Conservation commission approves stormwater controls, limits parking at Norwood Commerce Center redevelopment

The Norwood Conservation Commission on May 28 approved an order of conditions for stormwater and site improvements at the Norwood Commerce Center, 61 Endicott Street, that requires new treatment and recharge systems and limits site parking to 471 spaces unless the town stormwater authority later reopens review.

The vote followed presentations from representatives of the property owner and the engineering consultant and a detailed peer review of stormwater design. The commission’s action requires the applicant to install sediment traps, stormwater treatment units and subsurface infiltration chambers intended to treat previously unmitigated runoff before it reaches Haws Brook and downstream Meadow Brook.

The decision matters because the 12-acre former industrial site has large areas of historic, unmitigated pavement that currently discharge directly to an intermittent swale and then to Hawes Brook. Commission peer reviewer Spencer Lins of Parr Corporation told commissioners the revised design substantially improves on-site treatment and recharge and recommended approval with a condition that any future increase in parking be reviewed by Norwood’s stormwater authority to determine whether heightened pollutant-performance standards (a local “loophole” designation) are required.

Attorney and project representatives told the commission the redevelopment combines prior unpermitted paved areas and newly proposed paving into a compact plan that reduces, rather than increases, impervious-area impacts compared with earlier drafts. Kevin Holtzer of Norwood Commerce Center said, “We’re hoping that what we’re proposing will meet with your approval.”

Key elements required by the permit include: installation of multiple hydrodynamic separators and proprietary stormwater treatment units to capture first-flush pollutants; subsurface infiltration chambers sized to provide required recharge volumes for areas that were paved or filled in prior decades; regrading and a sediment forebay to trap coarse material; and compensatory flood-storage placed in currently degraded riverfront areas. The applicant’s materials show about 14,000 square feet of compensatory storage provided in restored low areas.

The commission also accepted the peer reviewer’s recommendation to treat the site as not currently meeting the threshold for high-pollutant “loophole” designation (which would require higher-level treatment) but to require that any future proposal to increase parking beyond the approved 471 spaces be submitted to the newly formed town stormwater authority for review. That condition is intended to give the town a mechanism to revisit performance standards if traffic and pollutant loads rise.

Commission staff also sought commitments on plantings and invasive-species management. The applicant agreed to install shrubs and native saplings in locations coordinated with the commission and to a three-year invasive management program with a 75% survival target for plantings.

What happens next: the applicant will proceed under the order of conditions and also intends to present the project to the Norwood Planning Board for special-permit relief related to parking and permitted uses. The commission’s vote requires the applicant to return for further commission review if they later seek to increase parking beyond 471 spaces.

Votes at a glance: the commission voted to approve the order of conditions (three votes in favor; one member absent).