[Denis MacDougall]: Good evening. Welcome to the City Metro Conservation Commission meeting, Wednesday, September 17th. We have two items on the agenda, and we're going to take... I know the agenda lists one before the other, but just Mr. Long-Berman is actually a cop a world away, and he requested to just sort of do his before at the start. So we're going to take that one first. So apologies, Don. We'll just take your second. We'll get both of you on here, so just wanted to launch it. So the first order is a notice of intent for 171 Arlington Street. Alexander Wong-Berman has filed an amended notice of intent. Not amended, not amended. Sorry. Abbreviated. Abbreviated. My head. So abbreviated notice of intent. to construct an addition to the rear of the house and add a deck at 171 Arlington Street within the 200-foot Riverfront area, bordering on a subject to flooding and 100-foot buffer zone to the top of Bank and Bedford Bass.
[Heidi Davis]: Great. Thank you, Dennis. And thanks for joining us, Mr. Berman. Would you like to briefly describe your project to us?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so this is related to our proposed addition in the rear of the property. The addition goes out into the backyard towards the Mystic River and is in the riverfront area and as such requires the abbreviated notice of intent. The work will be conducted per the drawings and per the specifications of our engineer involving the construction of a stormwater system behind the property addition. All of the work will be in accordance with the soil erosion control plan with mitigative measures put in place. And if there are any further details, please feel free to let me know.
[Heidi Davis]: Thank you. Dennis, could you pull up the plan?
[Denis MacDougall]: Do you want the resource area plan or the construction plans? Construction plans.
[Heidi Davis]: Thanks. You're going to have to make that bigger. Yeah. Great. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Dennis, I think, sorry, I think you might have a slightly outdated 1. sorry. Yeah. So the, they actually redesigned it such that the infiltration chambers are side by side to minimize the. The impact towards the river zone. Let's see if I'm able to pull it up. The only problem is I cannot access Google over here because of the firewall. Let's see. We might have a version on the computer here. Just check.
[Heidi Davis]: Dennis, was the email that you sent recently the most recent version? That's the one I thought I had.
[SPEAKER_00]: So just... You know, Dennis, I can try and get them to...
[Denis MacDougall]: Okay, yeah, I'll stop share and let you jump in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to have to do is maybe email you the most recent one here. Here. Yeah, I should have just sent that over your way, Dennis.
[Denis MacDougall]: Sometimes, if there's a PDF involved, it sometimes takes a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And apologies for that. See if I can beat you to it too.
[Denis MacDougall]: Here we go. Nope, that's got it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect, thank you.
[Unidentified]: That's the correct answer.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: Dennis, could you just read the date of these plans?
[Denis MacDougall]: Yep. These are 5-20, which is later than the other ones you had. So apologies. You guys got the early ones, I think. I think when I just sent it from the... I had both of them in my drive, but I think I might have just sent them over to my pub. Sorry about that.
[Craig Drennan]: Just a quick clarifying question between the plans that I think the commission had before and this one. Um, did the trees. We went from having 1 tree in the back of the property to having to kind of running through the center of the yard.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was a, yeah, the trees might be slightly inaccurate. I mentioned that to my engineer. We can move them if needed. He said that he would just leave them there. And if we needed to move them, he could move them. But that tree that you see closest to the infiltration chambers is actually directly along the fence line on the right-hand side of the drawing there.
[Craig Drennan]: OK, because I think that the version that Dennis had before, the trees are different. And the reason I ask is because that uh, setback from that excavation area, those trees is going to impact, you know, those trees health and between the placement shown here and the placement that you had in the previous design set, I think the impacts come off very differently. So I think getting some clarification on where those trees actually are would be huge.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I can send the message to our engineer to have them relocate the trees to the accurate location. I will also mention I've spoken to a licensed arborist and we're putting in place mitigative measures. They mentioned that the greatest impact would be from soil compaction. So we've had a bunch of wood chips actually dumped over in our backyard and intend to spread that over the area where the excavators will be operating and putting plywood on top of that to minimize soil compaction.
