Conservation Commission April actions

The collapse of this 15-inch corrugated drainage pipe caused a sink hole in the Junipers restaurant parking lot. The pipe was removed and replaced with an 18-inch reinforced concrete pipe. (Terrence S. McAuliffe photo)

By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
The Middlebury Conservation Commission (CC) at its April 28 meeting denied an application for a 9,600-square-foot commercial office building at Benson and Southford Roads because the applicant did not appear. It also accepted an application for beach wall reconstruction on Lake Quassapaug, heard an update on efforts to resolve an unpermitted dam at 120 Tranquility Road, and was told of emergency repairs at Junipers restaurant. The accompanying photo shows the repairs under way at Junipers.

Wetlands Enforcement Officer (WEO) Deborah Seavey said an extension for the denied construction permit application for property at the northeast corner of Benson and Southford Roads must be filed by April 29, according to state statutes, or it must be denied. If it is denied, it will require a reapplication.

The project was accepted for review Feb. 24 with the stipulation the applicant pay an outside technical expert $2,000 for his services. At the February meeting, environmental scientist George Logan of Rema Ecological Services LLC in Manchester explained extensive infrastructure improvements, parking and storm water management systems. 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 to the building.

Logan described an aggressive mitigation plan 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. Because of the complexity of the application, commissioners required the applicant pay for an outside technical review by Ed Pawlak of Connecticut Ecosystems. Logan agreed to have the site staked and to submit all plans signed and sealed by an engineer.

Commissioners accepted for review plans to reconstruct two 85-foot sections of an omega-shaped beach wall on property owned by Jack Starr of 2 Sandy Beach Road. Starr used an A2 survey cutaway drawing to describe the work to commissioners. He told them the last two years of harsh winters had decimated the semi-dry stone walls that extend into the lake. He said the reconstruction would use a revetment erosion control technique on the regraded slope with no greater than a 1- to 1.5-foot pitch. Anchored Geotech filters would be covered with rip rap and crushed boulders in the reconstructed walls, allowing for water to pass without erosion and for movement during frost. Starr said he hoped the Lake Quassapaug Association would lower the water level three to four feet this year.

In enforcement discussion, a complaint to the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) about a concrete dam at 120 Tranquility Road, built without a permit by owners Robert and Florence Bosco, was updated by their attorney, Anne Peters of Carmody, Torrance, Sandak and Hennessy. At the Feb. 24 meeting, Peters told commissioners she would work with the ACOE to inspect the dam and obtain a permit if one was needed.

She reported Robert Bosco subsequently registered the dam with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and it is called the Layla Dam. While there is no written report from the ACOE, she said for the violation to be closed they either will accept a penalty fee plus an after-the-fact permit fee or, preferably, a mitigation plan designed by a qualified soil scientist and consisting of native plantings along the stream margin. Peters said Robert Bosco was proceeding to have a mitigation plan prepared by a qualified soil scientist and would then apply for a permit with the Conservation Commission.

In other matters, Town Engineer John Calabrese told commissioners a large sinkhole developed at Junipers parking lot after a rainstorm earlier in the month. He said a rotten 15-inch corrugated metal pipe collapsed and was blocking the brook. He recommended replacing that section of pipe with an 18-inch reinforced concrete pipe before more sinkholes were created. WEO Seavey confirmed she had given a verbal approval due to the emergency but that an application after the fact is still needed.

The next regular CC meeting will be Tuesday, May 26, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. in Room 26 at Shepardson Community Center.