Milford agency continues public hearing on 34 Buick Avenue after new stormwater, construction concerns

The Milford Inland Wetlands Agency on Oct. 1 continued a public hearing on a proposed redevelopment at 34 Buick Avenue, asking the applicant and municipal reviewers for additional technical responses about permeable paver design, construction-phase soil protection and nearby drainage before the agency will deliberate further.

The agency left the public hearing open until its Oct. 15 meeting and added a requirement that the applicant and city reviewers analyze (1) potential impacts to the wetland that receives flow tributary to Stubby Plain Brook from changes in overland flow and (2) drainage coming from Sunnyside Court to the site and whether additional treatment is required.

The applicant’s design team described revisions submitted in late September and in the days before the meeting. Engineer Robert Weiwei said the plan now raises the permeable-paver reservoir to provide a two-foot vertical separation from modeled groundwater and includes construction sequencing, concrete curbing with slotted inlets on Buick Avenue and a new biofiltration area adjacent to existing culverts. “In my opinion, this results in an ultra conservative design,” Weiwei told the agency when explaining the decision to base separation on modeled depths rather than the groundwater elevations observed during soil testing.

The project team also presented details intended to reduce surface runoff that reaches Buick Avenue:…