HomeMy Public PortalAboutWater Quality Review Committee -- 2021-01-29 Minutes �RU ►illS �/i//i�/// TOWN OF BREWSTER
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2198 Main Street
Brewster, Massachusetts 02631 - 1898
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FAX ( 508 ) 896-8089
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Date Approved : 3/26/21
Vote : 5 -0 -0
TOWN OF BREWSTER
MINUTES of WATER QUALITY REVIEW COMMITTEE
Friday , January 29 , 2021 at 9 : 00 AM
VIRTUAL MEETING
Attending Committee Members :
Chair Cyndi Baron convened the Water Quality Review Committee meeting at 9 : 00 AM with
members Vice Chair Amy von Hone , Victor Staley , Chris Miller , Ned Chatelain , and Roberta
Barret
Members Absent : Penny Holeman
Guests : Dave . Bennett , Bennett Environmental
Item 1 : Discussion and Vote on Site Assignment Closinand Reduction of Monitoring
Dave Bennett wanted to give the Committee an update . Next Grid had received some approvals
with contingencies for the re- use of the former stump dump for the solar array and has gone
through local permitting for some issues . The next step will be to remove the remaining amount of
wood waste from the property , do soil testing , and submitting a land fill closure report . The client ,
the prospective buyer , has agreed and went back in and felt we needed to do some groundwater
monitoring since they hadn ' t been doing testing for some time . Dave Bennett felt we needed 4
quarters of analytical data , and there is no substantive changes to water quality or risks found in
the water . He is now requesting a decrease in frequency in monitoring as each round is quite
costly , approx . $ 5 , 000 each . We would like to do this annually not quarterly . Next Grid is still
waiting for Com Electric approval , and with COVID , responsiveness is slow . We thought the
permitting would be the impasse ; not this . We think we should see approval by end of
February/beginning of March . Antinorelli and Merchant are working to take the wood waste off site .
We will be going in front of the Board of Health ( BOH ) for the change/removal of the site
assignment .
Chris said thanks for the report . Once the site assignment is gone , they no longer consider this a
landfill , and as long as we get a report on the removal of the wood waste and the location of any of
the remaining wells , we should just treat it as any other mostly vacant commercial property in this
area . The landfill , part of it will be behind us . Dave Bennett said we are going to want to license
through this committee regarding the solar array . Chris asked if they are moving forward with
removal of the site assignment through the BOH . Dave said no , not until we remove the wood waste
and file the permits as we can 't remove the site assignment when there is a noncompliance .
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Victor said this Committee already made its recommendations to the Planning Board for the
special permit site plan review for the solar array . The Planning Board is the first body to issue the
certificate of water quality compliance , then they will come back to WQRC for renewal review
every three years after that .
Amy asked the approximate time to remove material on site . Dave Bennett said this has been well
discussed , as there is an outstanding ACO on previous owners , there has been little enforcement .
Bottom line , we had originally said we will get this done in a year , but COVID hit and everything
slowed down . This was all supposed to take place in 34 weeks . He is asking to see if the WQRC
would accept annual monitoring in May when all wood waste is out and continue annually based
on what you want to do under the registration . The wells will be damaged under construction , we
will do what we can to protect them , but we are hoping to keep them available for any such
purpose .
Roberta said it looks like Well MW1 R showed trending up on iron and arsenic . Is ' it that particular
Well or is it subservice ? Dave said there was no arsenic , one test showed a false positive . We
have pits of arsenic attributed to naturally occurring conditions and provisions to do retesting to
determine nature . Roberta thought we might want to note during construction any particular wells
for protection — to be careful around wells that might need more attention .
Ned asked if that was a list in our recommendations to the Planning Board . Victor said he could
pull up the Special Permit to see if there was mention of it . Cyndi asked how many quarterly
rounds have been conducted since they started sampling . Dave Bennett answered 4 . He showed
the map of the Wells and the Committee discussed . Chris asked when the most recent round of
testing happened . Dave Bennett said December . Chris wants to see a sampling after all. is said
and done and usually allows ,a year to do that .
Victor said he looked in the files and doesn ' t have the site plan review from the Planning Board .
