August 19, 2026 – Conservation Commission – Video & Transcript
August 19, 2026 - Conservation Commission
All right. So we've got our quorum in at 632. We'd like to begin the Conservation Commission meeting for August 19, 2026.
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Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting will be conducted in person, sorry, excuse me, via remote means in accordance with the applicable law.
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Public comment should be limited to two minutes per person.
With that, I see Barbara Howell, Luke Legere, Lisa Aubin, Shannon Fischer, John Storr, and myself all dialing in remotely.
And Linda, are you at the office there?
I am.
And Linda is at the office.
With that, let's open up the public hearings, please.
So this is 2A, 67A Loker Street in Wayland, DEP file number 322-1056.
It's a continued notice of intent and file pursuant to Wayland's Wetlands and Water Resource Protection Bylaw and the Wetland Protection Act suspended by Matt O'Connor for the demolition of an existing barn and construction of a six-unit compact apartment facility at 67A Loker Street in Wayland, Mass.
The property is shown on the assessor's map 48, parcel 42, and is located within the 100-foot buffer zone of a border-vegetated wetland in the 200-foot riverfront area.
Linda.
Let's see.
I believe we have, it's like Matt O'Connor is in the attendee section.
You just sent an email requesting a continuance.
Oh, we did?
Yeah.
I didn't see that.
Okay.
What's our next meeting, Linda?
Do you know?
September 9th.
I move that we continue this hearing under Chapter 194 of the State Act to September 9th after 6.30 p.m.
Thank you.
Luke, do I hear a second?
Second. Thank you. Barbara, roll call please. Lisa Aubin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yeah. John Storr? Yes.
Thank you, folks. On to 2B. This is 26 Rice Road in Whelan, DEP file number 322-1066. It's a continued abbreviated notice resource area delineation filed pursuant to Whelan's Wetlands and Water Resource Protection Bylaw and the Wetland Protection Act, submitted by Adam Stack for the confirmation of resource area delineations at 26 Rice Road in Whelan, Mass. The site is shown on Assessor's Map 48, Lot 93. Linda? That has asked you to continue to September 9th. Still waiting on a peer review for the Wetland delineation. Okay. Hearing a motion under both for continuing sometime after 6.30 to the 9th of September. So moved. Thank you, Luke. Thank you, Barbara. Quick roll call, please. Aubin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yeah. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? Yes. John Fares, a yes. Thank you, folks.
On to 2C. This is 8 Carpenter Road in Whelan, DEP file number 322-1067. It is a continued notice of intent filed pursuant to Whelan's Wetlands and Water Resource Protection Bylaw and the Wetland Protection Act submitted by Stephen Garofalo for the construction of two additions, a deck, an expansion of a driveway, septic system replacement, and associated utilities. The proposed work is within 100 feet of our border-regulated wetland and land subject to flooding. The project is shown in Whelan's Assessor's Map 48, Lot 113. Linda? We're waiting for a DEP file number for this particular project. We're waiting for a DEP file number, and we finally have one, so unless we do a- You say we're waiting for a DEP file number? We're waiting for a DEP file number. We finally have one. Oh, okay. And Vito's here. I don't know if you have anything to add for the project? No, I didn't have anything else. Just here in case there are questions.
Okay. Linda, Commissioner, any questions for Vito here? I think we had kind of finalized the replanting plan in the last meeting. Is that right? Yeah. That was the only- The DEP file number was the only outstanding item at that point? Yeah, that's what I have in my notes, too. So- Yep. Sounds about right.
Nothing else? Do you want to make a motion to close the hearing? Under both? I can practice. Okay. I move to close the hearing under the State Act and Chapter 194. Second. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Luke. Quick roll call, please. Lisa Alvin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yes. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? Yes. Michelle Fersey? Yes. Thank you. Next one, Lisa? I move to issue an order of conditions under the State Act in Chapter 194. In a permit under 194. Yeah, there you go. Beautiful. I was just approving the project because- Approving the project. Orders of Conditions came over. Thank you. I'll add that to my notes. Second. Well done, Lisa. Thank you, Luke. Roll call, please. Lisa Alvin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yes. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? Yes. And Sean Fersey? Yes. All set. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thanks, Vito. Appreciate it, dude. All right. Three. Stormwater and land disturbance. This is 3A, 15 Pequot Road, SWLD-167. Linda? They also asked to continue. We're still working through the comments for 15 Pequot. Okay. So, we're going on to 3B. This is 80 Oxbow Road, SWLD-168. Linda? Oh, who do we have? Ian, are you representing? Okay. Why don't you tell us about the project? Sure. I'm going to share my screen.
Getting up a little faster than I thought I would. And I feel like I'm presenting first. So, this is 80 Oxbow Road. It's an existing single-family house. Just to kind of give you an idea. So, there's kind of the main Oxbow Road that runs here. And then there's like a little sort of branch that comes off of it. And our property is on the branch. We're near the town line with Lincoln. And it's 80 Oxbow Road. This is kind of the property as it is now. There's an existing single-family house. Carriage house. A septic system that was built a couple years ago for an expanded number of bedrooms. And then paved driveway and Oxbow Road down here. What they want to do is tear down the existing buildings, take out the existing driveway, and construct a new house and a new driveway. So, going to the next sheet, which is sort of the proposed, what we would be doing is installing a paved driveway here, a siloed garage right here, and then a new four-bedroom house kind of right in the middle of the lot here. So, I've designed a Caltech stormwater system over here to the right that's sized to meet the kind of all the standards in your regulations. Peak flow, water quality volume, recharge volume, all of that stuff. So, that would take the roof, and then it would take the driveway as well. I've pitched the driveway to create a little kind of low point here with the catch basin. That would catch this portion of the driveway and send it in here into that Caltech system. And then for this little portion of the driveway here, there's like a, we're going to call it a stone trench with a pipe inside it. So, the water would go in the trench, get picked up by the pipe, and then everything, all the impervious area, would get brought over to this stormwater system. The soils here are really good. We've done testing on this lot and on the neighboring lot. It's very deep, good sand. I think we've dug 10 feet down on like at least eight different test pits, and we've never run into modeling, water table, anything. So, it's a good site for infiltration. I do show erosion control. It's kind of the X line that would encircle this whole thing along the limit of work. And then you kind of see the old tree line is here. So, we would be clearing in this area here, and we're proposing some replantings in the back. There's kind of like an open area at the kind of ratio that you require. So, that's kind of the overview of the project, and I'm happy to answer your questions. Thank you. Leto, I'll start with you, please.
Okay. Let me think here. The trees, they're not marked with an X, but the ones that are on the existing condition, where it kind of says previously deconvisioned cesspool. So, are those the ones that are coming down? Yeah. So, I'm going to say this is sort of like a vegetation brush line. There's, I'm going to say like little trees and shrubs in here, and then I've demarked anything that's kind of substantial, good size. And then these, these are the trees that we added up to get the, the total number of inches that are being removed. Okay. Because you didn't, you didn't identify the individual trees and things like that. So, that's why I was, sometimes that's nice to have that information, like what tree is coming down and what the size of it is. The other thing is, if I look through your narrative and the application and on the plan, and I couldn't find anywhere where the square footage is. Square footage of impervious area? Yeah. So, what's the square footage of the existing driveway, the dwellings, the garage, the carriage house? Because, I mean, I like to do a simple calculation, which is what is there and how much, what is getting removed and how much is getting put in. Sure. And, I mean, without going through this individual pages in the hydrocan report, a lot of times it's just, it's just nice to have that when you say you're building existing dwelling, but it doesn't really say what size that is. Sure, that makes sense. A bedroom, that's, you know, that doesn't mean anything to me, so. Yeah, I'm happy to put that on the plan. But while we're here, I can at the very least try to get that number for you. Yeah, that's all right. I mean, I think one thing, if, if you're, are you over 2,000 square feet of new impervious? Yes, yeah, yeah. It's definitely a major department. Yeah. Because in those situations, a lot of times we hand it off to a peer reviewer because this is beyond my capabilities of reviewing this. I don't have hydrocan. I have no way of looking. I don't have the software for it. Yeah. So it's, once I get a fat hydrocan report, it's really tough for me to manage that or to review that, so. So I could tell you it's going from about 7,000 square feet to 12,000. Okay. So it's about a 5,000 square foot increase.
Okay. And the, the, the, is this, you already putting a septic then for this house? Yeah. So interestingly, the owner previously intended to kind of renovate the house that was there. Yes, I remember. Yeah. Sort of in anticipation of that, uh, they got the septic field, um, designed, approved and built. And then, you know, I think as they were working on the house, they, they just ran into too many problems. Uh, it was kind of a unique house that was there. And so they eventually made the decision to just tear it down and replace it with the new house. Okay. Thankfully, the septic system that they built is big enough for the new house. So our intent is just to tie right into that newly constructed system. Okay. So it's at some point you will need to pass this on to board of health. Yeah. Just, yeah. I sent them like, they have like a rebuilding permit application. Okay. I gave this to them. Yep. All right. I just want to make sure everybody's in the loop on this one. So, um, yeah, the only thing I had the question was, so I get to throw away all the other plans for 80, 80, 60, 60. Yeah. So you may recall, uh, we had actually come in maybe two or three years ago, um, back when they were going to renovate this house and back where they were going to develop the abutting property, uh, to the right, which they also own. Um, they're now considering selling that property and kind of having the new buyer kind of do their own permitting on that. Yeah. We're limiting it just, just to the slot and anything they do over here in the future. Uh, if, if they do, or if they sell it will be a separate, uh, application. Yeah, no, I understand that. I just, you know, I've been holding onto those, that, that file. I appreciate that. Just, you know, so it feels kind of good, just urgent at some point. Yep. Okay. So I guess what I'm going to entertain is maybe a, um, a motion from the committee, the commission regarding a peer review, um, to approve a peer review for this particular project. Okay.
