Concord NRC reviews Millbrook Tarry enforcement update and three dredging options
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Summary
Commission staff reported progress on Millbrook Tarry enforcement — invasive removal plan submitted and plantings begun — and described three preliminary dredging options (35,000; 50,000; 100,000 cubic yards) with a request for information issued to collect cost estimates.
Chair Sarah Greenwood opened the Town of Concord Natural Resources Commission meeting and the director’s update covered enforcement and remediation work at Millbrook Tarry.
An NRC staff member reported that Jim White prepared an invasives-removal plan for Millbrook Tarry that was submitted at the end of last month and that removal work and landscape plantings have begun; a written report will be provided in December. Staff said filter mitts have been installed at the site.
Staff also summarized three dredging options presented by the Warner Respond Task Force’s dredging subgroup: restoring the original volume to roughly 35,000 cubic yards to a 12-foot depth, or larger-scale dredges to about 50,000 or 100,000 cubic yards. The commission said it issued a request for information to obtain cost estimates for those three proposals and that estimates will be preliminary because detailed plans are not yet available.
The report noted a possible reuse pathway for excavated subsoil: a project manager with Demaximus indicated a desire for about 85,000 cubic yards of fill and said that subsoil from nearby fields could be used as clean fill, with transportation paid by the proposer. Commissioners and staff discussed the need to confirm groundwater and leachate risks; one commissioner asked whether the contractor under the existing contract (EA) could analyze potential leachate from reusing nutrient-rich subsoils adjacent to the pond.
Staff said test pits performed by DOC encountered no shallow groundwater at the exploratory locations, though deeper excavation could reach groundwater, and that the dredged material would be bound or contained where needed. Staff emphasized that use of timber mats or other mitigation may be required depending on final access methods.
The NRC did not make a policy decision on any dredging alternative at the meeting; members instructed staff to gather cost and technical information and to report back, with the next scheduled updates and public events noted in the director’s remarks.