[Jeremy Martin]: Greg, if I may build on your comments, I would ask and encourage that the location of the chambers really be considered and adjusted to accommodate preserving those existing trees. So it is important that we get the tree locations accurately marked in the plan. And from my perspective, preserving and the health of those trees is probably more impactful than making an adjustment a few feet away from the river. And so it's suggested that we prioritize that in the updated design. It's good to hear about the wood chips and the plywood. I would also suggest some trunk protection around those trees. and even consider a fence that keeps vehicles and traffic and equipment some distance away from the base of the tree to avoid compaction on the most critical root zone around the tree.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very good point, Jeremy. Yes, we've already constructed fences as a barrier around both of those trees.
[Jeremy Martin]: Are there any details or images of that that you can provide us?
[SPEAKER_00]: Other than what I have on my phone here, I can provide what I show. One second. I would note that moving the infiltration chambers back towards the house accomplishes the same to the trees as it does to the river since the trees are both located in the direction of the river.
[Jeremy Martin]: Okay, that may be the case based on what I saw in the previous plan in this plan. It looks like the chamber got closer to the tree on the right side of the plan here, but we'll look for that. There's updates in the tree locations. Thanks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, and this is just an example of the fencing constructed as a barrier. I'm not sure how visible it is through the phone or through the computer camera here.
[Heidi Davis]: Thanks. Yeah, I can see it. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is helpful. Thanks. Yes. And just for reference, where you see that circle in the grass, that dead circle, that's actually approximately the location of where the chambers will be.
[Heidi Davis]: I have a question regarding the 100-year floodplain. The abbreviated notice said that the project is within the floodplain. And so I just wanted to verify that because on the adjacent lot, Mr. Foote thought the 100-year floodplain was surveyed at elevation 6.7. I can't imagine it would be a whole lot different on the adjacent lot. What does the commission think about that?
[Craig Drennan]: I mean, looking at the elevations, it doesn't appear that there's significant changes to grade. So as long as grade is roughly the same pre to post, it appears the deck is beyond the seven-foot contour, or sorry, the addition is beyond seven-foot contour, so there's no loss in flood storage. That doesn't concern me a huge amount.
[Heidi Davis]: Thanks, Craig. That's what I was thinking as well, noting that the seven-foot contour is The deck is located at the 7 foot contour. The deck is on pilings. And the addition appears to be outside of the platform. Any other comments or questions from the commission?
[Craig Drennan]: I do have one comment on the O&M plan that was provided. I think it would be beneficial to both the project as it gets constructed in long-term O&M if the plan was split into documents for construction phase and long-term phase. That way you have a very clear cut and dry document once everything's said and done. Let's say you were to sell the house to somebody else, they wouldn't have to puzzle over what portions of that plan they're responsible for implementing and which ones are not. Having a clear plan that describes what needs to be done during construction phase that can basically then get scrapped once you're done, you end up with one plan that you carry with you with the property. That's the only other comment that I have.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: On that topic for the O&M plan, I was just curious if, Mr. Berman, if you drafted that or someone else did.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, my engineer drafted the O&M plan.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: OK.
[SPEAKER_00]: Contracted with an environmental engineer.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: OK. Thanks. I have another question unrelated to that. I didn't see, we may be missing your signature just on the form. Dennis, do we have one?
[Denis MacDougall]: We have it now. Yeah, it was included in the one that I got sent to you guys, but it's there now.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: Okay. Thanks. And I just wanted to confirm Is there, there is no tree removal. Is there any vegetation besides grass that's being disturbed?
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are some ornamental pieces of vegetation along the left side of the property there that are being removed in addition to our raised garden bed, which the garden bed's already been removed. So there's some butterfly bush plants that will be removed over there. Okay. A couple of catmint plants.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: Is there any plan to replant anything once the chambers are in?
