Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Dam Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DCR, conservation commission and neighbors discuss short-term dam repairs at Rice City Pond
Summary
Representatives from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation presented limited, access‑only repairs and vegetation removal at Rice City Pond Dam, while residents urged a faster long‑term remediation plan after citing past flooding, contamination concerns and a history of deferred maintenance.
The Uxbridge Conservation Commission received a presentation and public comment Monday on a planned short-term repair and vegetation‑management project at Rice City Pond Dam, located on East Hartford Avenue. Representatives from the Department of Conservation and Recreation described a limited scope of work that includes selective tree removal on the upstream and adjacent embankments and repointing/chinking of training walls accessed from the auxiliary spillway.
Park Corporation staff explained the work will focus on sections of the dam that can be reached from the auxiliary spillway during dry conditions, removing brush and stabilizing stonework without installing temporary water-control structures. The state said the repairs are intended as short-term stabilization while a broader, longer-term dam rehabilitation project is scoped and funded.
Multiple residents and an abutter urged the state to accelerate comprehensive repair planning and to take the site’s documented history seriously. An abutter noted the dam’s documented failures and near‑failures in 1955 and again in the 2000s and expressed concern that sediments behind the impoundment include legacy contaminants such as PCBs and petroleum-derived compounds. "This dam is set up for failure," the resident said, citing repeated inspection findings that the facility would not handle a probable maximum flood without larger-scale work.
Commissioners voted to continue the matter to the next regular meeting while DCR and its contractors pursue final details, and the state representative said DCR would proceed with a phase‑2 scoping request and coordinate property access and a longer-term remedy, including outreach to the abutting landowners for easement or purchase as needed.