Okay. I move to authorize Linda to find and hire a third-party peer reviewer for Stormwater. Second. Okay. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Luke. Roll call, please. Lisa Aubin. Yes. Luke Legere. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes.
Um, you know, um, I'll give you some quotes, I guess, and you can let me know if you have a conflict of interest with any of the, uh, chosen peer reviewers. Sure. People that send us quotes for, okay? Okay. Unless you can come up with one right off the top of your head that I shouldn't be asking for. Not that I could think of. Yeah, we don't. Okay. Yeah.
Okay. Christian, anything else?
Okay. Will you go that for the peer review? Yeah. I'll talk to you from us. So we can continue to the ninth. It's, it's unlikely that we'll have, uh, um, a peer reviewer and the results back by then, but, um, we can always hope, I guess. Yeah. If you, if you don't mind, if we could continue and then if, you know, we need more time, we can push it from there. Okay. Perfect.
Sounds good. All right.
Uh, let's see. Uh, 55 Woodridge Road, SWLD-169, Linda.
All right. Who do we have here for, for Woodridge? Is there anybody here for Woodridge? I see a hand up. One second. Hold on.
Paul? Uh, yeah. Good evening. Paul Kirchner from Stamsky and McCanary. I'm here to represent this project. Okay. Go for it. Uh, all right. I, so I can't share my screen, um, as a guest, but, um, I can go over the project if you'd like me to, without being able to show the plan. Uh, I'll promote you to the panelist if that helps. You should be able to show it now because you've been moved to attendee. I'll just put you to the panelist if that helps you. Or panelist, yeah.
All right. Now I should be able to share. Yes. You for elevating me. Uh, so for the record, Paul Kirchner, Stamsky and McCanary, here on behalf of the applicant, uh, for the project at 55 Woodridge Road, we are the engineers and surveyors, uh, for this project. We have submitted a, uh, major stormwater permit application because the proposed, uh, work of this property does exceed an area of 10,000 square feet. Uh, the, the proposed increase in impervious is about 900 square feet, um, which in itself would only require a minor, uh, permit, but the total area of alteration is over 10,000. And so we submitted a major permit application, uh, I have the plan on the screen here. So 55 Woodridge Road currently contains a single family dwelling. It's, I'm going to zoom in a little bit. Uh, this does show the existing and proposed work, but the existing dwelling is at the top of a hill in, you know, the, the middle area of the lot. Uh, uh, uh, the proposed work is ultimately for the construction of an addition and, uh, installation of two patios, uh, one to the rear of the dwelling and one on the side of the, uh, proposed addition. A new septic system is proposed to serve the expanded dwelling, uh, but due to the increased, uh, impervious surface, we have proposed a roof dry well, uh, to fully infiltrate the 100 year storm for a portion, uh, of the dwelling roof. Uh, we're going to be collecting, uh, uh, the addition and a portion of the, the, the existing roof in order to offset the impacts, um, of the increased impervious, uh, and infiltrate it, uh, into the ground. Uh, uh, the, it's relatively straightforward stormwater management system. The only thing that, uh, you don't see on every project is, uh, a rain cistern that we have proposed. So that'll be between the, the downspouts and the roof dry well, um, it's really just a septic tank to collect rainwater so that it may be used, uh, in irrigation, um, by the property owner. Uh, the dry well has been sized, um, aside from the rain cistern. So even if this, uh, tank were full, um, this dry well is, uh, appropriately sized to handle up to the 100 year design storm, uh, we do have a siltation pair barrier proposed around, uh, the limit of work. Uh, we submitted a stormwater report and operation and maintenance manual, but, uh, I'm here for any questions. If you have them, thank you. Thank you. Linda, start with you, please. Sure. Um, What is the increase in pervious? You said it was 900 square feet and is that for the two patios and the addition then? That is correct. Yeah. It's specifically, it's 892 square feet. Okay. All right. Um, again, it's something else I couldn't really find. You guys use a whole different type of, uh, stormwater modeling exercise I'm not familiar with. Um, uh, tree removal. I know the, the, the, the homeowner was here. Maybe a couple of weeks ago and she mentioned that there was, um, tree removal sort of on the, the top of the plan. Um, and I don't, I don't, I didn't see it. I didn't see any trees that were identified on that, that were going to be removed. Mm-hmm. Did I, did I miss something? Uh, I don't think you missed anything. I was under the impression that this had been communicated to you, at least verbally, but there are a few trees within the limit of work, um, that will be removed to accommodate, you know, the addition and the septic tanks. Um, they're within the siltation barrier here. Um, is it more than six? I, yeah, I believe it's seven. Aaron, uh, Aaron Walters, who's the, uh, applicant. He might have that number handy, um, cause he's more familiar with the tree work, I believe, than I am. So we're going to need a list of trees that are going to be removed and which ones they are and probably identified in the plan and the, and their diameters. And then the compensation is two to one for that. So what we would also need a planting plan, but I think I can save you some tree removal because I think, um, the one thing that my, the homeowner and I talked about was the area drain that's in the, in the patio on the top of the plan there. That seems like a little bit of overkill. Um, I asked her, I said, do you really want a riprap apron in the front of your house, you know, right, right in the front yard. And I, you know, I don't think she has any interest in having that there. So you have a really long pipe, what is a 92 foot long, 98 foot long pipe from catch basin that goes out to this riprap sway of the apron and where you could probably do something much, much simpler by just putting a, you know, some sort of a gravel trench or a rain guard. I mean, like a vegetated swale or something along the side of the patio and sort of give up all that, that piping and the, you know, and the area drain and the riprap apron and all that stuff. Can we make it a little bit more simpler? Hi, Linda. This is, uh, Aaron Walters, 55 Woodridge and Desiree Walters, 55 Woodridge. I believe the plans that you see in front of you as presented by Paul have accounted for removal of those items, um, and a, and a reduction of the patio on the side there to reduce the, the water amount. Also, our intent, I think is five trees in totality, um, to be removed as part of the project. So you're saying that there is no, a riprap apron proposed? I don't see it on this plan that we're looking at. Well, that's not the one I got. I got one with, I must've gotten an old plan on. So I think I need an updated plan then from you guys. Cause I have, what's my date on?
July 15th. Yeah, we did the revise the plan. Um, maybe it was only submitted via email and hard copies weren't received. But we did revise it. Oh, I did receive the, some of the comments you had made related to that, the area drain. I need a large scale plan because I need to do measurements from that and I can't print that out here. Um, so you're going to have to send me a new plan for that, um, you know, large scale plan. But in doing so, don't you end up reducing the amount of disturbance, uh, total disturbance on the property and including, you know, um, and that reduces the tree removal also, right? Uh, yeah, it does impact the amount of work. I still believe the work area exceeds the 10,000 square feet, but does that include the septic? It does. Yeah. See, I don't, um, typically we don't include septic in our calculations just because everybody needs a septic. You know, so, um, if you were just to come to us with a septic plan, you know, um, um, area of disturbance isn't, you know, really considered. And for, for this particular property that is, you know, Wellens, you probably wouldn't even have needed a permit from us and for septic. So, um, I don't, I don't think, I don't think we really need to include that because again, that's, that, that's a given, you know, everybody needs a septic. So, and, but the one thing in one of the, I can't, I couldn't find it right before the meeting. Um, but I was reviewing this earlier. I thought I saw something where you were, you said the wetlands, but there is no wetlands on this property, right? Uh, there is no wetland on this property or within a hundred feet. I'm not sure exactly where in the report it might reference that, but I speculate it's probably just related to erosion and sediment control where it's sort of a boiler plate, like prevent sediment from discharging to wetlands kind of statement. Um, but I can take another look at that and make sure that we remove any erroneous references to wetland. So, you know, I did, I did look at the GIS and again, I think they're pretty removed from any wetlands in this area. So, and they are on top of the hill too. So, um, yeah. So if you brought me, if you got me the, the new revised plan, um, typically we don't really accept things by email because again, I really need the large scale version for, for doing measurements and stuff. And, um, if you can also provide me like the, the surface area for the, the different components, like the, the surface area. Two different patios and then the addition, you're just, you're picking, you're picking up the patio and the addition.
Oh, no.
Uh, the drywall is just capturing, uh, the, the, uh, portion of the roof. So the addition, some extra roof area. Okay.
I see. All right. Oh, I see you got rid of the retaining wall too. There on the side. Okay.
Cause again, that, that would reduce the amount of disturbance also. So. I mean, so just tree information, a new plan, and then just, and then the square footage for the different components. Okay. Yep. Understood. All right.
Anything else? No. Can you mention anything?
I think that that pretty well covers it. Um, I mean, it strikes me, there is a fair amount that's going to change. So it, I think just speaking for myself, I I'd like to see an updated plan. I think before I'm going to feel ready to vote.
Okay. Anybody else?
Well, I would agree with Luke. I'd like to kind of see it before we finalize it. So, um, I guess next steps would be is to incorporate what Linda suggested and hopefully be able to kind of vote this through next time.
Everybody good? Yep. Yep. Perfect. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Have a good night. Uh, on to 4A, sort of the certificate of compliance for Weedlock Road, D-1048. Linda.
Don't believe anybody's here. I think, uh, um, um, Mr. DeMonaco asked if he should attend. And, um, I thought this was going to be more of a straightforward closure on it. But then I looked in the plans and I was a little concerned because the, the permit requires the, the permit requires a vegetative buffer along the edge of the wetlands. And if you look at the plan, it shows that there's basically the limit of long goes almost right up to the wetlands. So I don't think anything was installed. Um, I haven't been over there. Um, I wanted to talk to Mike DeMonaco first, if he could confirm whether or not something was put in and it was just wasn't added to the plan. Um, but, um, I wanted to just double check on that before we take a vote on that. Okay.
