By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
The Middlebury Conservation Commission (CC) at its Feb. 24 meeting approved work completed on Tranquility Road and heard a complaint about a concrete dam built without a permit on the same road. It also accepted applications for changes to approved drainage plans on Straits Turnpike and for drainage systems for the new Shell station on Middlebury Road and a proposed building on Southford Road.
An after-the-fact permit for Thyrza Whittemore for clearing and grading in a regulated area at 197 Tranquility Road was unanimously approved. Whittemore submitted an application Nov. 25 after receiving a violation notice for doing the work without a permit. Photos of the area showed commissioners the removal of invasive shrubs, saplings, vines and dead trees. She said the area was now seeded over, and she agreed to site visits by members to walk the property. Commissioners agreed the clearing did not have a substantial impact on the regulated area but told her sediment- and erosion-control measures must be maintained until the disturbed area is stabilized.
In enforcement matters, a complaint to the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) by Greg Barnes of 64 Spring Road about a concrete dam at 120 Tranquility Road that was built without a permit by owner Robert Bosco was explained by Bosco’s attorney, Anne Peters of Carmody, Torrance, Sandak and Hennessy. She said the CC issued a permit to Bosco in 2011 to do some work on the stream, including the construction of a plunge pool to aid with erosion and sediment control, to create a widening of a small pond with an outlet and a soil berm, and to reconstruct an old bridge that crosses over the stream. She said Bosco completed the work, but became concerned the berm was not structurally sound, so he constructed a reinforced concrete dam without a permit. She said Bosco was planning to come before the commission for a permit.
Peters said there was some question whether or not the dam is subject to Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) jurisdiction because they regulate larger dams. She said a letter from DEEP said the dam wasn’t regulated by them, but the letter contained an error and needed to be corrected before it could be presented to commissioners. Peters said she is working with the ACOE to inspect the dam and obtain a permit if one is needed. Chairman Vincent LoRusso instructed Peters to come back with an application for a new wetlands permit within 60 days after the ACOE makes its determination.
Revisions to the storm drainage system for a new 7,500-square-foot office building at 891 Straits Turnpike for the law firm Moore, O’Brien, Yelenak and Foti were unanimously accepted for review. Professional Engineer Brian Baker of Civil-1 said the depth of a planned swale and its proximity to the driveway and building created a deep trench that could potentially present a safety issue for vehicles. He proposed the use of plastic infiltration chambers instead of the open grass swale, saying the area would be maintained as a grass island over the infiltrators with no change to the net impervious surface area. Town Engineer John Calabrese said he had no issues with the change.
Plans for a new 9,600-square-foot commercial office building on a mostly wetlands five-acre property at the Northeast corner of Benson and Southford Roads were unanimously accepted for commission review with the stipulation a $2,000 fee be paid for an outside technical expert. Environmental Scientist George Logan of Rema Ecological Services LLC in Manchester explained the infrastructure improvements, parking and storm-water management system designed by Waldo and Associates LLC of Guilford. The proposed building would sit between two wetlands areas and require permanent fill of approximately 2,700 square feet and temporary fill of 580 square feet to bring utilities, including sewer, to the building.
Logan said the wetland nearest Benson Road is an open meadow that has watercourses draining to the second, larger wetland via a ditch that has an existing man-made driveway and a bridge that once allowed access to a since-removed farmhouse. The plans propose filling the ditch watercourse along with a small run of wetlands approximately 1,340 square feet in size. The building will be sited in such a way so all the parking and disturbances would be facing away from the larger wetland with at least 50 feet of buffer from the back of the disturbance to that wetland.
Logan described the mitigation plan as aggressive, with a wetland enhancement and restoration in one area of the plans and a wetland creation on the upper area for a total of almost 6,000 square feet. Dense vegetation of the slope and enhancement of the existing buffer are proposed for the back of the building and significant trees have been marked. An engineering report given to commissioners indicated no increased peak discharges, and a letter from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said species such as hare’stail, white-fringed orchid, black spruce and dwarf mistletoe were within or near the parcel. Logan stated neither their habitats nor the species are in or in close proximity to the acreage. He said wildlife usage would be impacted because the property is within a few hundred feet of a major transportation corridor.
Because of the complexity of the application, commissioners required a $2,000 fee for an outside technical review by Ed Pawlak of Connecticut Ecosystems. Logan agreed to have the site staked once the snow cleared and to submit all plans signed and sealed by an engineer.
Plans drainage improvements and site work for a new gasoline station and convenience store to replace the Shell station at 520 Middlebury Road with a larger facility extending west into two adjoining lots were unanimously accepted for commissioner review. Attorney Michael McVerry, representing owner Wesson Energy, said the old station would be razed once the new building and pumps are completed.
Professional Engineer Dainius Virbickas of Artel Engineering Group LLC said a man-made ditch and other eroded areas would be cleaned up and stabilized with fabric, rip-rap and a retaining wall approximately 6 feet high. He said runoff currently sheet-flows onto Middlebury Road; the new plan will utilize a series of catch basins and trench drains to route storm water through a water separator and into the state drainage system to ensure there is no increase in the rate of runoff. Roof and canopy runoff will be routed into a sub-surface storm-water infiltration system. Virbickas said he anticipates a decrease of approximately 100 square feet in impervious area.
In other matters, commissioners unanimously voted to recommend the Board of Selectmen release a bond for work at 165 Falcon Crest Drive completed in 2000. They also agreed there was no objection to minor changes in grade for road work at Ridgewood of Middlebury.
The next regular CC meeting will be Tuesday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m. in Room 26 at Shepardson Community Center.
