By Bridgette L. Rallo
City Meadow (commonly known as the Town Meadow) will probably remain a wetland, according to civil engineer and soil scientist Ralph Stanton, unless the town is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement stringent environmental safeguards. Even if that were possible in these tough economic times, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) could refuse to allow any changes to the last undeveloped piece of the town center, Stanton wrote on December 7, 2009, in an official letter to Norfolk town officials.
First Selectmen Sue Dyer contacted Stanton and asked him to look into the possibility of finding alternative uses for the site late last year. The concept of a different use for City Meadow is one that has been around for at least a decade and is mentioned in the Town Conservation Plan. Recommendations for uses include a permanent ice skating rink, a town orchard and a parking lot to alleviate the shortage of parking spaces caused by the popularity of weekend music shows at Infinity Hall.
In his letter, Stanton informed Dyer that the town would have to apply through the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), as well as the ACE, for project permits. Both agencies have jurisdiction, even though City Meadow is a man-made basin. The basin has stabilized over the years, Stanton said, and now is considered a natural wetland.
At Shepard Road for example, all of the water coming down the hill from John Curtiss Road would take out part of the road if not re-directed. Stanton explained to Dyer that if, during the April (2009) storm, the meadow hadn’t been functioning as it should, we would have had damage like we did on some of our other roads.
Before state and federal agencies allow any modifications to a wetland, the interested party must produce documentation proving that there will be no negative impact to the local environment from the project. City Meadow is a drainage field for storm water and snow melt runoff coming from John Curtiss Road and, as such, is an important factor in preventing chemical pollutants from reaching West Norfolk Brook. It also covers approximately two acres. Any proposed plan that disturbs more than 5,000 square feet of soil, or one-tenth of an acre, in a wetland falls under the purview of the ACE. The Corps would, in all likelihood, require a drainage basin study, paid for by the town, before it would consider changes to the site. The study would have to document the various paths taken by all of the water that flows from the site into West Norfolk Brook.
“If money were no object and we completed all of the studies, it’s still no guarantee that we would be able to move ahead,” Dyer said.
It’s a good possibility, she continued, that both the DEP and the Army Corps would require the installation of a “huge containment system” beneath the meadow to store and then disperse runoff water in a naturally compatible manner before agreeing to any modification of City Meadow. This has become the environmentally acceptable way to deal with water dispersal ever since federal and state agencies decided to prohibit the creation of runoff channels, i.e., man-made stream beds or culverts.
In summing up the probable cost to the town, Stanton wrote that the price tag for all of the studies, permit fees and site remediation requirements could exceed a half million dollars.
“That is just not feasible,” Dyer said. “Not at all.”