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have any solid plan, anything that's been drawn out, but we do plan to work with a landscaper to add some additional vegetation. Part of this plan is to reseed the grass, I believe, as specified there.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: OK, I'd certainly be interested if you're willing to commit to something or discuss with the commission whether it needs to be a condition, but would be happy to see some native vegetation going in to support the wildlife to further filter the water. So if you have any thoughts on that, I'm happy to hear them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure. Well, my initial thought is that if it is a requirement, we can certainly do so. But if it's not a requirement, we prefer to have the work done and to sort of look it over with our landscaper and make a decision afterwards based on what the end result looks like.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: Okay, we can discuss that amongst the commission members. I think maybe the only other item, Dennis, I don't know. I believe you said you brought to Mr. Berman's attention the technical comments for mass DEP. Okay.
[Denis MacDougall]: Yes. Sorry. I mean, those only just came in late this afternoon. So when I got them, I sent them off to Alex.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: OK, I think we would be interested in seeing some written response to those as well. Or I would be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, yes. I've already reached out to my contractors so that they can get the pertinent information.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: Thanks.
[Heidi Davis]: I know that one of the comments is that information should be provided on meeting a high watermark, how the meeting a high watermark of the river was determined.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which should be, and Dennis, maybe this is something in the submittal that we use the outdated drawings so that engineer drawings should now include additional calculations per Medford engineering request that I believe do detail that.
[Denis MacDougall]: Yeah, they should be in there. So I just, I will ask, I sent a bunch of the files in, but it wasn't able to be sent electronically. But now I know the person who's doing it, so I'm just going to send her everything I have and say, like, I know we sent this, but here's what we have electronically. So hopefully that will clear some things up then. I'm pretty sure we had that they said they didn't have.
[Heidi Davis]: I think it's much simpler than, it's top of bank, that's it. And it says so on the plan, top of bank. So I'm not sure where that, but that one's an easy response. There's no calculations, it's the top of bank. It's a very clear, you know, meeting on high water can be tricky in situations where the bank is not, clearly defined, but that this is not the case here.
[Denis MacDougall]: But especially we have a mean high watermark from property next door. We actually have a mean high watermark from the West Africa Community Center just down the road. So we have two that were done fairly recently that are usable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we have the one from this property as well.
[Denis MacDougall]: Yeah. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Sorry. Anything further from the commissioners?
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: The only question I have is, does anyone feel strongly that we want to see replacement plantings or no?
[Heidi Davis]: Given that it's the existing plantings or lawn, I would want to see that any future plantings be native.
[Heather]: I would go along with that, mainly because we have such active wildlife of birds, not just birds, birds, mammals, et cetera, that we have to be very cautious, and especially as lawns bring potential other kinds of poisons, et cetera, into the river and wash off. So yeah, I would like to see some native plants if in fact the owners decide to go with some landscaping.
[Craig Drennan]: How would we ask for that to be promulgated? Is that a landscaping plan? Is that just a condition? How would we actually call that out if they haven't gotten to the point where they've considered landscaping yet?
[Heather]: I thought that, I think it was Heidi or Carolyn who basically suggested that, you didn't suggest, but you alluded to this. And as you did, my thought was that we put it in that if and when they get to that point, that perhaps there's a check back or something that could be submitted. I don't know. The problem we have, of course, is It might be an additional kind of request and I don't want to add that burden to the owners. If we put it in as a condition for. perhaps some consultation or addition to our file, whatever the case may be.
[Denis MacDougall]: I think usually in these situations, especially for homeowners, usually we just ask them, especially if you're dealing with an arborist, just send us a list of potential plantings before you actually plant them and we'll just review.
[Heather]: That would satisfy me.
[Denis MacDougall]: And I mean, arborists pretty much know, you know, just, you know, let the arborists know it's within, you know, riverfront area. So, you know, that's sort of the stuff that they can usually pull, call up, you know, certain plantings that will thrive and be good for the environment.
[Heather]: And I think we in the past have had some listings available just to share.
[Denis MacDougall]: I probably have some deep in my files that I can actually look for as well and just send out as well in addition.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we intended to plant local plants that attract pollinators similar to the existing ones anyways. We enjoy having the pollinators around.
