September 13, 2012 pdf edition - Quaboag Current

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PAGE 10 A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, September 13, 2012 SOLAR I FROM PAGE 1 ity operating, a roof-top site in Lowell, has been looking for over a year and a half for an additional site that would be suitable for development. Property on Little Rest Road, owned by the Morin family, was discovered in part to the large fi elds that are already existing, and the Morins were approached about leasing out a portion of their property for this solar project. The Little Rest Road area, explained Greg Herring, the director of development for the project, caught their attention because it receives relatively little traffi c and has several large open areas, which allows for the natural environment to be more easily preserved. “We really want to design a site that has the least impact on the community. There is no point in having a green energy project if it invades a school soccer fi eld, that would defeat the entire point,” said Herring. The exact area in question, more specifi cally, has attributes that make it a desirable location. “There is several hundred feet of frontage, a large tree line in the middle, and there’s no houses immediately present to be concerned with glare,” said Herring. “We are here to make sure that we develop something that is good for everyone. We want to be good neighbors.” Some of the neighbors of the area, however, expressed considerate concern over several key factors. Noise from the Massachusetts Turnpike, glare from the panels, the safety of the panels themselves, environmental impact from the construction, maintenance and the disposal of the panels at the end of their life span were of most imminent concern during the hearing. They were, as a group, also against the waivers that the project is requesting, saying that the neighbors are against waivers in whole; the exact plan for each issue should be address in the site plan, in their opinion. The environmental consultant for the project addressed many of these issues. Wetlands on a part of the property have already fl agged a conservation evaluation, and there will be a site walk through with Conservation Commission next week, with a meeting regarding that on Sept.18. For the most part, it is planned to use existing topography, and where trees do need to be cut for sunlight exposure, a wetland buffer mix will be placed. The plans for installing the panels involve using aluminum U or H shaped channels placed in the ground, and while the exact depth of their placement is not yet know, it is generally between three and six feet. Grass underneath the panels, upon completion of the construction, will be maintained at six to 12 inches in height to help prevent erosion from rainwater running off the panel ridges. The lay down area where the panels will be before mounting will be reseeded when FREE! PICK UP THE QUABOAG CURRENT EVERY THURSDAY Available at: West Warren – Traska’s Village Market Outside W. Warren Post Office Warren Senior Center Warren – Warren Town Hall • Cash Market Cakettes Café • Tebo’s • Xtra Mart Town Pizza • Warren Package Store Outside Old Town Hall/Police Station Brookfield – Cumberland Farms East Brookfield – EB Flatts • Trolley Stop Town Hall • Cumberland Farms • Klem’s North Brookfield – Hannaford’s New Braintree – Reed’s Country Store www.quaboagcurrent.com The Quaboag Current is a Turley Publication • www.turley.com construction is fi nished. Emergency access and maintenance is planned by widening an existing dirt path to a 24 feet wide access road that will be fi lled with 12inch deep gravel. A small receptive trench, three inches wide by three inches deep, with line the wetland area. Concerns of concrete were addressed, as the plans call for the only concrete on site to be those, which provide the pads for the transformers and inverters. “Basically, this will still be all grass after we leave, no stones. We’re leaving it natural,” claimed the consultant. Herring addressed the concern of maintenance impact additionally, stating that the neighbors should not be concerned. “Maintenance for these, all it involves is a pick-up truck checking out the site four or fi ve times a year. It’s just a bunch of sliding glass door panels sitting there soaking up the sun.” “Any trees you take down, and you just said there’s a lot of them, that will increase the noise from the Mass. Pike, plus sheets of glass there – the sound will just ripple over them like water. Have any noise studies been done?” ED KRAKOWITZ Both the topics of noise and panel disposal were hot topics during the hearing. Residents in the Little Rest Road area are already subjected to sounds of the highway nearby, especially when a large truck hits the rumble strip during the night they agreed. “Any trees you take down, and you just said there’s a lot of them, that will increase the noise from the Mass. Pike, plus sheets of glass there-the sound will just ripple over them like water. Have any noise studies been done?” exclaimed Ed Krakowitz. The number of trees NB SCHOOL I FROM PAGE 1 One of those changes is a large turnover in leadership, both at the administrative level and with the school committee. “When you have a greater than average turnover, it can be diffi cult for the district,” Provost said. “It takes a while for parents and staff to get used to that.” Another challenge is the increase in the number of students with high levels of need: Last year the elementary school broke the 40 percent threshold for students eligible for free or reduced lunch. That shift in demographics rendered the school eligible for the state Title I program funding. “That has allowed us to implement school-wide programs we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to have,” Provost said. “We can use the funds to benefi t all students. However, students experiencing poverty are subject to a number of deprivations throughout their lives. It’s too bad that in the economy we have right now the number of students experiencing poverty increasing.” On the positive side, the district is enjoying a 92.5 percent graduation rate. Provost attributes this high rate to individualized attention. “As someone