Uh, okay. Let's go to then certificate of compliance. This is 4B 225 Boston post road DEP file number three, two, two dash six, eight, zero, uh, and vote to return performance guarantees. That's six, eight, zero. Correct. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Wow. What year is that? I actually, I don't even know. I'd have to go look in the.
Zero. Holy cow. Oh, let me get the point, the file.
So this is the church, right? Is this the first parish church? Yep. Yeah. So 2008, somewhere in that vicinity, 2007. Hmm. Okay. So the reason this was, this was, um, identified was we did have somebody, we have a senior workup person helping us again with returning the performance bonds. And again, we have to be really particular about what we give back because we need something that shows, um, a check or, you know, um, or a copy of the check that was submitted. So we know who to pay the money back to. And much of that, that much of that information is missing. So we have to really introduce and find the exact ones that have all the right information that allows us to do this. So these guys require a closure and then, um, uh, vote for closing this permit under, this is a, this is, you know, this is an order of conditions, isn't it? Was there. Under both. I'm looking, yeah, it would be both. So this was a subject replacement, pretty straightforward. I mean, the board of health closed on this probably, you know, 20 years ago at this point. So, um, and I think we have a, we have an ass belt from, from the health department for this. So we should be all set. Um, and the only thing I need to bring up that, that, uh, Emily put in her notes here was that they did not provide us a filing fee for closure of this. But what we're going to do is we're going to vote to return the performance bond minus the $50 filing fee that they still owe us. Okay. Okay. So commission two votes, one to close under both. Second vote is to return performance guarantee minus a $50 filing fee. Correct, Linda? Yeah. Emily, do you know how much the, I don't see the performance bond. Do you know how much that was? It was originally $500, but with interest, I don't know, like 530 by now. Okay. Hmm. Okay. Commission, are we looking at the motions? Uh, I moved to issue a certificate of compliance for 225 Boston post road. And you have to close it first. Ah. Close it under both. No, we're not closing. What are we, what are we closing? This is a certificate of compliance.
Oh, I thought, oh, I thought you wanted two different votes on them. Do you want just a one? I want one vote for issuing a certificate of compliance under the Wetland Protection Act and under Chapter 194. Yeah. And then we need a second vote to return the performance guarantee of $500 plus interest minus the $50 filing fee for the, for the COC request. How does that sound? That's good to me.
Okay. Who wants to make a motion? Or say, so move it for a window.
Okay. So I think I moved to issue an order of conditions. No, no. So shifting compliance. Okay. I'm sorry. You had it right. You said it exactly. You had it right. For. Yeah, right the first time. 2020, 225 Boston post road under the act in Chapter 194. Second. Very good. Thank you, Lisa. Good job. I got her. Luke. Roll call, please. Lisa Alvin. Yes. Luke Legere. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes. John Storer.
Oh, Johnny Ann Newter.
Thumbs up.
Yes. There he goes.
Performance Bond. Linda, did you say plus interest? $100 plus interest. Yes. Plus interest. Less $50 for the filing fee. Second. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Luke. Quick roll call, please. Lisa Alvin. Yes. Luke Legere. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes. John Storer. Yes. Cliff Lewis. Yes. And Sean Farza. Yes. Thank you, Linda. Okay.
On to five other. 5A, 17, Gleason Lane, tree removal violation. Linda. Talked about this in the last meeting? I thought we did, didn't we? We did a little bit. I think you and I just, you know, we talked about a little bit last time. Just prepped, I think, for two seconds. No, I don't have it in my notes. That's why. So. You and I were talking about a bunch, so maybe you're conflating. Talk with me about it. Yeah. So there was a, there was a wholesale tree removal done over at 17 Gleason. The new owner bought the six-acre property, took about more than, I'd say easily, an acre of trees down in the back. I issued him a violation. And the deadline was last week to turn in, I think it was the 10th, turn in a Chapter 193 permit for the removal of all those trees. And when he did come, he did come in on the 10th and dropped off a permit, but it was not for the removal of the trees. He has, his plan is to build a youth center over there. And a youth center. So he's, he's a pastor. I'm not sure what the organization is called. It's not on the deed, but, and I, I rejected the application because the violation notice said, you need to set it, give me a permit for the removal of the trees. It's, you know, the youth center is something much further down in the future. He didn't have a plan. He didn't, doesn't even have a survey. I mean, he showed up with nothing other than three pages of application. And, you know, I mean, I couldn't accept that because it was, you know, there's absolutely nothing I can do with a permit without a plan. Um, but, uh, so instead of what he's done is he's hired a forestry company. I forget what the name of it is. And, um, they've been out there. He's hired a surveyor to survey the property because again, he's sandwiched by two, by town property on either side. And I wanted to make sure that the tree removal was done appropriately and on his property and not on town property. So he has hired a surveyor. He has hired us, um, a forestry person to help them with the counting of the trees. And the dimensions of the size of the tree in order to come up with a better plan. So he is moving forward. So that I'm, you know, he's showing progress. I've talked to the guy he's hired, um, but the, the deadline has like, has passed. So, um, and I can accept that as long as, again, they're making progress and they're doing the, they're making progress in the right direction, which is, you know, hiring, getting a surveyor and hiring someone to help them with this. Cause I, you know, he's very unfamiliar with our rules and regulations here in Wayland. And so one quick question, um, is that, you know, there was either stump grinding or stump removal before you got there or, and so I'm assuming that the, this new tree company or forestry company, is it where that happened? Is it going to help make that calculation? Is that something we do on our own? Um, we'll see what we get. I mean, when I spoke to him, I mean, we went through all these issues and I have photos of all, most of the trees that were taken down. I counted 60, um, fresh cuts out there, you know, various different sizes. And then there was two large piles of stumps that had already been removed. And I did talk to the operator who was removing the stumps and he said, there's at least a dozen in each pile. I'm sure there's far more than that. I mean, they were large piles. So, I mean, at a rough estimate, we're talking about 85 trees, you know, probably taken down. Um, and again, some of them were huge, you know, some of them were easy, 30, 36 inches. And, you know, the stumps were, you know, that doesn't necessarily mean that's the diameter of the tree, you know, brush size. But, um, yeah, there was, there was, there was quite a bit of removal that was done there. And I mean, it's cleared, you know, there's not, there's no, there's absolutely no, um, vegetation left there. You know, it's, everything's been taken out. So, not just the trees.
Gotcha. I think, I think our survey was over there yesterday, I think today, actually, um, he was, he was doing a drone survey of the North Cemetery. Um, and he said he could probably verify whether or not they had been coached on the town cemetery, you know, based on this drone footage. So, we can get, um, we can get an answer from him at some point, probably shortly. There's also a comment from the general public on this topic. Okay. Yeah, well, we've got, I have a Nate Hamilton, you got a hand up. So, we're going to commission anything else on that, or let me, anything else before I open that up for a comment from the folks?
Let me, anything else? No, I'll do it again. You know, that was just, you guys, an update of what, you know, um, what's sort of happening and, and I don't have any timelines for this. Again, he said the surveyor, um, gave him a appointment like three weeks out. Um, and I'm, you know, I, that doesn't surprise me. You know, most surveyors are really, um, uh, booking way out anyway. So, okay. There are some bounds out there though. I did give him a plan that showed, uh, like four stone bounds on the north side of the property. Um, so I think the surveyor, the guy who was out there for the forestry person said that he was, that was one of his tasks was to go and look for those. So, can you, anything else before I open up as a comment as if someone's raising their hand?
Okay. Uh, I see a, a Nate Hamilton.
If you could just identify yourself and where you live, that'd be great. Hi, yes, it's actually, um, I'm Nate's wife, Kate Hamilton, and I live at 10 Gleason Lane, um, in Weyland. And I actually discovered all this tree work, um, and notified conservation because I realized that they were kind of doing it, um, quietly. And I know that the surveyor, surveyor has been out to the property, I think as of a few days ago, and was looking for the stone bounds. And the surveyor told another neighbor that the owner plans to, the owner thought that there was an easement that allowed, that would allow any traffic going to the youth center to go through the cemetery in Weyland. And I guess that's North Cemetery because they clear cut from the property into the, to the edge of the cemetery. And I think they already were bringing trucks from the cemetery onto the property through this clear cut area.
Wow. Okay. Uh, thanks for the heads up. Thank you for calling it in. Um, without, just to make sure that I understand, this has not been, health has not seen this zoning planning. Anybody seen this thing yet? Well, I mean, I, I brought it up to the town manager because I wanted him to understand, you know, there's, there's, you know, quite a few neighbors that are concerned about this. And so I, I'm not sure who he's talked to, who's provided that information with, but, um, I've talked, yeah, I have talked to DPW there. Um, cause again, I asked about the drone survey, um, and, uh, health and, and planning and, um, building are, are informed. Because again, when he talked about building a youth center in the back, I have no idea if that's allowed, but when I did speak to his forestry person that's out there doing, doing the tree survey, he mentioned that. And I, I, I, I had a laugh because I said, you know, that's just completely out of the question. We're not building a road through a town cemetery. And he goes, yeah, I know that, but I guess you don't understand that. And the weird thing is, and the reason he came up with this, I guess, this is what the survey, the forestry guy told me, is that if, if I plot directions, like from town building to 17 Bleson on Google map, Google map takes you through the cemetery to get to 17 Bleson. So he just, I think he just assumed that there's a road there. There's not. A carelessness boggles the mind given that he's destroyed an ecosystem. For the kids. It's always destroying their future. This is the same guy that drives off the end of a pier, right? Because Google map says that's the way to go. I would say that there, there was an office episode where Michael Scott turned into a lake because it's GPS told him to turn left into a, yeah, sorry. Interesting. Okay. Well, I think her name was Kate Hamilton. Thank you for, for giving Linda and I also a heads up. More to come. Um, but man, um, my one incredible mistake. Well, you know, given benefit of the doubt to make before doing all this, um, permitting and planning, but yikes. Okay. I will add that I know that Linda went out and looked at the site to seek, to try and count how many trees. And I know that they were chipping for days before that happened. And I don't know what the true count is, but it was completely densely forested before that. And I think they've probably gotten rid of a lot of the evidence, the stumps and everything. Um, so I'm not sure what the true count is, but it seems like it's a lot more. Oh, I know Barbara and I talked about this earlier. I did walk through the school property to see it. Um, and there's a huge pile of, um, and there's a huge pile of, of chips, you know, just massive. And you could also see where they have put red ribbons around trees, probably marking the edge of the property, which of course backs right up to the school property, which the town is very interested in. And, um, it was a mess. This is, this is where the owls always used to nest back there. And it was always a good habitat and it's, they've destroyed it.
