The Conservation Commission at Tuesday’s meeting continued the hearing about a townwide vegetation management plan requested by the Department of Public Works that included the usage of herbicides.
The request for determination of applicability (RDA) would apply to all easements and rights of way throughout Hopkinton, explained DPW Director Kerry Reed.
“The biggest question we’ve been getting is, ‘Why do we need this?’” she said of the plan. The town’s population growth, along with the new roads and sidewalks it has spurred, was one factor. Hand and mechanical weed removal cannot keep up with the increase.
Because the DPW is responsible for maintaining all roads, sidewalks and bicycle lanes, a comprehensive plan “is another tool” for the department to maintain safety as well as aesthetics, Reed noted. The overgrowth of invasive species over the past several years, particularly Japanese knotweed, has been difficult to combat. Another reason for creating the plan is to tackle the backlog of requests that come in, particularly from residents during the summer.
While a four-year vegetative management plan previously had been approved in 2014, Reed added, it never was implemented.
Reed also reached out to the Sustainable Green Committee because of its ongoing concern about herbicide application on public property. This was evidenced when controlled herbicide use was applied to weeds in Lake Maspenock last year.
Stephanie Hanson, a principal scientist at civil engineering firm Comprehensive Environmental Inc. (CEI), said a five-year plan and a one-year operational plan have been submitted for consideration. They are compliant with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) standards for rights of way, according to Hanson, and are “currently under MDAR review.” There is a 45-day comment period for each plan, after which MDAR and a statewide committee review the five-year plan. If approved, the next step is a 21-day notification period to town departments and the SGC before the application of an herbicide mixture.
Added Hanson: “In general, the plans outline both mechanical and chemical management of the vegetation.”
The plans limit the amount of herbicide use, and only a small number of herbicides have been approved by MDAR for use in rights of way, she explained. Decreasing amounts of herbicides would be used as the situation becomes more manageable.
Member Ed Harrow said the issue is “a wicked sensitive thing for me.” Harrow, who is also the chair of the Open Space Preservation Commission, said trying to control overgrowth on OSPC land is difficult to do by hand or mechanically. Mechanical harvesting has increased the spread of knotweed because of cuttings left behind. Using chemicals is not his preferred method. He requested an educational component for residents on how to manage invasives on their own properties.
“It is a huge battle, and we need to get our hands around it somehow,” he stressed. “And it’s not going to be pretty.”
Added chair Melissa Recos: “Definitely it will take a village to tackle this stuff.”
SGC member Donald Sutherland, who chairs its environmental working group, said the group opposes the plan for what he called the “unsafe, ecologically harmful, unfettered use of pesticides compounding the town’s toxic chemical health risk.”
Added Sutherland: “This is a blanket approval to expand the contamination of the community with toxic pesticides anywhere the DPW designates [rights of way].”
He also suggested that DPW could handle the problem via mechanical means if the department had a larger budget for it.
Fellow SGC and environmental working group member Carol Esler also opposed the plan. She said it shows the town getting on the “toxic treadmill” of repeated use of chemical management.
Esler also called out what she perceived as the town’s hypocrisy of promoting pollinator gardens while seeking to use herbicides that would kill them if applied there.
Recos said the commission and the DPW are trying to balance environmental protection with controlling harmful overgrowth that impacts public safety.
The hearing was continued until Jan. 28 to allow for more time to review the plan.
Three lots released for development at The Trails
The commission voted 5-0 to release three lots at The Trails for development even though the commission previously issued a cease-and-desist order after receiving stormwater management violations.
Engineer Peter Bemis said the lots are on Waterville Lane. He submitted a more detailed plan on best management practices. There has been a new sediment basin constructed for the 10 units planned for construction. Two stone channels are planned to direct water into this basin.
Construction on the three units is anticipated to start in about three weeks. He hoped to appear before the commission again in mid-February to request the release of three additional lots and the remaining four in April.
Recos told Bemis said that the “level of detail” provided by Bemis at this hearing is what she had been seeking previously. This made her comfortable in releasing the three lots, providing that the scheduling sequence is followed. The board agreed, approving the release in a 5-0 vote.
Improvements made after violation issued against Newbury Glen
Conservation administrator Judy Day noted that she observed sediment that went beyond the limit of work of construction on Dec. 30. There was sediment in the two basins off Blueberry Lane as well as in a catch basin on Fitch Avenue. She also saw sediment “a mile downstream.”
Rich Kirby, a senior wetland scientist at LEC, said several improvements have been made since then. They included the installation of floc logs as well as straw, compost socks, rocks and a silt fence along the road’s edge. A large amount of straw was put along the Fitch Avenue catch basin.
A temporary basin also is planned, he added, as well as planting hydrograss, straw and seed around it. This has not yet been done because of the frigid temperatures.
Said Kirby: “We are more confident now with this plan and the things that we’ve implemented thus far.”
Recos said she appreciated the effort but still was concerned about sediment that had traveled a mile down the stream.
Member Jim Ciriello expressed frustration that developers take more of a reactive approach to stormwater management than being proactive in their planning. He used this case and The Trails as examples of reactive responses.
Recos acknowledged the “significant efforts” made to improve the site. But if stormwater continues to be a problem, the commission will work with the Building Department to freeze building permits.
Harrow asked about the number of violations on other properties developed by Toll Brothers. That number was not available at the meeting. There have been three at Newbury Glen.
I believe this listing of violations to be correct with respect to these two current Toll Bros projects in Hopkinton
For Elmwood Farms:
• The two silt runoff violations we had in December 2024
• Tree removal violation in May 2024
For Chamberlain-Whalen:
• One silt runoff violation in January 2024
• Three silt runoff violations in August 2023
• One silt runoff violation in July 2023
• Silt discharge in November 2021, but no violation issued due to self-reporting
• Dewatering outside of approved limits of work in September 2021
• One silt runoff violation in September 2021
• Unauthorized road work in December 2019