who comes from a much larger high school, I was impressed by the amount of attention students receive at the secondary level, including from the principal,” Provost said. “It is very helpful for some students on the margins of success to have adult supervision and accountability for their success.” One way Provost plans to improve the district is by increasing projected to be removed is roughly fi ve acres worth, in total. The residents requested that a noise study is done as part of the plans, but it did not appear that this was either agreed to or blatantly denied. Board of Selectman Chair Robert Souza was at the hearing, and while he did agree that the noise is sometimes bothersome, he suggests a different route for that particular problem. “I’m sure you can hear the noise there,” he said. “I live on Reed Street and I can hear the noise, especially on a nice quiet night when you’re having a pit fi re with the family. This is a state problem, though, not a solar problem. We should be petitioning the state to put up a noise barrier like they have in other towns.” The other major source of contention between the project managers and the neighbors is the removal of the panels when their life span is over in approximately 25 years. Other communities were reported by Herring as having an escrow account with approximately $50,000 in it, to account for the expected difference between the scrap rate of the materials and the fi nal cost of labor and disposal to remove the panels. Solventerra has made an arrangement with the Morins for a $100,000 escrow account, with their names as benefi ciaries, so in the event of desertion of the panels or other unexplained issues, the Morins would have the means to remove the project. “Our interest in to maintain and operate beyond the original lease,” said Freeman, “but I can’t say for sure what the President in 20 years will choose, I won’t be here forever certainly, I can’t speak for absolute certain about 20 years from now. One option is to add the town of Warren as a secondary benefi ciary, so that there are more options. This is not a normal situation, though. We’re trying to waive the security bond because we think the money set aside is suffi cient. The Morins have a vested interest in maintaining the value of their property.” One resident exclaimed, “Twenty years from now! You don’t know! That’s why a security bond needs to be done, so that you are made to be held responsible.” The entire site review plan was outside the scope of a practical time period for the meeting, and the hearing was continued to Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Shepard Building. The Planning Board requested from the Project Team a complete copy of the plan, a copy of the composition of the proposed solar panels and a copy of the agreement with the Morins regarding the escrow account. They have also scheduled an on-site walk through with Solventerra, and that is scheduled for early next week. The Board was clear on the fact that this fi eld trip is strictly to view the property to more accurately access the plans, and that no discussion will take place during the walk through. enrollment over the next fi ve years. His goal is to reach 695 students, up from the current - 565. This 23 percent increase is, according to Provost, an incredibly ambitious goal. During the last fi ve years, only 25 districts – all but one being a charter school - in the commonwealth have increased their enrollment by such numbers. “That number [695] represents achieving choice neutrality,” Provost said. “It provides good class sizes in kindergarten through 12th grade and helps us to fi eld more athletic teams and more diverse offerings at the secondary level. That number provides fi scal stability and represents a return to the level the district was at fi ve years ago, a time when it appears the district was in very strong condition.” The decline in enrollment is due to three main factors: Declining population in North Brookfi eld, students choosing to attend other schools through school choice and students choosing vocational and technical education. “There has been a concern for many years about retaining residents who are ‘choice-ing’ out,” he said. In fact, between 2007 and 2012 enrollment in the district declined by 22 percent; about 26 percent of students who start kindergarten in North Brookfi eld are no longer enrolled by the end of 12th grade. Provost plans to increase enrollment through a series of initiatives – including expanded preschool offerings, art/music offerings and athletics, a credit-based college transition program, extended learning time, foreign language instruction and career and technical education offerings - that will be explored in this series in the coming weeks. “We have been trying to talk to parents about whey they might ‘choice out’ and these new initiatives are a real response to that,” he said. “We need a diverse learning program with a variety of experiences both in and out of the classroom.” But new programs take funding, and the town hadn’t been supporting the schools as well as it could have in the past fi ve years. According to Provost, between 2008 and 2010, total school expenditures dropped in North Brookfi eld by 1.4 percent while neighboring districts increased their spending by between 4.5 and 8.2 percent. In 2011, North Brookfi eld Public Schools were funded at merely 3 percent above minimum required net school spending. The Title I funding helps, but will only get the district so far. However, Provost was happy to receive strong support from the community when he proposed, and received, a 6 percent budget increase last spring to implement the new programs. He attributes the support to a few factors. “I think it’s having a strategic plan, being able to provide how increased funding clearly connects to providing better opportunities for students,” he said. “We want to give parents a greater educational value for sending them to North Brookfi eld than anywhere else.” There was also an emphasis last winter and spring on holding continuing budget discussions, making the process transparent and available to people. Provost hopes to increase local support for public schools 30 percent over the next fi ve years.