We've also noticed coyotes running more on Gleason just amongst like a couple of neighbors, coyotes that we normally wouldn't see. And we've all been wondering if it was maybe the destruction kind of displaced them. It was part of a wildlife corridor. Um, so, but if he intended to build a youth center and, you know, and that required all this tree removal, I don't know why you don't do the survey first, you know, so you understand any property is doing the second, you know, a second is a, as an afterthought sort of. And, uh, and, uh, so again, you know, if, if, if, if trees have been removed from town, you know, property that all that stuff has to be compensated for and, and, and, you know, and potentially penalized also. So, so yeah, um, yeah, um, yeah, well, our, our, our, the regulations are going to be interesting how this, how this shakes out, but, um, lots to make up for, for sure. Well, I think on this topic too, one of the last meetings, we talked about the article that we put together and put in the wild Wayland newsletter. I kind of modified it and sent it into the Wayland post. Um, and Dave Watkins said, they will put it as like a contributor contributing article versus, um, an editorial. But I think they were skipping a week because of like a summer kind of summer off week. So I think the next issue is supposed to come out next Friday and it's supposed to include it. He did say he was going to post it online in the meantime, but I haven't seen it yet. So I'll just follow up with him to make sure that's all happening again. I don't know how much it'll help, but at least it, for people that read it, it just makes people more aware that there are, you know, we have regulations in place for tree removal and you need a permit. So, you know, even if it helps just a tiny bit, you know, let's cross our fingers. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate that.
Okay. Lynn, anything else we can do on that? We'll just wait to see what more comes on us. Yes. There was only one small thing that, um, when, when I open up GIS and if, you know, there's a, we have the ability to staff to log into, log into GIS and get additional layers that aren't available to the public. And one thing that Emily and I found a while ago when it first came for sale and there was a lot of interest, you know, that people would come into the office and asking about it was that at the back, that whole back section, which is the whole wooded section was Chris Cross and it said conservation protection. And I had no idea what that meant because I, we have nothing in this office. We don't have a CRA thing. And I did find out that at some point that back section was in a chapter 61, um, um, program for probably open space. And I don't know when that was taken out and when that was released. Um, I, do you know, Luke, do you know what the, the holdback time is for that? Um, sorry, the, the, would you say the pullback time? Well, you know, for chapter 61, when you have a, um, a property assessment and, um, at some point when it's released, they still have to pay back taxes. And there's also a, there's a whole, yeah, there's a whole process, right? The town and the first right of refusal. So I, I don't know when this was released, but that would be an interesting piece of information to know whether or not, you know, that was still within the holdback period, you know, for, um, for, um, for chapter 61. So, yeah, I don't know off the top of my head. I don't remember that stuff either, but it's several years of back taxes.
Yeah. It's at least five though, isn't it? I think so. Something like that.
Anyway, it's something else to explore. And you have to go through a whole process.
Okay. Well, more to come on, uh, on Gleason here, but, uh, thanks again, Kate, for your, for helping that and bringing to our attention.
Okay. Uh, public comment. I think I saw. One thing to add here, I guess it didn't get on the agenda, but, uh, we did meet, uh, Shannon and Linda and I. Uh, with a fellow from the state, his name was Chris Pryor, uh, about, uh, uh, uh, forestry stewardship program. Apparently the state has quite a, uh, array of different programs about that. Uh, we heard back from him on Friday, which really wasn't enough time to get back together. So, I want to get back together with Shannon and with, uh, Linda, and we'll talk about that and we'll figure something out and make a presentation to the board. Awesome. Thank you. The commission. I'm sorry. Appreciate that. Yep. Awesome.
Okay. Uh, anybody else? I don't see any more hands raised. No. Okay. Barbara, how are we looking for our minutes for, uh, July 29th? We good to go? I just hit a minor thing and turned it in and they were fine. Okay. Anybody else on the 29th of July minutes? Just one thing. Cause it's, it's obviously all about me. Um, I, I'm shown as being absent, but in fact, I was present. Um, so I'm glad I made a big impression on everyone that evening. Uh, but yeah, that's the only thing. I was, I was there. That was one of my corrections.
He was absent, right? Right. Yeah. I was physically, I was present, right? I mean, we could debate whether I was mentally absent or not. You chaired the meeting. So you had a better version, you had a better version of me there. Yeah, there's no box to check about mentally alert. It's just show up or not. Exactly. Thankfully. Exactly. All right. Uh, so that, with that edit, are we good for the, uh, 29th of July? And if so, can I get a motion to approve those minutes, please? Yeah, so move. Thank you, Cliff. Do we have a second? Thank you, Luke. Roll call, please. Uh, Lisa Aubin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yes. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? Yes. And Sean Faresi, yes. Thank you, folks. Barbara, are we good for August 6th as well? And those are Executive Commission meeting minutes, so we really can't discuss the comments. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, assuming we have nothing we can't talk about, but want to make a motion then to approve Executive Session minutes of August 6th, 2026, I take that motion. Yes, so move. Thank you, Cliff. Do I hear a second? Second. I think that was Lisa. Uh, roll call, please. Lisa Aubin? Yes. Luke Legere? I'll abstain. Barbara Howell?
August 2nd? August 8th. Or, sorry, August 6th. This was our Executive Session minutes. I didn't think that we did it until later, but, okay. No, we can approve them, Barbara, but what we're not going to approve is releasing them, because this is still an active case. So, it's a point in the future we can make a vote to release them once this whole process is over with. Right. So, Barbara's a yes. Shannon Fischer? Yeah. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? You bet. Sean Ferris, a yes as well. Thank you. Okay. Anybody have anything else? That may be one of the 725.
Say again, Barbara? I never did that before. And before 730? Or for Executive Session minutes? The Executive Session minutes.
Okay. Well, I'll, I'm okay with it. We'll get still an active thing. We'll release them later if we need to. One quick thing, or a couple quick things, was Cascade. One of the things we asked for was a site visit, and they had suggested one next week. I think it was the 26th, so I'll let you know if that's, if that's still scheduled. I am not here on the 26th, so I asked to have it delayed until the following week, but I have yet to hear back from Town Council, but in the very least, I think Marty and Emily will go to the site visit if I'm not there, but Commission members are welcome to also go, so, and I will inform you about that when I know more. Okay? If they can't, if they can't move this back one week, because you can't be there.
Next email, I said, well, next email, I said, we'll have even more spikes on it. You know what I mean?
The other last thing is, is that capital improvement projects were due the last week, I think it was, or 10 days ago or something, and we've had some mechanical issues with our tractor. It's had to go out for, you know, hospitalization at the John Deere tractor store in Lancaster. We're a long process of getting it towed out there and everything. We do have, it is working, but it's also, gosh, when did we get that? 2018, so we're at eight years old. So, you know, lifespan is probably eight to 10 for something that gets heavily used like that. I mean, we do have a maintenance contract, so we take, we really take good care of our equipment, but I did put it in for FY29 as a capital improvement purchase for $65,000, and that's just an estimate for what the cost right now. I'm sure it might be a little bit more, but in exchange, if there is an increase in the price, what we'll probably end up doing is trading in the current version that we have, and that will give us some credit towards the purchase price. But I thought maybe the commission could at least, so I can let the capital improvement committee know that the conservation commission approved this purchase, or approved this request under capital improvement. I think it carries a little bit more weight, if you guys agree that that's the right thing to do.
And this has been invaluable, because, I mean, we first got, the first tractor we've ever had was 2018, and given that we own three very large agricultural fields, or four different properties that were former agricultural fields, it's really critical to have this. It saves us so much time and effort, so.
Agreed. I'm okay. Commission, we good? Yep. Okay. And we want to make a motion, then, to approve Linda doing that? Can we make a motion like that? It's not on the agenda?
Hmm. I think if it's something, did it come up recently? I mean, if it wasn't something that could have been anticipated prior to posting, Cliff, I think the answer is yes. But otherwise, you know, if this has been percolating for a month, I would, I think I would agree that we can't really. No, I did approve, I did apply for it. It was just recently that we're scheduling a meeting with the capital improvement people, and there was a worksheet that was sent with that, that invite, and that included all these different statements about, you know, you know, how much it is, when you need it, and all this other stuff, and then it asked whether or not it was approved by a board or committee, and I didn't want to put no in there. I really wanted to put yes in there, and so that's why I thought I would ask you tonight. Not reasonably anticipated. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Okay. We want to make a motion for that, then? Yep. So moved. Okay. Thanks, Cliff. We're here a second. Second. Luke, roll call please. Lisa Aubin. Yes. Luke Legere. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes. John Storr. Yep. Cliff Lewis. Yes. And Sean Ferzi, yes. All right, new John Deere coming your way in a few years. In a couple of years. We could say. Okay, now anything else? We good? I don't think we're good. Okay. We'll make a motion to adjourn at 730. I'll move to adjourn at 730, provided we give our esteemed chair a gold star for being under an hour. Thank you. I get a bonus of my paycheck this month. You bet. Points to pay. You bet. I second that. Yeah, Sean, I was crowing last time because I think it was like 745. So this, we bow to you. You are the greatest. This is why we won't let you move on from being the chair. Well, in that case, I got two things I want to talk about. Okay. Thank you, Luke. Roll call, please. Lisa Aubin. Yes. Luke Lazier. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes. John Storr.