[Heidi Davis]: Great. Good to hear. So the commission may disagree with me, and that's fine. But I just wanted to give my opinion regarding DEP's comments. I feel they're a little generic and do not take into account that there's a road between this lot and the river. And so indicating construction access areas, stockpile locations, construction methodology, existing and proposed tree line, and vegetation removal, again, does not seem specific to this project. And my opinion, and again, you all may disagree, is that I am comfortable issuing without waiting for a response, but I will defer to my board.
[Heather]: I think you make a good point, Heidi.
[Heidi Davis]: Okay, I've got the other board members here. Thank you.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: I guess my only hesitation isn't with DPS technical comments. It's more of the location of the trees and actually seeing where they do land.
[Craig Drennan]: I agree with Caroline on that. I'm a little confused by the 2 plans issued a month apart. Disagree on where the trees are. would like just a little bit more clarity before signing off on it?
[SPEAKER_00]: I can provide a little bit of context, and wasn't too happy with my engineer on this. The first one was... I'll have to look at it again, but my recollection is that the first one was inaccurate, so we told them what the actual measurements were, and then they provided another one, which also didn't appear to be too accurate, and asked that they redo it according to the measurements and they said that they would if asked to. If we're asking to, we can certainly reach back out to them and let them know.
[Heather]: I think we're asking.
[Craig Drennan]: Yeah. While you're at it, revising the O&M plan as well. If we're coming back anyway, it would be great.
[SPEAKER_00]: The O&M revisions, just to clarify, are separating out the construction items from the property owner items.
[Craig Drennan]: long-term, long-term post-construction versus construction phase.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Craig Drennan]: And it should be like half an hour in Microsoft Word. The checklists are already segregated. It's just the instructions on what to do. It should be just separate documents for simplicity. Thank you.
[Heidi Davis]: Do we have your permission to continue this hearing? Mr. Berman. Oh, yes, you do. I think it wasn't clear. Excellent. Do I have a motion from the commission?
[Craig Drennan]: Make a motion to continue to the next hearing.
[Denis MacDougall]: I mean, normally one would be October 1st, but I know Alex has been traveling and I don't know if that's a doable date. So I'd probably defer to your schedule for a continued date.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we can do October 1st. We'll find a way to make it work.
[Denis MacDougall]: If not, just shoot me an email and we'll just adjust the notices.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[Heidi Davis]: Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Carolyn. All in favor? Carolyn? Aye. Heather? Aye.
[Heidi Davis]: Jeremy? Aye. And myself as an aye. Thank you for coming tonight and we look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. Thank you all.
[SPEAKER_00]: We appreciate your time.
[Heidi Davis]: Thank you. Okay. Next item on the agenda is notice of intent for 173 Arlington Street.
[Denis MacDougall]: Don Foote has filed and abbreviate notice of intent to construct in addition to the rear of the house and add a deck at 171 Arlington Street within the 200-foot Woodhurn area in Borderland, subject to flooding in Medford.
[Heidi Davis]: Great. And I saw Mr. Foote on the call. Is he still on the call? Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. Right in front of me. Could you briefly describe your project to us? I'm sorry. You're muted, Don.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: So my house is identical to Alex's house. They were built, I think, by the same builder, exact same location on the lot. It's pretty odd, but beautiful old homes. Tiny house. It's 910 square feet, I believe, all told. My wife and I love the location and love the older look of it. But it's not really, it's just, it's tiny. and we're putting a very small addition on the back. It's 12 1⁄2 feet out, and we're staying with the exact width of the existing house, which is about 19 1⁄2 feet. It doesn't have a basement under it. It's on piers, and then a small deck behind that. We really tried to size it for the lot because the lot isn't that big, and the lot and the house had been pretty let go The yard was just overgrown and a lot of debris back there. And the house hadn't been updated in, I don't know, forever. But anyway, we're bringing it back. We're going all electric, getting solar panels on the roof. And so that's what we're doing.
