ORDER-2015-117 : Acceptance of a 604(b) Water Management Quality Planning Grant in the amount of 50,000.00 into Fund #4018 from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection as set forth herein.

Transcript (~13 min @ 1:19:22)

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▶ 1:18:50 Gail Infurna: motion to open for public participation second by alderman mcatear margolis all those in favor aye aye all those opposed is there anybody in the public i see none motion closed public section alderman mcatear margolis makes a motion to close public participation seconded by alderman Medeiros all those in favor of closing public participation say aye all those opposed that's it public participation is closed we I see mr. Shana and mr. Street our city engineer and Department of a director of public works make the motion to suspend the rules seconded by alderman Medeiros thank you for waiting

▶ 1:19:35 Speaker 9: for us this evening mr. Shinner and mr. Street no problem thank you the the orders before the board for acceptance of a $50,000 grant from the Department of Environmental Protection the city of Melrose Public Works Department through our engineering office has applied and for the past three years for this grant it's a grant that is run through a 604 B program and basically that's a section of the DEP that focuses on water quality management and planning for the past

▶ 1:20:09 Speaker 9: decade we've been very aggressive as a community at looking at stormwater hydraulics basically getting more water to flow out of certain areas what this grant does is focuses on stormwater quality El Pond is fed by five watersheds that's five distinct drainage systems that feed into the pond and then there's one and now a second mechanical outlet that feeds out in the upcoming years the DEP the EPA is focusing on stormwater quality about their 12 13 years ago for those of you who were here we started a program NP des that focused on stormwater quality and control of stormwater on construction sites and zero net runoff and the quality of that water this is the next step of that and it's focused on communities making communities aware and making communities responsible for not just not just control of their stormwater but for the quality of their stormwater especially their open bodies and streams this grant is for $50,000 it focuses on one of those five watersheds and it's the start it's a start it's a very small start to something that in the next few years this community is going to be faced with through an unfunded mandate but i'll let our city engineer speak in more detail about what the project's going to entail essentially we will pay our direct expenses the dep will reimburse it as long as we proceed by their guidelines and andrew will speak a little more about what the project will involve so so the the grant application was formed

▶ 1:21:58 Speaker 6: uh in working with atp environmental who the city's done a number of drainage type projects with over the years and it's also a company that's done a number of these projects with this specific grant program we also worked with the conservation commission a collaborative effort to put this together the the the past history of this El Pond watershed includes things like the the new culvert that that helps with the the control of the water out of the pond but there was also improvements throughout the city that even the high school project improved range in this in the same watershed there was a number of illegal sewer connections to the drain system that ultimately made its way to El Pond that have been removed and all these all these measures led up to a point where a study like this and a program like this makes a lot of sense and kind of takes the next step and now addressing even further some sources of a bacteria and other type things that make their way into the pond the the program would begin by a study of of John mentioned a one specific watershed area within the larger El Pond but the project will begin by looking at the whole watershed area studying how the drain system works and then slowly target specific areas for some sampling that could help identify possible locations for bacteria and other things and then using those results we would develop some conceptual plans that would help try to treat this this storm water before it makes its way in these measures would be this only designs them it doesn't fund the construction of them but these measures would be small scale things like a rain garden in a small park or some sort of tree box filled something like that small steps that the city could take in the future that would would help treat the water specifically the water that hits the ground during the first they called the first flush of a storm that's when the water the rain hits and picks up the most amount of contaminants it's when that first flush hits the pavement picks up all the dirt all the oils all that and makes its way into the drainage system so those those measures would be designed they there's some areas would be targeted some specific spots would be strategically placed and then it would allow us in the future possibly to seek funding through other sources other types of stormwater programs that could then help treat water as it makes its way into the pond and that also as John said this this ties very much into the overall EPA's program that will be coming out in the next few years which will have specific requirements for sampling which we will already have a jump on and have a system in place and have have means to do so and know where to target these types of samples as we as we look forward to a larger citywide drainage type project so I that's that's sums it up for me I'm

▶ 1:24:52 Speaker 3: happy to answer any questions as well president are there any other costs to us associated with this project other than the the grant is essentially a reimbursement for expenditures up to 50,000 it is and with the grant came a

▶ 1:25:02 Speaker 6: very detailed scope of how that money would be used there's there's other steps to it ATP environmental would coordinate and do the sampling and things like that but there's there's some some measures for soil testing there'd be some borings Doug the conceptual plans when you be generated there's some quality plans that go into this for the sampling itself all of that

▶ 1:25:25 Speaker 3: is included in that $50,000 so it can we do everything that's within the scope of our responsibility under the grant with the 50,000 we can yes yes that's all

▶ 1:25:33 Gail Infurna: thank you thank you alderman medeiros um mcintyre margolis thank you madame chairman um mr shannon

▶ 1:25:38 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: you said this is um the third time that we've applied for this grant i believe it was three

▶ 1:25:49 Speaker 9: right i think yes you've gotten it before no just no no we've been they've passed the last few years

▶ 1:25:56 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: but this year they selected us okay good and um mr street will it cover things like um uh runoff like from neighborhoods and that type of stuff that could come down into the pond

▶ 1:26:07 Speaker 6: so it would it would this the inspections and the sample the sampling would be at outfalls and within drainage structures and that runoff the contaminants and the bacteria will be specifically looking for generally comes from roadway and so this is the drainage system that's in the roadways I mean obviously water runs where it runs and comes through yards and things like that but the focus would be in the streets and this in the systems we have and then it outfalls that make its way to the pond I've heard in other communities I

