SWAMPSCOTT — The town may have to make changes to parts of its proposed rail trail plan after a number of issues were raised by National Grid.
Swampscott’s Conservation Commission held a public hearing in late August for the notice of intent submitted for construction of the rail trail segment running from Lexington Avenue to Humphrey Street, which is under the commission’s jurisdiction because it consists of wetlands. The segment falls under the wetlands protection act, which prohibits the removal, dredging, filling or altering of wetlands without a permit issued by the commission.
At the meeting, representatives from the Massachusetts electric company raised several deficiencies in the construction proposal presented by LEC Environmental Consultants, Inc., the design consultant hired by the town.
“There are significant issues we have seen with the plan that is being implemented now with respect to National Grid’s infrastructure,” said National Grid representative Nina Pickering-Cook at the meeting. “What they are presenting here is premature and not ready for an order of conditions.”
The first concern raised by Pickering-Cook was that the notice of intent is premature, since the town acknowledges it is still determining the final design of the complete rail trail. The electric company also said that in the proposal, there would not be enough accessibility for National Grid utility trucks or emergency vehicles.
The town’s design proposal that states a plan to relocate a stream in the Lexington Avenue/Humphrey Street segment and leave the electrical poles in their current locations was also a matter of concern.
Pickering-Cook said there are three poles currently located within the proposed relocated stream area, and that is not feasible in the eyes of National Grid. That would move the stream to directly underneath electrical poles with live transmission wires, she said.
“We feel as though National Grid and our infrastructure are being treated essentially as a footnote in this plan or an afterthought with the application,” Pickering-Cook said.
“The town admits that certain National Grid poles and wires will be relocated and that is significant because where one pole moves has a ripple effect on where other poles are,” she added. “Essentially, the pole and transmission wires need to be straight, you can’t move one conveniently out of the way to go around a certain property area. It has impact along the whole way. As far as National Grid is concerned, it’s not optimal to have a recreational path underneath live transmission wires, and that is where that redesign is actively happening.”
Because of the sensitivity of the wetlands, the Conservation Commission hired Linden Engineering Partners LLC, their own third-party consultant, to do a peer review of the proposal. The consultant representative was introduced at the August commission meeting, before the National Grid comments were made.
Linden Engineering Partners LLC is an environmental engineering firm specializing in wetlands permitting and peer review services. It will review filing, plans, and information for conforming with the requirements of wetlands protection act and the regulations.
“The commission decided to spend some of our money to hire a consultant just because of all the interest in this project, to make sure we had an objective and very professional review of it,” Conservation Commission Vice-chair Tonia Bandrowicz told the Item on Friday. “That is something we normally don’t do. We felt in this case it was appropriate.”
The commission’s consultant looked at the proposal for the notice of intent and has since raised issues relative to what National Grid said in August, said Bandrowicz. Now, she said, the town needs to respond to those concerns and the consultant needs to evaluate the response before the commission can issue a permit.
“In light of all the comments made, the town may have to make changes or provide more information on this design proposal,” said Bandrowicz. “There is a list of things they need to address … “(Thursday) at our meeting, we explained that our consultant had comments and needed to get a response from town. Since we don’t know exactly when all this will be sorted out, we will be waiting on a vote.”