John was a yes. Yep. Cliff Lewis. Yep. And Sean Ferzi, yes. We are adjourned. We are adjourned.
Second. Thank you. Barbara, roll call please. Lisa Aubin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yeah. John Storr? Yes.
Thank you, folks. On to 2B. This is 26 Rice Road in Whelan, DEP file number 322-1066. It's a continued abbreviated notice resource area delineation filed pursuant to Whelan's Wetlands and Water Resource Protection Bylaw and the Wetland Protection Act, submitted by Adam Stack for the confirmation of resource area delineations at 26 Rice Road in Whelan, Mass. The site is shown on Assessor's Map 48, Lot 93. Linda? That has asked you to continue to September 9th. Still waiting on a peer review for the Wetland delineation. Okay. Hearing a motion under both for continuing sometime after 6.30 to the 9th of September. So moved. Thank you, Luke. Thank you, Barbara. Quick roll call, please. Aubin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yeah. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? Yes. John Fares, a yes. Thank you, folks.
On to 2C. This is 8 Carpenter Road in Whelan, DEP file number 322-1067. It is a continued notice of intent filed pursuant to Whelan's Wetlands and Water Resource Protection Bylaw and the Wetland Protection Act submitted by Stephen Garofalo for the construction of two additions, a deck, an expansion of a driveway, septic system replacement, and associated utilities. The proposed work is within 100 feet of our border-regulated wetland and land subject to flooding. The project is shown in Whelan's Assessor's Map 48, Lot 113. Linda? We're waiting for a DEP file number for this particular project. We're waiting for a DEP file number, and we finally have one, so unless we do a- You say we're waiting for a DEP file number? We're waiting for a DEP file number. We finally have one. Oh, okay. And Vito's here. I don't know if you have anything to add for the project? No, I didn't have anything else. Just here in case there are questions.
Okay. Linda, Commissioner, any questions for Vito here? I think we had kind of finalized the replanting plan in the last meeting. Is that right? Yeah. That was the only- The DEP file number was the only outstanding item at that point? Yeah, that's what I have in my notes, too. So- Yep. Sounds about right.
Nothing else? Do you want to make a motion to close the hearing? Under both? I can practice. Okay. I move to close the hearing under the State Act and Chapter 194. Second. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Luke. Quick roll call, please. Lisa Alvin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yes. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? Yes. Michelle Fersey? Yes. Thank you. Next one, Lisa? I move to issue an order of conditions under the State Act in Chapter 194. In a permit under 194. Yeah, there you go. Beautiful. I was just approving the project because- Approving the project. Orders of Conditions came over. Thank you. I'll add that to my notes. Second. Well done, Lisa. Thank you, Luke. Roll call, please. Lisa Alvin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yes. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? Yes. And Sean Fersey? Yes. All set. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thanks, Vito. Appreciate it, dude. All right. Three. Stormwater and land disturbance. This is 3A, 15 Pequot Road, SWLD-167. Linda? They also asked to continue. We're still working through the comments for 15 Pequot. Okay. So, we're going on to 3B. This is 80 Oxbow Road, SWLD-168. Linda? Oh, who do we have? Ian, are you representing? Okay. Why don't you tell us about the project? Sure. I'm going to share my screen.
Getting up a little faster than I thought I would. And I feel like I'm presenting first. So, this is 80 Oxbow Road. It's an existing single-family house. Just to kind of give you an idea. So, there's kind of the main Oxbow Road that runs here. And then there's like a little sort of branch that comes off of it. And our property is on the branch. We're near the town line with Lincoln. And it's 80 Oxbow Road. This is kind of the property as it is now. There's an existing single-family house. Carriage house. A septic system that was built a couple years ago for an expanded number of bedrooms. And then paved driveway and Oxbow Road down here. What they want to do is tear down the existing buildings, take out the existing driveway, and construct a new house and a new driveway. So, going to the next sheet, which is sort of the proposed, what we would be doing is installing a paved driveway here, a siloed garage right here, and then a new four-bedroom house kind of right in the middle of the lot here. So, I've designed a Caltech stormwater system over here to the right that's sized to meet the kind of all the standards in your regulations. Peak flow, water quality volume, recharge volume, all of that stuff. So, that would take the roof, and then it would take the driveway as well. I've pitched the driveway to create a little kind of low point here with the catch basin. That would catch this portion of the driveway and send it in here into that Caltech system. And then for this little portion of the driveway here, there's like a, we're going to call it a stone trench with a pipe inside it. So, the water would go in the trench, get picked up by the pipe, and then everything, all the impervious area, would get brought over to this stormwater system. The soils here are really good. We've done testing on this lot and on the neighboring lot. It's very deep, good sand. I think we've dug 10 feet down on like at least eight different test pits, and we've never run into modeling, water table, anything. So, it's a good site for infiltration. I do show erosion control. It's kind of the X line that would encircle this whole thing along the limit of work. And then you kind of see the old tree line is here. So, we would be clearing in this area here, and we're proposing some replantings in the back. There's kind of like an open area at the kind of ratio that you require. So, that's kind of the overview of the project, and I'm happy to answer your questions. Thank you. Leto, I'll start with you, please.
Okay. Let me think here. The trees, they're not marked with an X, but the ones that are on the existing condition, where it kind of says previously deconvisioned cesspool. So, are those the ones that are coming down? Yeah. So, I'm going to say this is sort of like a vegetation brush line. There's, I'm going to say like little trees and shrubs in here, and then I've demarked anything that's kind of substantial, good size. And then these, these are the trees that we added up to get the, the total number of inches that are being removed. Okay. Because you didn't, you didn't identify the individual trees and things like that. So, that's why I was, sometimes that's nice to have that information, like what tree is coming down and what the size of it is. The other thing is, if I look through your narrative and the application and on the plan, and I couldn't find anywhere where the square footage is. Square footage of impervious area? Yeah. So, what's the square footage of the existing driveway, the dwellings, the garage, the carriage house? Because, I mean, I like to do a simple calculation, which is what is there and how much, what is getting removed and how much is getting put in. Sure. And, I mean, without going through this individual pages in the hydrocan report, a lot of times it's just, it's just nice to have that when you say you're building existing dwelling, but it doesn't really say what size that is. Sure, that makes sense. A bedroom, that's, you know, that doesn't mean anything to me, so. Yeah, I'm happy to put that on the plan. But while we're here, I can at the very least try to get that number for you. Yeah, that's all right. I mean, I think one thing, if, if you're, are you over 2,000 square feet of new impervious? Yes, yeah, yeah. It's definitely a major department. Yeah. Because in those situations, a lot of times we hand it off to a peer reviewer because this is beyond my capabilities of reviewing this. I don't have hydrocan. I have no way of looking. I don't have the software for it. Yeah. So it's, once I get a fat hydrocan report, it's really tough for me to manage that or to review that, so. So I could tell you it's going from about 7,000 square feet to 12,000. Okay. So it's about a 5,000 square foot increase.
Okay. And the, the, the, is this, you already putting a septic then for this house? Yeah. So interestingly, the owner previously intended to kind of renovate the house that was there. Yes, I remember. Yeah. Sort of in anticipation of that, uh, they got the septic field, um, designed, approved and built. And then, you know, I think as they were working on the house, they, they just ran into too many problems. Uh, it was kind of a unique house that was there. And so they eventually made the decision to just tear it down and replace it with the new house. Okay. Thankfully, the septic system that they built is big enough for the new house. So our intent is just to tie right into that newly constructed system. Okay. So it's at some point you will need to pass this on to board of health. Yeah. Just, yeah. I sent them like, they have like a rebuilding permit application. Okay. I gave this to them. Yep. All right. I just want to make sure everybody's in the loop on this one. So, um, yeah, the only thing I had the question was, so I get to throw away all the other plans for 80, 80, 60, 60. Yeah. So you may recall, uh, we had actually come in maybe two or three years ago, um, back when they were going to renovate this house and back where they were going to develop the abutting property, uh, to the right, which they also own. Um, they're now considering selling that property and kind of having the new buyer kind of do their own permitting on that. Yeah. We're limiting it just, just to the slot and anything they do over here in the future. Uh, if, if they do, or if they sell it will be a separate, uh, application. Yeah, no, I understand that. I just, you know, I've been holding onto those, that, that file. I appreciate that. Just, you know, so it feels kind of good, just urgent at some point. Yep. Okay. So I guess what I'm going to entertain is maybe a, um, a motion from the committee, the commission regarding a peer review, um, to approve a peer review for this particular project. Okay.
Okay. I move to authorize Linda to find and hire a third-party peer reviewer for Stormwater. Second. Okay. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Luke. Roll call, please. Lisa Aubin. Yes. Luke Legere. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes.
Um, you know, um, I'll give you some quotes, I guess, and you can let me know if you have a conflict of interest with any of the, uh, chosen peer reviewers. Sure. People that send us quotes for, okay? Okay. Unless you can come up with one right off the top of your head that I shouldn't be asking for. Not that I could think of. Yeah, we don't. Okay. Yeah.
Okay. Christian, anything else?
Okay. Will you go that for the peer review? Yeah. I'll talk to you from us. So we can continue to the ninth. It's, it's unlikely that we'll have, uh, um, a peer reviewer and the results back by then, but, um, we can always hope, I guess. Yeah. If you, if you don't mind, if we could continue and then if, you know, we need more time, we can push it from there. Okay. Perfect.