▶ 1:26:33 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: think similar studies being done and it's also been able to identify like chemicals that are used in sure thing is that part of the scope of this at all in terms of testing any of the contaminants we the testing would be for a wide

▶ 1:26:49 Speaker 6: variety of things and likely pick things like that up there's there's discussions at the EPA that start to regulate those types of things so this may give us a better sense of where those come from and if it is a problem in the city that

▶ 1:27:06 Speaker 9: may need some further further and this is a small sample of where the industry is going I mean there was a day where sewer and drain used to drain in the same system and and then these mandates came out there's no so it has to have its own system stormwater has to have its own system well now that they're separate what they're saying is if your stormwater goes into an open body which as does and several areas of Melrose you have to make sure now you have to watch and monitor the quality of it and this program is just a very small sample in a very small section of town of something that we may have to do it on a

▶ 1:27:43 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: larger scale and the upcoming is and ultimately I know one of your reaching

▶ 1:27:52 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: goals was that if we get the funding or we provide the funding to do this down the road eventually we may be able to return Elkhorn to see it returned to a more pristine state state for recreational use that's the goal of

▶ 1:28:03 Speaker 9: these programs that's the overall goal thank you very much and I'm happy that

▶ 1:28:08 Speaker 7: you were able to be great be awarded this grant this year good work on that thank you any other committee members have Alderman Medeiros and then we'll

▶ 1:28:22 Monica C. Medeiros: follow with Alderman Mortimer thank you I get I too would like to congratulate you on your work and getting this this grant after several tries I just wanted to further say that for my time with the Mass Municipal Association and talking with many municipal officials from other communities that have you know this is this is very much been on the radar and is coming down the pike to to all of us that will have to comply with more and more regulations and with other communities where they may have their drinking water it's even it's even more

▶ 1:28:58 Monica C. Medeiros: of a challenge so I'm glad that we're able to look at El Pond especially where you know we are so close to a major roadway with the Lindfels Parkway and look forward to hearing the results and hopefully hopefully it won't be as yeah

▶ 1:29:17 Speaker 9: I would just the watershed that we've selected is the one across from yeah so right yes can you just define the watershed so that they all know it's the open body that it's the watershed that leads to that open body across from a Melrose Street at the Linfels Parkway right and there's that brook right there so it's upstream from that brook but I think he has better definition of exactly that neighborhood we'll be looking at so the overall watershed is

▶ 1:29:44 Speaker 6: basically everything the total watershed is basically everything north of El pond I mean that's very wide-reaching we'll be looking more specifically just to the north of that including the kind of high school area and then kind of to the east and northeast of that in that region there that's where the targets of

▶ 1:30:01 Monica C. Medeiros: this study will be east and northeast sorry my understanding east and northeast would be more say Linden Street just to use a geographical area

▶ 1:30:15 Speaker 9: would start like Dunkin Donuts work its way through through the back to the towers Franklin field Albion Street to Franklin and then make its way out to Green Street that that area is where the program is going to focus first that'll

▶ 1:30:31 Monica C. Medeiros: be terrific and and I know we have done quite a lot to try to try to a beat some of the many of the issues is particular in that area and also I wanted to You mentioned that sewer pipe that was put in underneath the football field and all the work over at the towers and so on. Thanks.

▶ 1:30:54 Speaker 7: Alderman Mortimer.

▶ 1:30:55 Peter D. Mortimer: Thank you very much. In regards to the comment you made about in the future, the law may require that storm water drains, storm water open, storm water culverts and ponds, Brooks that we have in this community may all have to be of a certain condition to satisfy government regulations. I was surprised to see the meeting, what was the meeting that we had at the Milano Center just recently? There was a map that was given out, it was a big map, and for my years in the Conservation Commission and many of the projects we've done here over the years, well aware of the that our watershed we drain to the Malden River to the culvert at Oak Grove go down Myrtle Street that way out of El Pond and then we go to the Saugus River from a lot of the sections in Ward four and Ward six in East and Melrose southeastern northeast but there was a little section of Melrose that said the watershed went to the Chelsea Creek have you seen that this would be

▶ 1:32:00 Peter D. Mortimer: down in this the southeastern corner of the i imagine it would um did does that ring any bells if not uh we have a meeting at 10 o'clock tomorrow i'll bring this map see it was it was a big size map the piece of paper was the size of our desktop here right but uh it said one of the watersheds that is is also the uh chelsea creek well if and when the epa hands out the new regulations we

▶ 1:32:17 Speaker 6: would have to study all all of the city and look at all the outfalls we have and yeah yeah and you

▶ 1:32:26 Peter D. Mortimer: And you know I'm well aware of one particular watershed. Certainly. And hopefully that's something that's going to be looked at and well regulated as well. That's all I have. Thank you very much.

▶ 1:32:38 Speaker 7: Are there any further questions?

▶ 1:32:41 Gail Infurna: Motion to recommend. Alderman McAteer-Margolis makes a motion to recommend. Second. Second by Alderman Lemmerman. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? This order will be recommended to the full board. you thank you thank you very much once again thank you for waiting around tonight we have two other quick reappointment order number two zero one five dash one two five it's the reappointment of John Viteri of 22 Haywood Ave to the traffic commission for a five-year term said term to expire on the last day of June 2019 just for the committee's information the city