[Heidi Davis]: Great. Thank you. Dennis, would you mind pulling up that plan, please?
[Denis MacDougall]: Reading them out. I'll pull up the one to the right.
[Heidi Davis]: So we did not receive any comments on this one?
[Denis MacDougall]: No, there were no comments. No?
[Heidi Davis]: Okay.
[Denis MacDougall]: I mean, it's been, they've had it for three weeks.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: So this is, do you want me to zoom out a little bit? You can see, you can see Alex's tree located right on the fence line on my plan. Okay. I don't know why that surveyor can't get the tree in the right place. That's kind of odd. But that's the tree. That's where it is. Great.
[Heidi Davis]: And do you plan on retaining these trees?
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: About what?
[Heidi Davis]: The trees that are on the property line. Well, are they being retained, or will they be?
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: Oh, yeah. We're keeping all the trees. We love the trees. It's a nice, shady lot. We're not break sun lovers. We're going to plant some shade plants back there eventually. But no, it's a nice shady yard. It's beautiful.
[Denis MacDougall]: If you look at the top down view, there's a really nice canopy pretty much covering the entire backyard.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: So you can see it's a very small addition. That's it. And we already have the rainwater retention plan approved by city engineering. That this plan has been approved, what he has right here.
[Heidi Davis]: Great. Thank you. Commission, do you have any questions, comments?
[Craig Drennan]: Nothing from me.
[Heather]: Nothing from me.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: The only point of clarification, I am obsessed with ownership today, I guess. Are you, Mr. Foote, the owner of the LLC that owns the home?
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: Yeah, we bought it as a trust. But yes, that's our trust. And my wife and I, this is not a flip. This is a place that we're going to keep for ourselves. OK, thanks.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: And any other significant vegetation being removed?
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: No, there's nothing in the backyard. OK, thanks. It's a mess.
[Jeremy Martin]: Similar to the previous project, I'd recommend some tree protection around those existing trees to prevent any heavy equipment from rolling over their critical root zone.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: Yeah, I'm not digging any. Except for the pit that we're digging there, there is going to be no heavy equipment in the yard at all because the addition is way back there and it's just three piers that it's going on. We can do that, but it shouldn't be an issue.
[Heidi Davis]: Will construction access be from Arlington Street?
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: Yes, right down the driveway. Yeah, the back of the lot is fully fenced in and we're going to leave that fence up the whole time.
[Heidi Davis]: Do we want to talk about possible conditions then? I'm not feeling anything.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: I'd be in favor if any vegetation besides lawn, that it be required to be native to the area.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: I have no issue with, I mean, I haven't thought about a landscaping plan, but I love whatever we can get to grow up back there in the deep shade. That's what it is, the whole yard. But we're not trying to plant a bunch of exotic plants. We'd like to have just a pollinator garden and whatever we can get to grow in the shade. Like I said, it's deep shade back there.
[Heidi Davis]: Well, that would be challenging.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: Yeah, it always is.
[Heidi Davis]: Well, Dennis, this one's pretty straightforward then. Just our standard.
[Denis MacDougall]: Standard conditions, so.
[Heidi Davis]: All right. Do I have a motion?
[Craig Drennan]: Make a motion to issue an order of conditions for 173 Arlington Street with the one non-standard condition as noted by Caroline that Any new vegetation installed should be installed, planted, should be native.
[Heidi Davis]: Thank you. Second? Second. All in favor? Caroline? Aye. Heather? Aye. Greg?
[Craig Drennan]: Aye.
[Heidi Davis]: Jeremy? Jeremy's muted. Uh, if you can hear me, I thank you and myself and I. Great well, thanks so much. You're very welcome.
[Denis MacDougall]: Don, I sort of talked about this a few days ago, so I'm just going to write up. I'll get the decision, get it to you. I'll get it signed and then there is an appeals period started. But what I was thinking of is that you need to do interior work on the house. Yes, we do. So what I can do is. I can approve it so you can get started just on interior work. That's great, thank you. That'll sort of get you sort of jump-started, as opposed to having to wait for the entire time to get, because the interior work has no effect on ComCom, so. That's great. So I'll do that before I leave tonight, just get that in there so you can go down tomorrow and get it. Great, appreciate your help. Thank you, Dennis.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_13]: Great, okay. Thanks for coming. Thank you.