PONDS I FROM PAGE 1 has been considered endangered by the Department of Environmental Protection since the early 2000s. “We are trying to bring attention to nutrients that negatively affect the lakes because they feed the lakes and algae blooms,” Levine said. “We have one of the only situations in state, where great ponds are directly downstream from a waste water treatment plant. The SW- WTP, through no fault of their own, is negatively infl uencing the downstream watershed. The data is there and it is factual.” In fact, North Pond has been closed for two weeks now due to a toxic algae bloom. In addition to troubles locally, water in that area fl ows from North Pond to South Pond, into the Quaboag River, into the Chicopee River and eventually to the Connecticut River, which eventually fl ows into Long Island Sound, which is experiencing its own issues resulting from excess nutrients. Levine said everyone should care about this issue, even if they don’t live on the affected waterways. “If you go anywhere in state or country, water resources are rare and being threatened,” he said. “This is a lake people use. There are hundreds of residents in three towns on both lakes. Hundreds of people come to use the lake for recreation - fi shing, swimming, kayaking, boating. It also greatly affects revenues coming into these towns. Many people who live in properties on the lakes, their property values are going down. You can’t sell a property on North Pond anymore. When property values go down, residential taxes go down. Also, people who use these lakes use the businesses in town: They eat, they shop in Sturbridge. It’s really more than just an interest for the people who live on the lake; it’s much more than that. These are recreational havens people use.” The problem The SWWTP, located at 69 West Main St., Spencer, is in the process of applying for its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. This permit sets the parameters for point source discharges and will establish treatment plant requirements for the next fi ve years. According to DEP, the NPDES module of the Compliance Information System (ICIS) tracks surface water permits issued under the Clean Water Act. Under NPDES, all facilities that discharge pollutants from any point source into waters of the United States are required to obtain a permit. The permit will likely contain limits on what can be discharged, impose monitoring and reporting requirements, and include other provisions to ensure that the discharge does not adversely affect water quality. Permits are issued jointly every fi ve years by the EPA and DEP. The current SWWTP expires Nov. 30. Where is it? “Do you know where this photo is?” ach week, a photograph of an object, landmark or Eother well-known local item (taken at close range) will run in the newspaper. Readers are invited to submit their answers to Tim Kane at telephone (413) 967-3505 or e-mail tkane@turley.com. All entries must include the respondent’s answer, his or her name, address and phone number. Remember, be as specific as possible! If it is a photo of a building, entries must include the name and location of the building. If it is a close-up of a sign, respondents must indicate where the sign is located and how it is used. Of course, if it is a photo of a random object, like an American flag, no additional information is necessary. The name of the person who provides the correct answer first will be featured in the newspaper. In order to qualify for the weekly “Where Is It?” contest, entries must be received by the end of the day on the Monday after publication. The winner’s name, along with the correct answer, will be published in the next edition. The QQLA is hoping to use this application process to achieve its goal of limiting the amount of pollutants the SWWTP puts into local waterways by working with SWWTP to make sure the permitting process goes as planned. The QQLA is alleging a critical issue with the plant has to do with its Infl ow and Infi ltration (I/I). “There are voids or holes or illegal connections into the sewer lines that lead to the treatment plant,” Taft said. “When you have a rain event and you get runoff or snow melt or high water situations, storm water enters into sewer pipe that mixes with sewage and on a heavy rain event it exceeds the capacity of the treatment plant. So only thing they can do is bypass treatment so it doesn’t fl ood their system. This is a major problem nationwide and EPA is aware that is a major problem and they try to deal with it. They need to do due diligence to correct the problem all over the place. It is a situation that needs to be taken care of. The health problems and issues and concerns when you have sanitary sewer overfl ows and they bypass and the sewage goes untreated or partially treated are a real issue.” Because the plant can’t handle the fl ow coming in, it must bypass some of the fl ow to wet beds, which essentially means the excess fl ow is going untreated. While that situation is undesirable, it gets worse, says the QQLA: The wet beds are located on an unlined, uncapped landfi ll. “This was an open dump from 1940 to 1971,” Taft said. “There weren’t a lot of regulations about what you could put in a dump back then. The EPA will tell you the lost water is going to ground water and it’s not. It’s not making it into the ground at that point because it’s oozing out and into the river. When they lose that amount of water, it means they are not testing it; it’s unaccounted for, it’s just gone. There are contaminates in there that need to be