The Charleswood School’s notice of intent was presented to the Conservation Commission on Tuesday.

Claire Hoogeboom, a wetland scientist with LEC Environmental Consultants, walked the commission through the Hopkinton Public School’s notice application. She touched on the history of the project, its purpose, and existing conditions at the proposed site.

The site for the new school sits on Hayden Rowe Street. Six parcels of land commonly owned by the town are indicated for use in the project. 

The northern portion of the site houses Marathon Elementary School and its associated driveway.

“The area is generally forested,” said Hoogeboom, “with some wetland resources in the central portion of the site.”

Surveyors identified a number of bordering and isolated wetlands on the site that require 100-foot buffer zones. However, no indications of streams or other channels were found.

“We didn’t have permission to follow some of the vegetation that goes off-site,” said Joe Orzel of Lucas Environmental. Orzel acts as a wetlands consultant for the commission.

“We don’t know if they connect to any stream or water body further down-gradient,” he added.

Features of the complex include athletic fields and recess areas, outdoor classrooms, a proposed rain garden and educational signage around the property.

Additionally, the layout includes 259 parking spaces — 60 of which are in an overflow lot composed of permeable grass pavers.

The driveway at Marathon School will remain the primary access point, but an additional entrance will be constructed at 147 Hayden Rowe Street. 

“An existing, unoccupied single-family dwelling sits at the proposed secondary entrance and will need to be demolished,” Hoogeboom explained.

With the construction of this new school, the town hopes to alleviate “system-wide overcrowding” occurring in the school system and account for anticipated growth in student populations. The three-story school would receive grades 2 and 3 from Elmwood and grade 4 from Hopkins.

Hoogeboom went on to explain the construction timeline and environmental mitigations the plan will enact. Contractors will use environmental management best practices to keep any sediment within the site footprint and reduce the amount of sediment that would leave during the construction process.

The plan includes the planting of 350 deciduous shade trees, large evergreen trees and shrubs. Seeds of native flowering perennials will be spread in appropriate areas.

Explained Hoogeboom: “All plantings will be delivered to the site and inspected to ensure they match the planting plan and are in good health before they are installed.”

Plans are in place to monitor the site for two growing seasons post-project completion for invasive species in buffer zone areas.

After Hoogeboom’s presentation, Michelle Kayserman of Samiotes Consultants went over stormwater management plans for the project site.

The management plan includes the use of multiple underground detention and infiltration systems stormwater will flow to before outletting. 

“The goal is reducing peak rate in the site compared to existing capacities,” said Kayserman.

After the presentation, the commission had questions about the project. Kim Ciaramicoli, the town’s conservation administrator, wondered whether any of the wetland areas on-site might be vernal pools.

Both Hoogeboom and Orzel reminded the commission that access to wetlands beyond the borders of the site was restricted, so a full determination could not be made.

Remarked Orzel, however: “I have no recollection of any indication of vernal pool characteristics.”

Member Ed Harrow asked about the placement of the athletic field. Ashley Iannucilli Cullion, the project’s landscape architect, explained the placement was an optimal compromise.

“It’s a happy medium of distance for the kids to walk while minimizing [environmental] disturbance,” said Cullion.

Harrow also recommended a “critter-friendly” crossing between two of the wetland areas that will be connected via pipe under one of the roadways. Orzel informed Harrow that he already was looking into the matter.

Member Jim Ciriello expressed interest in conducting a site visit in the near future. “This is a significant enough project that we should see [the site],” he said.

The other members agreed with Ciriello’s recommendation. Hoogeboom agreed to work on arranging a day and time the commissioners can tour the site. The commission agreed to continue discussing the notice at the next meeting on July 30.

Commission releases foundations to The Trails

Ciaramicoli brought the commission up to speed on the latest updates to The Trails development project. She reviewed progress the developers have made on the site’s stormwater management systems.

Crews have installed a wetland low impact development stormwater feature and made modifications to both stormwater basins. The work was completed in mid-June.

These modifications come after multiple attempts to bring stormwater issues at The Trails under control. Nearly three years of stormwater violations have been documented at the 80-unit open-space mixed-use development.

In June of 2023, the commission enforced more than $40,000 in fines due to repeated violations.

Despite progress on the physical stormwater issues, other problems still persist. Ciaramicoli informed the commission that off-site mitigation work, which had been permitted in Ashland, had not been completed.

“The work areas were cleared of vegetation in the fall, but work in either town hasn’t taken place yet,” said Ciaramicoli.

There also are reporting issues. The environmental services company Weston & Sampson had been providing stormwater pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs) on the development but were called off the site at the beginning of July.

Said Ciaramicoli: “Since our last meeting, EDC has submitted two SWPPP reports.” Additionally, a single report was filed for three events, which is a violation of the existing order of conditions (OOC).

Under the specifications of the current OOC, a SWPPP is required for every storm event with half an inch of rain or greater.

Project engineer Peter Bemis pushed back on the reporting issues. “We’re at the site every day. And we’ve been sending [the reports] every two weeks religiously,” he said. 

“If you want the reports 24 hours after a storm event, that’s what we’ll do,” he added.

Although there continue to be problems with The Trails development, Ciaramicoli seemed optimistic about the progress that’s been made. 

“I’m asking the commission if they would consider releasing a number of foundations,” she said.

The developers are asking for 10 foundations to be released to them so they may continue construction.

“We got approval from Ashland for the release of foundations back in December because we thought we were at a point where we were ready to go,” said Vin Gately, owner of the development.

“I asked for seven [foundations] from this commission but somehow that didn’t happen,” he added. “The number I need is now higher, but I’d be satisfied with a minimum of 10.”

To encourage the release approval by the commission, Ciaramicoli recommended a course of action that involves the developers submitting a construction timeline.

“We could tie the approval of more foundations to certain milestones within the construction sequence, related to things like off-site mitigation, report compliance and so on,” she said.

The commission was receptive to the proposed arrangement. Chair Jeff Barnes said he would be OK with approving the 10 foundations as long as the construction timeline was provided.

Ciriello and Harrow also were in agreement with releasing the requested amount of foundations to The Trails.

Member Ted Barker-Hook voiced concern over the request and recommended a smaller amount.

“I’m thinking maybe four or five [foundations], given the difficulties we’re having with this site and all the shortfalls that are still going on,” Barker-Hook said. 

A motion to allow the release of 10 foundations pending the submission of a construction timeline passed, with Barker-Hook as the sole holdout. 

“This is a goodwill gesture,” said Barnes to Gately and Bemis. “We expect compliance going forward.”