Commission Has Second Shot At Carding Machine Brook Bridge

by William F. Galvin

            HARWICH – The conservation commission has begun its second review of a proposal to construct a bridge over Carding Machine Brook to access land along the western edge of Saquatucket Harbor for the construction of a home.

            The commission denied the initial project last year because it called for construction in a no-disturbance zone within 50 feet of wetland resources, which is prohibited by the town’s wetland bylaw.

            The commission met last week on a new notice of intent application filed by Herring Realty Trust, owner of the property, for a new bridge design proponents said is more environmentally friendly and requires fewer pilings to be placed across the resource buffer area.

            The project proponents refer to the structure as an elevated driveway that will follow Saquatucket Drive, a planning board-approved subdivision road with an easement on the west side of the Brax restaurant property. The attorney for the applicant, Sarah A. Turano-Flores of Nutter McClennen & Fish, LLC, said the planning board subdivision plan will be expunged and only one house will be constructed on the lot.

            The attorney presented the commission with a memorandum last Tuesday in support of the applicant’s position that the raised driveway or bridge is the only “feasible, legal access” to the property. She said three legal firms researched the access issue and determined there is no other legal access.

            Efforts have been made to talk to the abutters over Colonial Way, a private way, to gain access to the parcel along Kelley Court, which dead ends at the westerly boundary of the trust’s land.

            “This commission can address a variance when a denial effectively renders it a taking of the property,” Flores said. “This is the only access. We fall squarely within the four corners of that variance.”

            But attorney Robert Smith, who represents one of the property owners along Colonial Way, challenged Flores on whether they have made recent attempts to communicate with abutters about gaining access over the private way. Flores said a letter was sent to the abutters a year ago. She added this would be the least expensive resolution to access the land and they would work with attorney Smith to contact the neighbors again.

            Flores said the new design is a “vast improvement” over the previous one, and calls for only 24 pilings while the previous one called for 70 pilings to be driven to provide structural integrity. The length of the structure has also been reduced by 12 feet.

            But there are new assessments to overcome in this application, including a letter from the state Division of Marine Fisheries, which identifies Carding Machine Brook, which flows from Grassy Pond to Saquatucket Harbor, as both a herring run and a migratory route for the American eel.

The proponents also relented this time that some coastal bank characteristics come into play along with those of an inland bank. Flores said the system is more complex than originally thought, but they can still meet the standard.

“We span three resource areas which gives you a better project,” Flores said.

Tim Brady of Cape East Engineering, Inc. said the way the bridge will be constructed will eliminate pilings in the salt marsh. There will be no equipment in wetlands. He said they also propose to stabilize an unstable bank on the south side of the stream with fiber rolls under the structure. He said there will be plenty of room for wildlife and people to move under the structure.

Rob Gasbarro of BridgeBuilders USA, the North Carolina company that would build the bridge, said his company has pioneered a method of progressive building that begins on one side and progresses in sections while spanning sensitive resources. He said they have built 100 across the country.

            “We’re green minded,” Gasbarro said. “The only footprint will be the butt end of the pilings.”

            But conservation commission member Dean Knight questioned the impact on the bank, arguing the documentation is clear this is a fish run and adding it is not clear the construction will not have an adverse impact on the creek.

Environmental consultant Seth Wilkinson of Wilkinson Ecological Design, Inc. said the proposed work includes the use of a control blanket on the bank and would protect the root systems of trees along the bank for a longer period of time.

“This is a road project, not a bank erosion stabilization project,” Brady said, “but it will be more stable than it is.”

Knight also raised the question that scuttled the previous application, the town’s bylaw that allows for no new structures in the no-disturb zone. Flores said that would be addressed with the performance standards.

“There’s a lot of nature going on in there,” Natural Resources Officer Thomas Leach said. “I don’t have an extremely strong opinion about the bridge itself. But I do have a concern for what’s living in the creek and the safety on the roadway (Route 28). There’s a lot going on out there.”

Members of the commission wanted to hear from town counsel on the matter of a denial constituting a taking of land. They also wanted the advice of an independent bio-engineer on the potential impacts along the bank near the structure, and they agreed to seek more information on shade impact on the salt marsh under the bridge. The hearing was continued to April 6. 

3/11/10