Dave Bennett has the recorded approvals from the Planning Board and the ZBA . Victor still has a
Cease and Desist Order on the property . If BOH releases the site assignment , then Victor should
release his Cease and Desist . Chris wondered if we have an order from DEP , can we stop the
Cease and Desist based on that? have Bennett said we would need the release of the Cease and
Desist in order to remove the wood waste . Victor said he will amend the Cease and Desist Order to
recognize the removal of the stump dump , but not allow other processing to occur . Cyndi said it
appears it doesn ' t address any kind of ongoing ground water monitoring with the current
conditions . Ned asked about possibly putting a pin in this until some of the other regulatory
dominos to fall and then we can `circle back when they come before the committee for the next
permitting round . Chris said we ' ve identified that the wells exist and will remain , we don ' t need
monitoring until the '. wood waste is gone and the site assignment is removed . He thinks we should
look at annual monitoring for a while and then after a time come back and request less monitoring .
Dave Bennett said the removal of the site assignment has to go in front of the BOH and could have
conditions to come back to the WQRC . He said the cost of the recovery is almost $ 250K . For the
landfill closure , we need to present this data . Next Grid needs this permit approval for this use in
order to get the connection through the utility , so this happened a little backwards . He is looking to
a
do the sampling afterwrds .
MOTION to ask the Board of Health , as part of removal of site assignment, to require
annual monitoring of the wells that will be retained under the special permit, and that the
WQRC will review the need for continued monitoring at renewal of their permit.
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MOVED by Chris Miller. Seconded by Ned Chatelain .
Roll Call Vote : Ned Chatelain — yes , Roberta Barrett — yes , Victor Staley — yes , Chris
Miller — yes , Vice Chair Amy von Hone — yes , Chair Cyndi Baron — yes
VOTE : 6 -yes 0 - no
Item 2 : Discussion and Possible Vote on Committee Signatures for Certificates
Amy brought up that with Town Hall closure , the certificate signature process has become an issue .
The Bylaw doesn ' t say we specifically need signatures on the Certificates . Maybe we could type the
names on the Certificates , or have no signatures at all . Chris said we could have a minimum of
signatures as he , Victor , and Amy are in Town Hall , or attach a copy of the Minutes to the
Certificates to show the vote . Ned suggested we could possibly use e-signature . Roberta suggested
we attach the Minutes in lieu of signatures until Town Hall opens again .
MOTION to adopt a policy during the COVID Emergency to attach the Minutes in lieu of
signatures .
MOVED by Ned Chatelain . Seconded by Roberta Barrett.
Roll Call Vote : Ned Chatelain — yes , Roberta Barrett — yes , Victor Staley yes , Chris Miller -
yes , Vice Chair Amy von Hone — yes , Chair Cyndi Baron - yes
VOTE : 6 -yes 0 - no
Item `3 : Minutes from December 18 , 2020
MOTION to approve the December 18 , 2020 meeting Minutes .
MOVED by Roberta Barrett. Seconded by Ned Chatelain .
Roll Call Vote : Roberta Barrett - yes , Ned Chatelain — yes , Victor Staley — yes , Chris Miller —
yes , Vice Chair Amy von Hone = yes , Chair Cyndi Baron as abstain
VOTE : 5 -yes 0 -no 1 -abstain
Cyndi abstained because she was not at the meeting
Item 4 : Informational ' Items
• Cape � Sand & Recycling Update 12 20
• CS & R GW Monitoring and TPI Report ( Nov 2020)
Dave Bennett said the report is self-explanatory . We will continue to monitor . If there are any further
questions , please let him know .
Item 5 : Matters Not Reasonably Anticipated by the Chair
Amy mentioned Beth is in process of going through renewal letters for this year . As soon as we
have contact back , we will get those renewals scheduled .
Next Meeting : TBD — right now , it is on the schedule for Friday , February 26th at 9AM .
MOTION to adjourn the meeting at 9 : 54 AM .
MOVED by Victor Staley . Seconded by Roberta Barrett
Roll Call Vote : Roberta Barrett — yes , Ned Chatelain — yes , Victor. Staley — yes , Chris Miller —
yes , Vice Chair Amy von Hone — yes , Chair Cyndi Baron as yes
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VOTE : 6 -yes 0 - no
Respectfully Submitted by : Beth Devine
Action items .
Re-issue renewal letters to those past due that have not yet responded - Beth made 2"d contact (third
overall ) , will follow-up again if we haven ' t heard back.
Send letters to this year' s renewals due — Beth
Packet of additional documents available on the website for review
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