[Heidi Davis]: Dennis, do you have any minutes for us?
[Denis MacDougall]: I don't.
[Heidi Davis]: I'm sorry.
[Denis MacDougall]: No, I'm dealing with some familial things. Sorry, my mom, I had to take her to a few medical appointments in the last week and it sort of took me out of getting some stuff done. I'm out again tomorrow, taking her to another appointment. I'll be in in the afternoon, and I think that's really, I'm kind of, I'm probably going to come in this weekend and just work on it, because at the same time, I can't really do stuff. So I'll get your stuff shortly, because I've got the software to do it.
[Heather]: A little more specific timeline, Dennis.
[Denis MacDougall]: I'll... Start yelling at me on Monday if I haven't got you anything. And I mean genuinely yelling. That always works. So... How backed up are we? What month are we?
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: We're a few months behind. Like January, I think?
[Denis MacDougall]: No, no, there's some, there's some, I know I've definitely done some. I'm just trying to, let me look. We're not that far close. Yeah. Let's see.
[Heather]: How about you just get an email out to us with where we stand and what we're waiting for? That would be.
[Denis MacDougall]: No, it's, the last one I have done is July, so I have, May and July, so 7-21 I have done. Yeah. Yeah.
[Heather]: Dennis, rather than trying to figure this out tonight, why not? put something together, let us know exactly what's missing, and give us a general timeline. Because I don't know about other people, but my memory is fading. I'm old. My memory is fading. I need to see these before it completely goes.
[Craig Drennan]: Mine is too, Heather.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: Thank you. I mean, Dennis, I can volunteer to take one meeting, if that's helpful. If you want to send me the recording, I will commit it.
[Craig Drennan]: Dennis, the only other thing is just double check that that July wasn't a one-off and that we are fully backed prior to that July meeting.
[Denis MacDougall]: Yeah, I want to see 5-28. Okay, I'll go back. Yeah, I think so. I'll look in what I have, but yeah, I know I have one. We haven't had a ton of meetings this year, so I think I have like six for this year or so, I think. But I will go over our meeting schedule versus what's been done. I'll do that.
[Craig Drennan]: And versus what's been approved as well.
[Denis MacDougall]: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'll do all that and just send you out. It'll be like an Excel spreadsheet checklist type thing, sort of itemizing that.
[Heidi Davis]: And... Would you stop sharing, Dennis? Oh, sorry.
[Denis MacDougall]: Yeah, I'm... And when you said that, I was like, I didn't think I was sharing too much information. I don't think I was talking too much. I'm usually pretty close to the best. I've been trying to get some photos off my phone and not succeeding super well, because my phone is haunted. But I think I might have a couple showing South Street. The owner is still looking for the list he got from his arborist about what was planted, like the full, because arborist pointed stuff over what was on our list and he planted a few extra things in there than what was like on the landscape plan, but.
[Craig Drennan]: Can I make a question to the commission? If we're at the point where colloquially we've had plantings beyond what was approved and this project has, for the most part, completed work, to what extent is it worth just letting it go? Because I feel like we're not having the answers and having this guy come back to us several times. He's been patient with us. And I just want to gauge the willingness of the commission to keep chasing this down.
[Heidi Davis]: Thanks, Craig.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, I mean, I don't really have a willingness, especially when he said that he thought we approved the plan.
[Craig Drennan]: And we didn't have a response to that.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: Right, so.
[Heidi Davis]: I'm not sure. I'm not sure it's worth our energy to keep trying to chase this down.
[Heather]: It's my memory that we now have more plants than we originally requested with all that's gone on, at least according to what he has said. And I'm assuming that Dennis has visited. Yeah. Are we ahead of the game at least at this point? It appears so.
