Conservation commission recommends approval for warehouse wetland fill at 308 South River Road with added green-space

The Bedford Conservation Commission on May 27 recommended that Planning Board consideration move forward for a variance and wetland-fill permit allowing the placement of fill in an isolated wetland to build a 150,000-square-foot warehouse at 308 South River Road.

The commission's recommendation came after applicants and commissioners discussed site grading, stormwater controls, and a revised landscaping plan. The motion to recommend approval was made by Bill Carter, town council representative, and seconded by Deborah Evans, and the commission recorded the motion as carried.

Commissioners said why it matters: the warehouse would be built on a roughly 27-acre parcel and would affect one small, isolated wetland (identified in applicant materials as “Wetland No. 2”). Conservation staff materials and the applicant's ecological reports disagreed slightly on square footage; the application materials described the isolated wetland as about 4,158 square feet, while the motion as read at the meeting referenced 4,184 square feet. Commissioners asked that the project plan maximize vegetated buffer where the design comes closest to wetlands.

Applicant representatives described the proposal and mitigation: Keith Cohen, presenting materials “on the screen,” said the site layout includes a 150,000-square-foot speculative industrial building, loading docks, and phased parking. Cohen told the commission that the design incorporates pretreatment and a combination of an infiltration basin and a “gravel wetland” for treatment, and that “we're meeting all of the state AOT alteration of terrain and HDS requirements along with the Bedford stormwater guidelines.”

Commission questions focused on proximity to other wetlands, the grading limit at the wetland edge, and run-to-waste winter operations. Commissioners pressed on how close grading and the bottom of grading would come to the wetland; the applicant acknowledged that in several locations the limit of grading would be within five feet of the wetland edge but said that other locations were farther away. Commissioners also asked about future parking being “mothballed” and whether some of the banked parking could be converted to permanent green space to enlarge the setback. The applicant responded that the speculative nature of the building requires flexibility but agreed to consider pulling the gravel wetland and berm farther from the wetland and to remove a portion of the last row (about 10 spaces on each side) to add green space in the pinch point.

Commissioner Bill Carter offered the motion recommending approval with an explicit request that the applicant maximize green space where the site pinches near wetlands; Carter said the change would “move everything further away from the, the wetland areas on either side.” Deborah Evans seconded. After discussion, Commissioners voted in favor and the chair announced the motion carried.

What was not decided: The commission's recommendation will be forwarded to the Planning Board; planning review and any required state permitting remain to be completed. Commissioners did not set binding engineering conditions at this meeting beyond the recommendation language to increase the vegetated buffer in the pinch point and to consider reducing the indicated future parking in the bottom row to provide additional setback.

Next steps: The commission's notes and the recommendation will be included in the Planning Board packet when the applicant moves to that stage, and applicants said they will continue refining the landscaping and stormwater plans before planning review.