Sounds good. All right.
Uh, let's see. Uh, 55 Woodridge Road, SWLD-169, Linda.
All right. Who do we have here for, for Woodridge? Is there anybody here for Woodridge? I see a hand up. One second. Hold on.
Paul? Uh, yeah. Good evening. Paul Kirchner from Stamsky and McCanary. I'm here to represent this project. Okay. Go for it. Uh, all right. I, so I can't share my screen, um, as a guest, but, um, I can go over the project if you'd like me to, without being able to show the plan. Uh, I'll promote you to the panelist if that helps. You should be able to show it now because you've been moved to attendee. I'll just put you to the panelist if that helps you. Or panelist, yeah.
All right. Now I should be able to share. Yes. You for elevating me. Uh, so for the record, Paul Kirchner, Stamsky and McCanary, here on behalf of the applicant, uh, for the project at 55 Woodridge Road, we are the engineers and surveyors, uh, for this project. We have submitted a, uh, major stormwater permit application because the proposed, uh, work of this property does exceed an area of 10,000 square feet. Uh, the, the proposed increase in impervious is about 900 square feet, um, which in itself would only require a minor, uh, permit, but the total area of alteration is over 10,000. And so we submitted a major permit application, uh, I have the plan on the screen here. So 55 Woodridge Road currently contains a single family dwelling. It's, I'm going to zoom in a little bit. Uh, this does show the existing and proposed work, but the existing dwelling is at the top of a hill in, you know, the, the middle area of the lot. Uh, uh, uh, the proposed work is ultimately for the construction of an addition and, uh, installation of two patios, uh, one to the rear of the dwelling and one on the side of the, uh, proposed addition. A new septic system is proposed to serve the expanded dwelling, uh, but due to the increased, uh, impervious surface, we have proposed a roof dry well, uh, to fully infiltrate the 100 year storm for a portion, uh, of the dwelling roof. Uh, we're going to be collecting, uh, uh, the addition and a portion of the, the, the existing roof in order to offset the impacts, um, of the increased impervious, uh, and infiltrate it, uh, into the ground. Uh, uh, the, it's relatively straightforward stormwater management system. The only thing that, uh, you don't see on every project is, uh, a rain cistern that we have proposed. So that'll be between the, the downspouts and the roof dry well, um, it's really just a septic tank to collect rainwater so that it may be used, uh, in irrigation, um, by the property owner. Uh, the dry well has been sized, um, aside from the rain cistern. So even if this, uh, tank were full, um, this dry well is, uh, appropriately sized to handle up to the 100 year design storm, uh, we do have a siltation pair barrier proposed around, uh, the limit of work. Uh, we submitted a stormwater report and operation and maintenance manual, but, uh, I'm here for any questions. If you have them, thank you. Thank you. Linda, start with you, please. Sure. Um, What is the increase in pervious? You said it was 900 square feet and is that for the two patios and the addition then? That is correct. Yeah. It's specifically, it's 892 square feet. Okay. All right. Um, again, it's something else I couldn't really find. You guys use a whole different type of, uh, stormwater modeling exercise I'm not familiar with. Um, uh, tree removal. I know the, the, the, the homeowner was here. Maybe a couple of weeks ago and she mentioned that there was, um, tree removal sort of on the, the top of the plan. Um, and I don't, I don't, I didn't see it. I didn't see any trees that were identified on that, that were going to be removed. Mm-hmm. Did I, did I miss something? Uh, I don't think you missed anything. I was under the impression that this had been communicated to you, at least verbally, but there are a few trees within the limit of work, um, that will be removed to accommodate, you know, the addition and the septic tanks. Um, they're within the siltation barrier here. Um, is it more than six? I, yeah, I believe it's seven. Aaron, uh, Aaron Walters, who's the, uh, applicant. He might have that number handy, um, cause he's more familiar with the tree work, I believe, than I am. So we're going to need a list of trees that are going to be removed and which ones they are and probably identified in the plan and the, and their diameters. And then the compensation is two to one for that. So what we would also need a planting plan, but I think I can save you some tree removal because I think, um, the one thing that my, the homeowner and I talked about was the area drain that's in the, in the patio on the top of the plan there. That seems like a little bit of overkill. Um, I asked her, I said, do you really want a riprap apron in the front of your house, you know, right, right in the front yard. And I, you know, I don't think she has any interest in having that there. So you have a really long pipe, what is a 92 foot long, 98 foot long pipe from catch basin that goes out to this riprap sway of the apron and where you could probably do something much, much simpler by just putting a, you know, some sort of a gravel trench or a rain guard. I mean, like a vegetated swale or something along the side of the patio and sort of give up all that, that piping and the, you know, and the area drain and the riprap apron and all that stuff. Can we make it a little bit more simpler? Hi, Linda. This is, uh, Aaron Walters, 55 Woodridge and Desiree Walters, 55 Woodridge. I believe the plans that you see in front of you as presented by Paul have accounted for removal of those items, um, and a, and a reduction of the patio on the side there to reduce the, the water amount. Also, our intent, I think is five trees in totality, um, to be removed as part of the project. So you're saying that there is no, a riprap apron proposed? I don't see it on this plan that we're looking at. Well, that's not the one I got. I got one with, I must've gotten an old plan on. So I think I need an updated plan then from you guys. Cause I have, what's my date on?
July 15th. Yeah, we did the revise the plan. Um, maybe it was only submitted via email and hard copies weren't received. But we did revise it. Oh, I did receive the, some of the comments you had made related to that, the area drain. I need a large scale plan because I need to do measurements from that and I can't print that out here. Um, so you're going to have to send me a new plan for that, um, you know, large scale plan. But in doing so, don't you end up reducing the amount of disturbance, uh, total disturbance on the property and including, you know, um, and that reduces the tree removal also, right? Uh, yeah, it does impact the amount of work. I still believe the work area exceeds the 10,000 square feet, but does that include the septic? It does. Yeah. See, I don't, um, typically we don't include septic in our calculations just because everybody needs a septic. You know, so, um, if you were just to come to us with a septic plan, you know, um, um, area of disturbance isn't, you know, really considered. And for, for this particular property that is, you know, Wellens, you probably wouldn't even have needed a permit from us and for septic. So, um, I don't, I don't think, I don't think we really need to include that because again, that's, that, that's a given, you know, everybody needs a septic. So, and, but the one thing in one of the, I can't, I couldn't find it right before the meeting. Um, but I was reviewing this earlier. I thought I saw something where you were, you said the wetlands, but there is no wetlands on this property, right? Uh, there is no wetland on this property or within a hundred feet. I'm not sure exactly where in the report it might reference that, but I speculate it's probably just related to erosion and sediment control where it's sort of a boiler plate, like prevent sediment from discharging to wetlands kind of statement. Um, but I can take another look at that and make sure that we remove any erroneous references to wetland. So, you know, I did, I did look at the GIS and again, I think they're pretty removed from any wetlands in this area. So, and they are on top of the hill too. So, um, yeah. So if you brought me, if you got me the, the new revised plan, um, typically we don't really accept things by email because again, I really need the large scale version for, for doing measurements and stuff. And, um, if you can also provide me like the, the surface area for the, the different components, like the, the surface area. Two different patios and then the addition, you're just, you're picking, you're picking up the patio and the addition.
Oh, no.
Uh, the drywall is just capturing, uh, the, the, uh, portion of the roof. So the addition, some extra roof area. Okay.
I see. All right. Oh, I see you got rid of the retaining wall too. There on the side. Okay.
Cause again, that, that would reduce the amount of disturbance also. So. I mean, so just tree information, a new plan, and then just, and then the square footage for the different components. Okay. Yep. Understood. All right.
Anything else? No. Can you mention anything?
I think that that pretty well covers it. Um, I mean, it strikes me, there is a fair amount that's going to change. So it, I think just speaking for myself, I I'd like to see an updated plan. I think before I'm going to feel ready to vote.
Okay. Anybody else?
Well, I would agree with Luke. I'd like to kind of see it before we finalize it. So, um, I guess next steps would be is to incorporate what Linda suggested and hopefully be able to kind of vote this through next time.
Everybody good? Yep. Yep. Perfect. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Have a good night. Uh, on to 4A, sort of the certificate of compliance for Weedlock Road, D-1048. Linda.
Don't believe anybody's here. I think, uh, um, um, Mr. DeMonaco asked if he should attend. And, um, I thought this was going to be more of a straightforward closure on it. But then I looked in the plans and I was a little concerned because the, the permit requires the, the permit requires a vegetative buffer along the edge of the wetlands. And if you look at the plan, it shows that there's basically the limit of long goes almost right up to the wetlands. So I don't think anything was installed. Um, I haven't been over there. Um, I wanted to talk to Mike DeMonaco first, if he could confirm whether or not something was put in and it was just wasn't added to the plan. Um, but, um, I wanted to just double check on that before we take a vote on that. Okay.
Uh, okay. Let's go to then certificate of compliance. This is 4B 225 Boston post road DEP file number three, two, two dash six, eight, zero, uh, and vote to return performance guarantees. That's six, eight, zero. Correct. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Wow. What year is that? I actually, I don't even know. I'd have to go look in the.
Zero. Holy cow. Oh, let me get the point, the file.
