It took months of preparation and hours of meetings and negotiations, but on January 4, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) received an Order of Conditions from the Rochester Conservation Commission for the construction of a secondary access roadway, a retaining wall and various utility upgrades for property located at 45 Kings Highway.
At a previous commission meeting, a draft order of conditions was drawn up. On this night, that document was reviewed in depth with comments offered by the town’s peer-review consultant, Scott Turner of Environmental Partners.
The nearly hourlong meeting with members of the MBTA’s engineering group including Jon Niro of the BETA Group included several items of concern for the commission, primarily around the proposed use of 6-inch drainage pipes. Commissioner Daniel Gagne questioned the appropriateness of piping he considered inadequate for a 100-year storm.
MBTA team members asserted that because of the shallow profile of the site due to the presence of existing railroad tracks, the smaller drainage pipes would be doubled up but not interfere with the existing transportation rails. Gagne was told that the MBTA uses three main documents for work on property that it owns. Those documents are the MassDOT Design Guidelines Manual, Massachusetts Storm Water Standards and DEP standards. It was also stated that these manuals reference a 10-year storm event versus a 100-year event.
Chairman Chris Gerrior read off the 26 items contained in the Order of Conditions. Several were tweaked to the satisfaction of all, resulting in a unanimous vote.
A Negative Determination of Applicability was granted to Industrial Tower and Wireless LLC for the construction of a 190-foot telecommunications tower located at 0 High Street.
Norene Hartley’s request for a Certificate of Compliance for an Order of Conditions for the re-establishment of native plantings in jurisdictional areas of 90 Snows Pond Road was issued.
Continued until January 18 were a Certificate of Compliance requested by Michael Santos for property located at 8 Tihonet Road and a Certificate of Compliance requested by Andrew Diagiammo and Donald Look for property located at 15 Elizabeth Drive.
The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, January 18, at 7:00 pm.
Rochester Conservation Commission
By Marilou Newell