State threatens to appeal commission's desist orders
Date: 6/13/2012
June 13, 2012By Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.comWEST SPRINGFIELD — The Conservation Commission is trying to be lenient, but the state is threatening to play hardball over permits for the Route 20 CSX bridge project.
The project, which began in early May, involves alterations to the existing Route 20 bridge adjacent to Charles Avenue to accommodate double-stacked CSX trains. The work, which is expected to take two years, will not only affect motorists traveling in both directions on Route 20, but also residents living on Gaskill Avenue and Locust Street and abutters with homes and driveways along that portion of Westfield Street (Route 20).
At its June 6 meeting, the Conservation Commission voted to give the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) until June 27 to either file the requested permits for work or comply with the commission's May 23 cease and desist work order.
In response to that vote, Richard Masse, MassDOT Highway Division District 2, told the commission, "We do intend to appeal the order."
The meeting followed a site visit by members of the commission, which was conducted by William Grace, a senior environmental planner and wetlands scientist with TranSystems, a consulting firm for MassDOT, and several MassDOT representatives, including Masse.
Mark Noonan, conservation officer and assistant planner, said the visit did give commission members an opportunity to review MassDOT's environmental controls at the site and ask questions about some concerns, including plans to deal with drainage following heavy rains.
Noonan said he visited the Route 20 construction site following a rainstorm on June 2 and observed "water moving fairly quickly through the walls" of the barriers erected to protect designated wetland areas.
He said he put a call in to the contractor, who responded to his concerns quickly. Noonan said he was unsure if the storm runoff had reached the Squassick Brook area.
"If it had reached the brook, we would have had another enforcement order," Noonan said.
He noted work on the project has reached a wetlands buffer zone, including the culvert for Squassick Brook. He said the commission still believes MassDOT "should file [permits] and get a review" of their work near wetland areas, but for now they will accept daily monitoring of the site to ensure no damage occurs to protected areas.
The commission authorized Noonan to send a letter to Frank DePaola, administrator for the MassDOT Highway Division, thanking MassDOT for the site visit and the documents it had submitted acknowledging the commission's areas of concern — which it had not done in initial plans. The letter also recognizes that the state and the town still disagree over the need to file permits for work in the designated wetlands areas.
The letter also reiterates that the commission will give MassDOT until June 27 to either file or comply with its cease and desist orders before it takes any further action.
