands associated with the Brook that runs along the Sawmill Road.  For the building on the southern end they need to bring in fill to build up the land to have a wide enough drive on the eastern side (side closest to the Sawmill Road). To do this they need to move the substantial slope that rises from the wetlands out closer to the road, so from the road we will see a newly graded slope that is closer to Sawmill Road on the southern end of the property.  Total impact on the wetlands will be 2,976 square feet.

Putting the impact in perspective:  I calculate that a 3.60 acre lot is equivalent to 156,816 square feet.  The introduction of 18,000 square of impermeable surface represents 11.5 percent of the parcel. The wetlands impact represents 1.9 percent of the parcel. 

The issue of hazardous materials: Given the wetlands and that is parcel sets in the Groundwater protection district and that the brook flows into Otter Lake, I asked about the possibility that hazardous materials will be stored in the units. Supposedly, the contracts the renters sign will state that the storage of hazardous materials will be prohibited. The business owners also have the right to inspect any unit and its contents at any time they want to.  The storage of small cars will be possible in these units. 

Carol Irvin

January 28, 2018