The Northampton Conservation Commission on March 27 issued a negative determination for Eversource's Cedar Street gas-main improvement project, finding the proposed work is within the road right-of-way and therefore does not require a notice of intent under the Wetlands Protection Act or the city's wetlands ordinance.

Elizabeth Martin of SWCA Environmental Consultants and Anna Huberty of AppSource presented the project maps and described about 1,603 linear feet of new installation on South Street and 3,851 linear feet of replacement on other local streets, with approximately 225 linear feet of temporary impact within the 200-foot riverfront area and about 26 linear feet of temporary impact to the 40-foot buffer zone to bordering land subject to flooding on Cedar Street. The work will be conducted by conventional open-trench methods within existing roadways.

Best management practices — inlet protection, straw wattles or mulch socks, and weekly inspections by an environmental compliance inspector — were described in the application. Commissioners discussed reseeding, the merits of straw versus mulch for erosion control and oxygen demand, and the schedule; the applicant estimated the project would take about 150 days. A motion to issue a negative determination checking the exemption for underground utilities (installation within existing roadways) carried by roll call; all commissioners present voted in favor.

The commission did not add a specific requirement to mandate mulch over straw, though a commissioner offered it as a consideration. The negative determination includes standard erosion-control conditions, weekly inspections by the environmental compliance inspector, and requirements to restore paved surfaces and shoulder reseeding as needed.