Uxbridge picks Pout Pond for NPDES demonstration BMP; Natural Heritage finds no take

The Town of Uxbridge Department of Public Works told the Conservation Commission it has selected the Pout Pond parking area for a demonstration structural best-management practice required by the town’s NPDES Phase II obligations. Jean Christie, principal engineer representing the Uxbridge DPW, presented a plan that repaves the existing parking lot and installs two bioretention basins designed to remove phosphorus and meet the demonstration requirement.

Christie said the site-selection process reviewed town-owned parcels and prioritized locations that could host an educational demonstration accessible to the public. The proposed plan locates 1 bioretention area near the pond and 1 nearer West River Road, replaces or upgrades the parking, and abandons a septic tank at the bathhouse in favor of a sewer connection along the access drive.

Christie told commissioners the project received a Natural Heritage file number and that the Massachusetts Natural Heritage review determined the work would "not adversely affect the actual resource area habitat of state listed species" and, under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, "would not result in a take of any state listed species." "No adverse effect, no no take is kind of the best possible review we could hope for from that agency," Christie said.

Commission discussion focused on details required by stormwater standards in locations with a shallow groundwater table and on construction sequencing for the proposed sewer line. Commissioners asked for details about pipe bedding, trench dewatering and temporary flow controls, the method for handling initial pavement runoff (the applicant said forebay pretreatment will be used), and siting and maintenance of snow-storage areas. The commission also requested that construction-level erosion- and sediment-control plans (SWIP) be provided to the commission concurrently with public works filings.

A member of the public and an abutter raised concerns during public comment about an active beaver lodge upstream that has altered water levels and created a new connection between the pond and an interior wetland area that supports state-priority habitat. The commenter also raised long-term shading loss from hemlocks affected by woolly adelgid and concerns about pavement runoff (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) into the sensitive wetland.

The commission voted to continue the public hearing to May 19 to allow staff and members time to review Natural Heritage correspondence, the DPW’s LEC memo about the 25-foot buffer and the applicant’s SWIP, and to obtain more detailed construction-level drawings for the sewer and for the bioretention basins. Commissioners asked that signage and education elements for the demonstration be drafted for the next meeting and asked DPW to include proposed maintenance and inspection schedules.