[Denis MacDougall]: We definitely planted more in there than was on the map. Like the number of shrubs and things like that, there's more in there. And the trees are pretty much what were requested. One of them, the calipers were bigger. The other one, they were slightly smaller, just because that was the availability of what he had. He said he didn't want to try and wait around and miss the planting season and not get the trees in this year.
[Craig Drennan]: And I remember the initial landscaper commenting, you know, we'll do our best. It'll be plus or minus. So that lines up with my memory of the situation.
[Jeremy Martin]: Dennis, is he saying that he's planted according to that plan that we've reviewed most recently? Yes. OK. Well, I agree that we don't need to spend much more energy on it. I do think it's worth seeing it. So I'd be happy to take a walk by there sometime in the next week and just put eyes on it and make sure that it aligns with my reading of the plan and what he's described.
[Denis MacDougall]: And when I was over there in his walkthrough, there were a couple of plants, not in the front, but in the back, that didn't quite take that he's replanted. So if you see anything like that, he is on it to replace.
[EO-vAhUJAKo_SPEAKER_18]: And I guess the other option, he eventually will need to come for a certificate of compliance with us. where we get to review the as-built plan to the approved plan. That's also another opportunity if something needs to be fine-tuned.
[Heidi Davis]: If we suddenly find that the entire plot is lawn, I guess that would be an issue.
[Denis MacDougall]: And the only other thing I can think of is, well, we kind of talked about it briefly, a little bit at the last meeting about the work that's going to be going down on Mississippi Valley Parkway down in West Medford, the crosswalk.
[Jeremy Martin]: And... Are those the new paint changes, Dennis, or is there a different project?
[Denis MacDougall]: Oh, sorry, Jerry. That's right. So a little bit further down the road, and it's across just trying to get the road name correct. So that's a secondary part that I wanted to bring up because that's been. So if you go a little bit further down on the parkway across the street from Lakeview Avenue, there's a crosswalk, there's a street, there's a walk, there's a walking path, there's like a crosswalk there. And what they're going to be doing is putting an elevated walkway across there to try to slow down some folks, because there's been some incidents, and I believe some of us hit last year. So they're doing that there.
[Heidi Davis]: He wasn't just hit.
[Denis MacDougall]: Oh, no. He was killed. Oh, I'm sorry. I just heard hit. Oh, jeez. All right.
[Heidi Davis]: Yeah. OK. It was very unfortunate.
[Denis MacDougall]: Yeah. OK. So for that, and it falls out of our jurisdiction, but they kind of want to just go over with me because it's work along the river. And they're also, it's sort of tying into the work along High Street. So the re-striping stuff they've done now, for now, they are also planning on doing some work along there as well. I just heard from DCR and they sent me a few things just today that I need to reveal. So it will be another filing there for the work there, probably fairly soon. I just don't know the timing on it. Because the interesting thing is when I had the other meeting about the one across Lakeview, I brought that up because I thought there was, and they were like, no, no, that's a long ways away in the future. And now two weeks later, and they're like, somebody else from DCR is like, we're going forward with this. So I think it's probably just two different groups with funding that they somehow managed to pull.
[Heather]: So for our next meeting on October 1st, we'll have a continuation of the first fellow today. And is there a possibility that what you're talking about? No. Okay. Is there anything else that you have that might be coming up on the first?
[Denis MacDougall]: Um, just meeting minutes to approve. Thank you, sir. But, but, uh,
[Heidi Davis]: Great. Well, then I think we can close the hearing. Make a motion to close the hearing.
[Craig Drennan]: Seconded.
[Heidi Davis]: Great. All in favor? Heather? Aye. Fred? Aye. Jeremy and offspring? Oui. Caroline?
[Heather]: Oh, how cute.
[Heidi Davis]: I see myself as an aye.
[Heather]: Adorable, Jeremy. I know.
[Heidi Davis]: Thank you all very much for attending. Have a good evening.
[Unidentified]: Good night. Good night. Take care, y'all. Thank you.