Due to a last-minute filing by the owners of The Trails development project, the Conservation Commission Tuesday night declined to approve the release of three new foundations.

“I don’t think myself or the commission members or our staff have had enough time to review what was provided to make any decisions tonight on releasing lots,” said chair Melissa Recos.

Vin Gately, owner of The Trails development, initially submitted a request for the release of 10 foundations in November. Hours before the meeting, he amended his request, opting to ask for three foundations instead.

“I decided to cut back … just to kind of work with the commission and show that these three can be put in just like the 10 we recently finished,” Gately explained.

He added that these would be the first single units in Phase IV of the development and that he was attempting to honor contractual dates with his buyers.

The commission was not swayed by Gately’s request.

“Submitting this information today is a little late for us to be considering it at tonight’s meeting,” Recos said.

She went on to note that during the previous foundation release, the commission required a number of documents to be submitted, including schedules, information on offsite mitigation work and stormwater pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs) submitted on time.

“I think everything’s been submitted,” Gately asserted. “From my understanding, it’s just the construction schedule that needs to be reviewed.”

Conservation administrator Judy Day confirmed most documentation was in, but the commission still was missing an SWPPP from the most recent storm event last Wednesday.

The commission encouraged Gately to get the SWPPP report filed and return at the next meeting to discuss releasing the foundations. Recos also asked Gately to include commission-relevant information in the construction schedule.

“If you don’t have those types of milestones or things we are particularly interested in, I think we’re going to be lacking detail that we’re looking for,” she said.

Following this determination, the commission heard from Peter Bemis, The Trails’ project engineer, about resolving a notice of violation that followed the storm event last Wednesday.

Bemis pushed back against claims from Day and Becca Solomon, a conservation agent with the town of Ashland who was present at the meeting, that a significant amount of sediment from a catch basin at The Trails had spilled down into the Hopkinton Reservoir.

“There’s about 50 feet of shoreline exposed,” said Bemis. “That’s why sediment was in the pond.”

“It had nothing to do with sediment coming out of the site,” he added.

According to Solomon, Ashland officials observed sediment “entering into wetlands down on Howe Street/Wilson Street coming down from various parts of [The Trails] property” on Wednesday.

Solomon admitted it was hard to say definitively the sediment came from the site, but she did observe The Trails’ catch basin overflowing and releasing sediment toward Ashland.

These observations led Ashland to issue its own notice of violation.

Bemis did not dispute some of Day’s observations, which showed sediment overflow into unstabilized areas around Phase IV and down to the reservoir. But he maintained that runoff was minor, and there was a larger culprit.

“Water coming off Legacy Farms North Road … there’s a very large watershed. When it’s raining heavily, it tends to tear up the base of the channel so you do get some turbidity from it,” Bemis said.

Despite the disagreement as to the source of the sediment, Bemis reported that problems were dealt with in a timely manner. 

“The site is well-stabilized,” he said. “The problem in the basin has been eliminated, and we’re back to a closed basin.”

Commission member Ed Harrow expressed dissatisfaction with the reactive approach the developers appeared to be taking.

“Everything seems to be after the fact, and we can’t seemingly ever get ahead of it,” said Harrow. “It’s disheartening, to say the least.”

Commission concerned with knotweed plan for Hayden Rowe project

The commission continued a hearing on a new notice of intent to widen Hayden Rowe Street after hearing from project representatives.

Claire Hoogeboom of LEC Environmental Consultants and Greg Russell of VHB presented the plan for Hayden Rowe Street on behalf of the town. 

“The purpose is to address several existing deficiencies within the roadway’s overall capacity to support existing traffic patterns in addition to anticipated future traffic and safety patterns as well,” said Hoogeboom.

The project spans almost 1,500 feet of Hayden Rowe Street, extending south from Hilltop Road to just past the entrance of the proposed Charleswood School driveway. It is a separate project from Charleswood, though it is funded from the same appropriations.

Of most interest to the Conservation Commission were plans to pave over a patch of Japanese knotweed on the eastern side of the road. An additional 6,600 square feet filled with the invasive plant would be replaced with native shrubs and seed mix as well.

When told that a partial section of knotweed on private property would remain, Harrow expressed some doubts.

“It’s almost impossible to eradicate,” said Harrow. “If you leave five plants, soon you’re going to have 15.”

Recos echoed these sentiments. “It’s kind of for nothing if the knotweed is going to come and take it all over again,” she said.

Project managers agreed to relay the commission’s concerns to the town but advised that addressing the knotweed removal on private property was outside this project’s scope of work.

Hoogeboom also mentioned that the project would be working with a contractor to develop a more in-depth invasive species management plan.

The commission asked the project team to come back Jan. 7 with a stormwater review plan and, upon suggestion from member Matt Moyen, a mitigation plan for stormwater runoff.