Lowell approves Negative 3 determination for Hadley Park LED athletic lights

The Lowell Conservation Commission voted to grant a Negative 3 determination for a Request for Determination of Applicability filed by the City of Lowell to install six LED athletic light poles and associated electrical conduit at Hadley Park, 1650 Middlesex Street.

The determination matters because the work is inside the 100-year floodplain and within 100 feet of a bordering vegetated wetland; the commission found the proposed installation would have limited ground disturbance and would remain within the park’s existing developed footprint.

Colleen Fowler with Gale Associates told the commission, “we're looking to install 6 new athletic LED light poles at Hadley Park.” She said the baseball field currently has no lighting and that the work consists primarily of trenching for conduit and installing the poles and fixtures. Fowler said the project would disturb “less than 15,000 square feet of land” and that “all the work is within the existing field footprint,” adding there would be no changes to grading or drainage.

Commissioners and staff discussed the location of an underground channel known locally as Black Brook. DPD staff said the brook is contained in a culvert underneath a corner of the park and that the city has plans to study and possibly reconstruct that culvert several years in the future. DPD staff said they would continue coordinating with Erin Fox in the wastewater department before the project goes to bid: “we will continue that communication with Erin Fox and the wastewater department.”

Fowler said she did not have an exact measurement but estimated the closest pole would be “maybe 20 to 30 feet away” from the culvert and that the other poles would be farther. She said geotechnical borings were completed without issue and the poles are sited to avoid the underground stream.

The commission asked about comments from other city departments; Fowler said Jess Wilson with the city had confirmed the RDA was the only permitting step identified so far but that the project team would double-check other required approvals.

A commissioner moved to grant a Negative 3 determination and another commissioner seconded. The vote was recorded as unanimous; the motion passed and the commission issued the Negative 3 determination for the RDA.

Less technical details: the project team said they will use sedimentation barriers at the limit of work and that modern LED fixtures reduce the typical neighbor and wetland concerns sometimes associated with athletic lighting. The commission’s action does not authorize changes to culvert reconstruction work, which DPD staff said remains a separate, longer-term project.