So this is the church, right? Is this the first parish church? Yep. Yeah. So 2008, somewhere in that vicinity, 2007. Hmm. Okay. So the reason this was, this was, um, identified was we did have somebody, we have a senior workup person helping us again with returning the performance bonds. And again, we have to be really particular about what we give back because we need something that shows, um, a check or, you know, um, or a copy of the check that was submitted. So we know who to pay the money back to. And much of that, that much of that information is missing. So we have to really introduce and find the exact ones that have all the right information that allows us to do this. So these guys require a closure and then, um, uh, vote for closing this permit under, this is a, this is, you know, this is an order of conditions, isn't it? Was there. Under both. I'm looking, yeah, it would be both. So this was a subject replacement, pretty straightforward. I mean, the board of health closed on this probably, you know, 20 years ago at this point. So, um, and I think we have a, we have an ass belt from, from the health department for this. So we should be all set. Um, and the only thing I need to bring up that, that, uh, Emily put in her notes here was that they did not provide us a filing fee for closure of this. But what we're going to do is we're going to vote to return the performance bond minus the $50 filing fee that they still owe us. Okay. Okay. So commission two votes, one to close under both. Second vote is to return performance guarantee minus a $50 filing fee. Correct, Linda? Yeah. Emily, do you know how much the, I don't see the performance bond. Do you know how much that was? It was originally $500, but with interest, I don't know, like 530 by now. Okay. Hmm. Okay. Commission, are we looking at the motions? Uh, I moved to issue a certificate of compliance for 225 Boston post road. And you have to close it first. Ah. Close it under both. No, we're not closing. What are we, what are we closing? This is a certificate of compliance.
Oh, I thought, oh, I thought you wanted two different votes on them. Do you want just a one? I want one vote for issuing a certificate of compliance under the Wetland Protection Act and under Chapter 194. Yeah. And then we need a second vote to return the performance guarantee of $500 plus interest minus the $50 filing fee for the, for the COC request. How does that sound? That's good to me.
Okay. Who wants to make a motion? Or say, so move it for a window.
Okay. So I think I moved to issue an order of conditions. No, no. So shifting compliance. Okay. I'm sorry. You had it right. You said it exactly. You had it right. For. Yeah, right the first time. 2020, 225 Boston post road under the act in Chapter 194. Second. Very good. Thank you, Lisa. Good job. I got her. Luke. Roll call, please. Lisa Alvin. Yes. Luke Legere. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes. John Storer.
Oh, Johnny Ann Newter.
Thumbs up.
Yes. There he goes.
Performance Bond. Linda, did you say plus interest? $100 plus interest. Yes. Plus interest. Less $50 for the filing fee. Second. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Luke. Quick roll call, please. Lisa Alvin. Yes. Luke Legere. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes. John Storer. Yes. Cliff Lewis. Yes. And Sean Farza. Yes. Thank you, Linda. Okay.
On to five other. 5A, 17, Gleason Lane, tree removal violation. Linda. Talked about this in the last meeting? I thought we did, didn't we? We did a little bit. I think you and I just, you know, we talked about a little bit last time. Just prepped, I think, for two seconds. No, I don't have it in my notes. That's why. So. You and I were talking about a bunch, so maybe you're conflating. Talk with me about it. Yeah. So there was a, there was a wholesale tree removal done over at 17 Gleason. The new owner bought the six-acre property, took about more than, I'd say easily, an acre of trees down in the back. I issued him a violation. And the deadline was last week to turn in, I think it was the 10th, turn in a Chapter 193 permit for the removal of all those trees. And when he did come, he did come in on the 10th and dropped off a permit, but it was not for the removal of the trees. He has, his plan is to build a youth center over there. And a youth center. So he's, he's a pastor. I'm not sure what the organization is called. It's not on the deed, but, and I, I rejected the application because the violation notice said, you need to set it, give me a permit for the removal of the trees. It's, you know, the youth center is something much further down in the future. He didn't have a plan. He didn't, doesn't even have a survey. I mean, he showed up with nothing other than three pages of application. And, you know, I mean, I couldn't accept that because it was, you know, there's absolutely nothing I can do with a permit without a plan. Um, but, uh, so instead of what he's done is he's hired a forestry company. I forget what the name of it is. And, um, they've been out there. He's hired a surveyor to survey the property because again, he's sandwiched by two, by town property on either side. And I wanted to make sure that the tree removal was done appropriately and on his property and not on town property. So he has hired a surveyor. He has hired us, um, a forestry person to help them with the counting of the trees. And the dimensions of the size of the tree in order to come up with a better plan. So he is moving forward. So that I'm, you know, he's showing progress. I've talked to the guy he's hired, um, but the, the deadline has like, has passed. So, um, and I can accept that as long as, again, they're making progress and they're doing the, they're making progress in the right direction, which is, you know, hiring, getting a surveyor and hiring someone to help them with this. Cause I, you know, he's very unfamiliar with our rules and regulations here in Wayland. And so one quick question, um, is that, you know, there was either stump grinding or stump removal before you got there or, and so I'm assuming that the, this new tree company or forestry company, is it where that happened? Is it going to help make that calculation? Is that something we do on our own? Um, we'll see what we get. I mean, when I spoke to him, I mean, we went through all these issues and I have photos of all, most of the trees that were taken down. I counted 60, um, fresh cuts out there, you know, various different sizes. And then there was two large piles of stumps that had already been removed. And I did talk to the operator who was removing the stumps and he said, there's at least a dozen in each pile. I'm sure there's far more than that. I mean, they were large piles. So, I mean, at a rough estimate, we're talking about 85 trees, you know, probably taken down. Um, and again, some of them were huge, you know, some of them were easy, 30, 36 inches. And, you know, the stumps were, you know, that doesn't necessarily mean that's the diameter of the tree, you know, brush size. But, um, yeah, there was, there was, there was quite a bit of removal that was done there. And I mean, it's cleared, you know, there's not, there's no, there's absolutely no, um, vegetation left there. You know, it's, everything's been taken out. So, not just the trees.
Gotcha. I think, I think our survey was over there yesterday, I think today, actually, um, he was, he was doing a drone survey of the North Cemetery. Um, and he said he could probably verify whether or not they had been coached on the town cemetery, you know, based on this drone footage. So, we can get, um, we can get an answer from him at some point, probably shortly. There's also a comment from the general public on this topic. Okay. Yeah, well, we've got, I have a Nate Hamilton, you got a hand up. So, we're going to commission anything else on that, or let me, anything else before I open that up for a comment from the folks?
Let me, anything else? No, I'll do it again. You know, that was just, you guys, an update of what, you know, um, what's sort of happening and, and I don't have any timelines for this. Again, he said the surveyor, um, gave him a appointment like three weeks out. Um, and I'm, you know, I, that doesn't surprise me. You know, most surveyors are really, um, uh, booking way out anyway. So, okay. There are some bounds out there though. I did give him a plan that showed, uh, like four stone bounds on the north side of the property. Um, so I think the surveyor, the guy who was out there for the forestry person said that he was, that was one of his tasks was to go and look for those. So, can you, anything else before I open up as a comment as if someone's raising their hand?
Okay. Uh, I see a, a Nate Hamilton.
If you could just identify yourself and where you live, that'd be great. Hi, yes, it's actually, um, I'm Nate's wife, Kate Hamilton, and I live at 10 Gleason Lane, um, in Weyland. And I actually discovered all this tree work, um, and notified conservation because I realized that they were kind of doing it, um, quietly. And I know that the surveyor, surveyor has been out to the property, I think as of a few days ago, and was looking for the stone bounds. And the surveyor told another neighbor that the owner plans to, the owner thought that there was an easement that allowed, that would allow any traffic going to the youth center to go through the cemetery in Weyland. And I guess that's North Cemetery because they clear cut from the property into the, to the edge of the cemetery. And I think they already were bringing trucks from the cemetery onto the property through this clear cut area.
Wow. Okay. Uh, thanks for the heads up. Thank you for calling it in. Um, without, just to make sure that I understand, this has not been, health has not seen this zoning planning. Anybody seen this thing yet? Well, I mean, I, I brought it up to the town manager because I wanted him to understand, you know, there's, there's, you know, quite a few neighbors that are concerned about this. And so I, I'm not sure who he's talked to, who's provided that information with, but, um, I've talked, yeah, I have talked to DPW there. Um, cause again, I asked about the drone survey, um, and, uh, health and, and planning and, um, building are, are informed. Because again, when he talked about building a youth center in the back, I have no idea if that's allowed, but when I did speak to his forestry person that's out there doing, doing the tree survey, he mentioned that. And I, I, I, I had a laugh because I said, you know, that's just completely out of the question. We're not building a road through a town cemetery. And he goes, yeah, I know that, but I guess you don't understand that. And the weird thing is, and the reason he came up with this, I guess, this is what the survey, the forestry guy told me, is that if, if I plot directions, like from town building to 17 Bleson on Google map, Google map takes you through the cemetery to get to 17 Bleson. So he just, I think he just assumed that there's a road there. There's not. A carelessness boggles the mind given that he's destroyed an ecosystem. For the kids. It's always destroying their future. This is the same guy that drives off the end of a pier, right? Because Google map says that's the way to go. I would say that there, there was an office episode where Michael Scott turned into a lake because it's GPS told him to turn left into a, yeah, sorry. Interesting. Okay. Well, I think her name was Kate Hamilton. Thank you for, for giving Linda and I also a heads up. More to come. Um, but man, um, my one incredible mistake. Well, you know, given benefit of the doubt to make before doing all this, um, permitting and planning, but yikes. Okay. I will add that I know that Linda went out and looked at the site to seek, to try and count how many trees. And I know that they were chipping for days before that happened. And I don't know what the true count is, but it was completely densely forested before that. And I think they've probably gotten rid of a lot of the evidence, the stumps and everything. Um, so I'm not sure what the true count is, but it seems like it's a lot more. Oh, I know Barbara and I talked about this earlier. I did walk through the school property to see it. Um, and there's a huge pile of, um, and there's a huge pile of, of chips, you know, just massive. And you could also see where they have put red ribbons around trees, probably marking the edge of the property, which of course backs right up to the school property, which the town is very interested in. And, um, it was a mess. This is, this is where the owls always used to nest back there. And it was always a good habitat and it's, they've destroyed it.