taken care of.” SWWTP monthly reports show that in some cases up to 76 percent of sewage coming into the plant is going untreated. The effect of this lost fl ow is what concerns the QQLA. They say this fl ow seeps into the groundwater and into the Seven Mile River Watershed, of which North and South Ponds are a part, and loads it with phosphorus, nitrogen and other pollutants. “The DEP says Spencer is only a small part of a problem, but they are only measuring what is in the pipe, not what doesn’t come through the pipe,” Levine said. Taft also alleges a second issue: That the plant is running at capacity. He said the plant is designed for 1.08 million gallons a day and that it is not supposed to exceed more than 80 percent of that on a regular basis. “They are approaching that level or exceeding it on a regular basis,” he said. “So they need to consider what needs to be done to upgrade that plant.” No one correctly answered last week’s mystery photo so we will leave it as such. A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, September 13, 2012 PAGE 11 TURLEY PUBLICATIONS PHOTO BY TIM KANE Resolving the issue So the QQLA got to work. They hired environmental law fi rm MacGregor and Associates to help them collect data and focus their efforts; worked with a sanitary consulting engineer to review and evaluate plant operations, held discussions with a NPDES permit writer, worked with DEP regarding plant site/ history, contacted other associations and met with affected towns to inform them of what is happening. They also hired ESS Group to conduct a SWWTP water quality and discharge monitoring study. ESS conducted discharge samplings at fi ve locations, assessing water quantity hourly throughout the study period and water quality via grab samples during seven dry weather events and one during a targeted storm event. According to the ESS Group report, visual inspection of the Sevenmile River clearly showed signs of groundwater seepage from many locations. They also found that there is a signifi cant discharge volume associated with one of the testing sites. As for water quality, they found that in some places phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen and some metals at some of the testing sites were higher than the allocated thresholds. In summary, ESS Group found that their study suffi ciently accounted for discrepancies in fl ows that are apparent between what is reported in the SWWTP discharge permit reporting and what is actually delivered to the Sevenmile River. Now that they have concrete fi ndings, the QQLA is looking to form a coalition in order to achieve its goals of bringing the SWWTP into compliance with current laws and regulations, ensuring DEP/EPA set more stringent discharge requirements, that the DEP/ EPA enforce such requirements, that the DEP/EPA demand accountability for lost water and the SWWTP eliminates lost water, ultimately reducing the impact on downstream waters. Their hope is that the coalition will provide a unifi ed presence in the permit process during the public comment process and during public hearings. The funding to pay for these initiatives so far has been raised through QQLA membership dues, charitable donations and $5,000 from the town of East Brookfi eld. The QQLA will likely be asking for funding from other affected towns as well in the coming months for further work. “These are issues that have existed for years on the reports,” Levine said. “Spencer is doing the best they can. But they’re taking their trash and dumping it into their yard and we have to fi x it. We want to raise money to help Spencer do this.” MassDEP’s response MassDEP representative Joseph Ferson said the SWWTP application is in and in on schedule to be reviewed. Ferson said there have been no noncompliance, no enforcement issues and no violations at the plant in the last fi ve years. He noted there were two slight exceedances of phosphorus limits. During the summer months the limit is .2 milligrams of phosphorus per liter: In July 2010, the fl ow tested at .21 milligrams per liter and in July 2012, the fl ow tested at .23 milligrams per liter. He said his offi ce has not yet seen the reports the QQLA have produced. “I haven’t seen the reports, but the appropriate time for that kind of thorough review is during comment period,” Ferson said. As for the nutrients the QQLA is alleging are fl owing into the watershed, Ferson said that information may be more relevant to the water quality assessments taken for the ponds than the NP- DES permit, which is something that is very specifi cally issued to the treatment plants. For more information from the QQLA, visit www.qqla.org or e-mail info@qqla.org. We’re looking for proud business owners in The Brookfields, Warren, West Warren and New Braintree to participate in the Established Edition of the CURRENT SEPTEMBER 27 Whether its been 100 years, 50 years or just 1 year, your business is a vital part of our community. Ads will run in order of the oldest to the youngest. Don’t miss out on this special issue. Ad deadline is September 20th Call Jacky Perrot at 413-967-3505 or Tim Mara 978-355-4000
Page 1 and 2: The ONLY local coverage in Brookfie
Page 3 and 4: YOUR LOCAL ✓ A weekly source to l
Page 5 and 6: North Brookfi eld Board of Selectme
Page 7 and 8: - obituaries - Lisardo “Peter”
Page 9: COLLETTE VACATIONS PRESENTATION Joi
Page 13 and 14: PLAYOFF | FROM PAGE 12 ketball team
Page 15 and 16: New Braintree Police Log • •
Page 17 and 18: Buzzin’ Town Town from A Turley P
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