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Commission recommends approval for Manchester Country Club stream-bank stabilization
Summary
The Bedford Conservation Commission recommended that the town support a conditional-use permit to allow limited stream-buffer disturbance for bank stabilization at Chandler Brook, accepting a least-invasive plan of coir rolls and native plantings after hearing applicant testimony and commission questions about longevity and downstream impacts.
Bill Tebow, general manager of the Manchester Country Club, asked the Bedford Conservation Commission on Nov. 25 to recommend approval of a conditional-use permit under Article 15, Section 275-105 to allow stream-buffer disturbance for bank stabilization on Chandler Brook at 180 South River Road.
Tebow described repeated erosion over the last five years and said the club has "probably lost 8 to 10 feet in the last 3 years," showing photos of exposed irrigation and underscored safety and course integrity concerns. He said the club and wetland consultants from Beaverbrook Engineering developed a least-invasive design using coir (coconut) rolls, fill and native shrub plantings — willow, elderberry, winterberry, holly and red osier dogwood — to stabilize the toe of the slope while keeping the creek alignment largely intact. He said the work would follow guidance from the state Department of Environmental Services and town staff.
Commission members questioned causes and long-term effectiveness. Tebow attributed much of the change to an increase in storm intensity, saying the stream has shifted from a creek to a more powerful stream in the last five years. Commissioner Steve Clough and others pressed whether a more robust rechanneling or hard-structure solution would last longer; Clough said his concern was that the commission "could be back in 5, 6, 7 years." Tebow and the consultants said their recommendation was deliberately conservative to avoid greater disturbance, and they said more permanent measures (boulders or sheet pilings) would be a later step if erosion continues.
After discussion the commission voted to recommend approval of the applicant's requested conditional-use permit to the relevant permitting authority. Commissioners expressed support for the least-invasive approach while noting the possibility of future, larger interventions if the erosion continues to worsen.
Next steps: The commission's recommendation will accompany the applicant's DES and town permit materials; the commission did not set conditions beyond the proposed plan, and no final permit was issued by the commission itself at the meeting.