We've also noticed coyotes running more on Gleason just amongst like a couple of neighbors, coyotes that we normally wouldn't see. And we've all been wondering if it was maybe the destruction kind of displaced them. It was part of a wildlife corridor. Um, so, but if he intended to build a youth center and, you know, and that required all this tree removal, I don't know why you don't do the survey first, you know, so you understand any property is doing the second, you know, a second is a, as an afterthought sort of. And, uh, and, uh, so again, you know, if, if, if, if trees have been removed from town, you know, property that all that stuff has to be compensated for and, and, and, you know, and potentially penalized also. So, so yeah, um, yeah, um, yeah, well, our, our, our, the regulations are going to be interesting how this, how this shakes out, but, um, lots to make up for, for sure. Well, I think on this topic too, one of the last meetings, we talked about the article that we put together and put in the wild Wayland newsletter. I kind of modified it and sent it into the Wayland post. Um, and Dave Watkins said, they will put it as like a contributor contributing article versus, um, an editorial. But I think they were skipping a week because of like a summer kind of summer off week. So I think the next issue is supposed to come out next Friday and it's supposed to include it. He did say he was going to post it online in the meantime, but I haven't seen it yet. So I'll just follow up with him to make sure that's all happening again. I don't know how much it'll help, but at least it, for people that read it, it just makes people more aware that there are, you know, we have regulations in place for tree removal and you need a permit. So, you know, even if it helps just a tiny bit, you know, let's cross our fingers. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate that.
Okay. Lynn, anything else we can do on that? We'll just wait to see what more comes on us. Yes. There was only one small thing that, um, when, when I open up GIS and if, you know, there's a, we have the ability to staff to log into, log into GIS and get additional layers that aren't available to the public. And one thing that Emily and I found a while ago when it first came for sale and there was a lot of interest, you know, that people would come into the office and asking about it was that at the back, that whole back section, which is the whole wooded section was Chris Cross and it said conservation protection. And I had no idea what that meant because I, we have nothing in this office. We don't have a CRA thing. And I did find out that at some point that back section was in a chapter 61, um, um, program for probably open space. And I don't know when that was taken out and when that was released. Um, I, do you know, Luke, do you know what the, the holdback time is for that? Um, sorry, the, the, would you say the pullback time? Well, you know, for chapter 61, when you have a, um, a property assessment and, um, at some point when it's released, they still have to pay back taxes. And there's also a, there's a whole, yeah, there's a whole process, right? The town and the first right of refusal. So I, I don't know when this was released, but that would be an interesting piece of information to know whether or not, you know, that was still within the holdback period, you know, for, um, for, um, for chapter 61. So, yeah, I don't know off the top of my head. I don't remember that stuff either, but it's several years of back taxes.
Yeah. It's at least five though, isn't it? I think so. Something like that.
Anyway, it's something else to explore. And you have to go through a whole process.
Okay. Well, more to come on, uh, on Gleason here, but, uh, thanks again, Kate, for your, for helping that and bringing to our attention.
Okay. Uh, public comment. I think I saw. One thing to add here, I guess it didn't get on the agenda, but, uh, we did meet, uh, Shannon and Linda and I. Uh, with a fellow from the state, his name was Chris Pryor, uh, about, uh, uh, uh, forestry stewardship program. Apparently the state has quite a, uh, array of different programs about that. Uh, we heard back from him on Friday, which really wasn't enough time to get back together. So, I want to get back together with Shannon and with, uh, Linda, and we'll talk about that and we'll figure something out and make a presentation to the board. Awesome. Thank you. The commission. I'm sorry. Appreciate that. Yep. Awesome.
Okay. Uh, anybody else? I don't see any more hands raised. No. Okay. Barbara, how are we looking for our minutes for, uh, July 29th? We good to go? I just hit a minor thing and turned it in and they were fine. Okay. Anybody else on the 29th of July minutes? Just one thing. Cause it's, it's obviously all about me. Um, I, I'm shown as being absent, but in fact, I was present. Um, so I'm glad I made a big impression on everyone that evening. Uh, but yeah, that's the only thing. I was, I was there. That was one of my corrections.
He was absent, right? Right. Yeah. I was physically, I was present, right? I mean, we could debate whether I was mentally absent or not. You chaired the meeting. So you had a better version, you had a better version of me there. Yeah, there's no box to check about mentally alert. It's just show up or not. Exactly. Thankfully. Exactly. All right. Uh, so that, with that edit, are we good for the, uh, 29th of July? And if so, can I get a motion to approve those minutes, please? Yeah, so move. Thank you, Cliff. Do we have a second? Thank you, Luke. Roll call, please. Uh, Lisa Aubin? Yes. Luke Legere? Yes. Barbara Howell? Yes. Shannon Fischer? Yes. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? Yes. And Sean Faresi, yes. Thank you, folks. Barbara, are we good for August 6th as well? And those are Executive Commission meeting minutes, so we really can't discuss the comments. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, assuming we have nothing we can't talk about, but want to make a motion then to approve Executive Session minutes of August 6th, 2026, I take that motion. Yes, so move. Thank you, Cliff. Do I hear a second? Second. I think that was Lisa. Uh, roll call, please. Lisa Aubin? Yes. Luke Legere? I'll abstain. Barbara Howell?
August 2nd? August 8th. Or, sorry, August 6th. This was our Executive Session minutes. I didn't think that we did it until later, but, okay. No, we can approve them, Barbara, but what we're not going to approve is releasing them, because this is still an active case. So, it's a point in the future we can make a vote to release them once this whole process is over with. Right. So, Barbara's a yes. Shannon Fischer? Yeah. John Storr? Yes. Cliff Lewis? You bet. Sean Ferris, a yes as well. Thank you. Okay. Anybody have anything else? That may be one of the 725.
Say again, Barbara? I never did that before. And before 730? Or for Executive Session minutes? The Executive Session minutes.
Okay. Well, I'll, I'm okay with it. We'll get still an active thing. We'll release them later if we need to. One quick thing, or a couple quick things, was Cascade. One of the things we asked for was a site visit, and they had suggested one next week. I think it was the 26th, so I'll let you know if that's, if that's still scheduled. I am not here on the 26th, so I asked to have it delayed until the following week, but I have yet to hear back from Town Council, but in the very least, I think Marty and Emily will go to the site visit if I'm not there, but Commission members are welcome to also go, so, and I will inform you about that when I know more. Okay? If they can't, if they can't move this back one week, because you can't be there.
Next email, I said, well, next email, I said, we'll have even more spikes on it. You know what I mean?
The other last thing is, is that capital improvement projects were due the last week, I think it was, or 10 days ago or something, and we've had some mechanical issues with our tractor. It's had to go out for, you know, hospitalization at the John Deere tractor store in Lancaster. We're a long process of getting it towed out there and everything. We do have, it is working, but it's also, gosh, when did we get that? 2018, so we're at eight years old. So, you know, lifespan is probably eight to 10 for something that gets heavily used like that. I mean, we do have a maintenance contract, so we take, we really take good care of our equipment, but I did put it in for FY29 as a capital improvement purchase for $65,000, and that's just an estimate for what the cost right now. I'm sure it might be a little bit more, but in exchange, if there is an increase in the price, what we'll probably end up doing is trading in the current version that we have, and that will give us some credit towards the purchase price. But I thought maybe the commission could at least, so I can let the capital improvement committee know that the conservation commission approved this purchase, or approved this request under capital improvement. I think it carries a little bit more weight, if you guys agree that that's the right thing to do.
And this has been invaluable, because, I mean, we first got, the first tractor we've ever had was 2018, and given that we own three very large agricultural fields, or four different properties that were former agricultural fields, it's really critical to have this. It saves us so much time and effort, so.
Agreed. I'm okay. Commission, we good? Yep. Okay. And we want to make a motion, then, to approve Linda doing that? Can we make a motion like that? It's not on the agenda?
Hmm. I think if it's something, did it come up recently? I mean, if it wasn't something that could have been anticipated prior to posting, Cliff, I think the answer is yes. But otherwise, you know, if this has been percolating for a month, I would, I think I would agree that we can't really. No, I did approve, I did apply for it. It was just recently that we're scheduling a meeting with the capital improvement people, and there was a worksheet that was sent with that, that invite, and that included all these different statements about, you know, you know, how much it is, when you need it, and all this other stuff, and then it asked whether or not it was approved by a board or committee, and I didn't want to put no in there. I really wanted to put yes in there, and so that's why I thought I would ask you tonight. Not reasonably anticipated. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Okay. We want to make a motion for that, then? Yep. So moved. Okay. Thanks, Cliff. We're here a second. Second. Luke, roll call please. Lisa Aubin. Yes. Luke Legere. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes. John Storr. Yep. Cliff Lewis. Yes. And Sean Ferzi, yes. All right, new John Deere coming your way in a few years. In a couple of years. We could say. Okay, now anything else? We good? I don't think we're good. Okay. We'll make a motion to adjourn at 730. I'll move to adjourn at 730, provided we give our esteemed chair a gold star for being under an hour. Thank you. I get a bonus of my paycheck this month. You bet. Points to pay. You bet. I second that. Yeah, Sean, I was crowing last time because I think it was like 745. So this, we bow to you. You are the greatest. This is why we won't let you move on from being the chair. Well, in that case, I got two things I want to talk about. Okay. Thank you, Luke. Roll call, please. Lisa Aubin. Yes. Luke Lazier. Yes. Barbara Howell. Yes. Shannon Fischer. Yes. John Storr.
John was a yes. Yep. Cliff Lewis. Yep. And Sean Ferzi, yes. We are adjourned. We are adjourned.