LOWELL — Christian Hill residents voiced alarm at a proposed development of 17 single-family homes being built around the perimeter of what they said was protected wetlands at the so-called Apple Orchard property in Lowell’s Centralville neighborhood.
Berkeley Development LLC, a Pelham, NH firm, filed a request for determination of applicability from the Conservation Commission during its Wednesday night meeting as to whether the site is subject to the Wetlands Protection Act.
According to the developer’s environmental and land planning expert, “no wetlands present – WPA not applicable,” for the almost seven-acre parcel.
“I looked at the site and did a full delineation in the fall,” Luke Hurley, a senior ecologist, wetland and soil scientist told the commission during its public hearing at City Hall. “I walked back and forth and took vegetation notes and soil samples from auger holes per the DEP manual and also the Army Corp standards. I didn’t find any wetlands out there.”
Commissioner Louisa Varnum took exception to that analysis, and questioned whether the developer had already commenced work on the site, prior to Hurley’s delineation study and board approval. She specifically mentioned that it looked as if fill, crushed rock and other materials had been brought in to grade the site.
“I was very disappointed that someone who had as large a project as planned here would go in there and start work before coming to all the boards and running the plans by us,” Varnum said. “Sometime in the last season, probably summer or fall, there was equipment brought out there and there’s evidence that there was grading done.”
Ian Ainslee, an engineer with the Meisner Brem Corporation, a civil engineering firm, said the observed sitework involved an approval not required of the subdivision process under the subdivision control law. The developer split the existing parcel into two lots – one comprising two acres; the other 4.4 acres.
“All we did was change the property boundaries,” Ainslee said. “I believe that as part of that ANR process, that the plan was reviewed by the engineering department because they have to sign off on it as well.”
But Robert Gignac, whose house abuts the property, said the heavy equipment onsite looked as if it was brought in to fill in the wetlands area.
“Talking to my neighbors, they also saw all this going on,” Gignac said. “In our opinion and observation, over the last year or so, it almost appears as though the developer was filling in wetlands to avoid this whole conversation. It’s been a wetland for my entire life and miraculously it looks like it has disappeared according to the engineer’s report.”
The steep, undeveloped and forested land bounded by Llewellyn, Reservoir and Christian Streets has been vacant for decades. A reporter walked the outside of the property on Friday and observed a vacant garage-type building, several discarded pieces of equipment, containers and implements and a lot of trash. Freshly seeded grass was growing on the inner swale. The land slopes from Llewellyn Street east toward Christian Street.
According to the developer’s wetland survey, the wooded land contains vegetation, sugar maple, red and white oak, American elm, Japanese honeysuckle and crabapple trees, the latter perhaps giving rise to the colloquial “Apple Orchard” name.
A walker, who said she had lived in the neighborhood for 21 years, said she often saw deer on the property and other wildlife.
“We are not happy,” she said. She declined to give her name, but said the neighborhood is concerned about the large-scale development and its impact on the environment, as well as concerns about flooding.
Those concerns were shared by Cathy O’Malley, who told the board that she and her husband built their home on Llewellyn Street 39 years ago.
“We built our house, and the first spring, the whole basement was flooded,” O’Malley said. “We spoke with Frank Grady, the former engineer for the city, and the whole engineering department. They showed us the plans of Christian Hill. Christian Hill is filled with wetlands. There are springs underneath all of Christian Hill.”
The city’s geographic information system map only shows a thin blue line indicating a small wetland area off of Christian Street that the developer said is not impacted by its building plans.
“Per the City GIS Map the potential wetland on site does not connect to any other jurisdictional wetland area,” states the developer’s application on file with the Department of Planning and Development. “The BSC Group determined there was a drainage area which drains through the site. Based on their review of the soils and vegetation the criteria for a wetland were not met.”
But based on resident testimony, as well as first-hand observations by the committee of significant water drainage from the area, the board approved a motion to engage a third-party wetlands scientist/engineer to look at the site and evaluate the possibility that wetlands are present or that there are areas of flooding. The motion further requested the third-party report back to the commission before it rules on anything else regarding the developer’s application.
The board set a continuance hearing on the application for June 12.
“I’ve seen the land change since the new developer took over,” Gignac said. “It’s still wet. We’re looking for as much information as possible and to ensure that we’re not flooding our neighbors down the hill.”
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