At last week’s Conservation Commission meeting, the elementary school building project got one of the last approvals it needed before construction starts in mid-April.
The commission’s approval was required because the eastern side of the construction site, including part of the planned parking lot, is within the 100-foot buffer zone around a wetland. ConCom members had already heard from the project’s architects and engineers at three earlier meetings. Last Thursday, March 21, Nitsch Engineering brought the commission updated stormwater management plans to mitigate effects on the wetlands, as specified by the commission’s order of conditions.
ConCom Chair Don Ritchie said he was concerned about the level of maintenance required by the stormwater system to keep runoff from the construction area, and later from the parking lot, out of the wetlands. He noted that the drainage structure will have to be inspected and cleaned regularly, but he said Harvard’s Department of Public Works does not have the equipment—a vacuum truck—for that task. The maintenance plan also calls for street sweeping the parking lot twice a year. “Is [DPW Director Tim] Kilhart on board with all this?” Ritchie asked.
Commission member Wendy Sisson suggested that Conservation Agent Liz Allard write a memo to the Select Board, School Committee, and DPW, emphasizing that maintenance is critical to meeting the order of conditions ConCom has set for protection of the wetlands. Allard assured board members that the order of conditions remains enforceable even after construction is complete and the building is in use.
After a little more discussion, the board voted unanimously to accept Nitsch Engineering’s most recent set of plans for the site. Both the Harvard Historical Commission and the Planning Board have approved the new school building, as has the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Likewise the state Department of Transportation has approved the effects on Route 111. Still pending is a carpet waiver from the Harvard Board of Health and an approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection on the septic plan
