Island Neighborhood Association of Waltham
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
May 12, 1999
Report of Wednesday, May 12,
1999 meeting
Island Neighborhood Association Executive Committee
Hovey House, Woerd/Crescent Avenues
Waltham, MA
Steve Rourke announced that since Barbara Marriott is waiting to
be delivered of twins, recording secretary duties will rotate.
Joris Naiman took his turn, Lesya Struz transcribed his notes.
Our balance stands at $602.49; Treasurer Carol White needs all receipts.
Copies of four letters were passed around:
a. Letter to Fred Kempton who bought the Parker Hannefin property.
b. Thank you letter to Ron Vokey.
c. Request to Jeanette McCarthy for Camp Dresser McKee (CDM) reports regarding the Woerd Avenue landfill to be placed on reserve at the Waltham Library.
d. Thank you to Attilla Klein for speaking to INA's executive committee at the April meeting.
Waltham Councillor Jim Regan, WYCONA President Doris Donovan and Guest Speaker, Marc Rudnick, Hardy Pond Association, were introduced by Steve Rourke.
Marc Rudnick of the Hardy Pond Association (Marc conducted last night's mayoral candidates' environmental forum at Waltham High School) passed around a photo album about the dredging which he is preparing for Senator Fargo in hopes of getting more funding for the underfunded dredging work.
When he first moved to the Hardy Pond area in 1978, he was able to swim and raft on the pond. That ended in the early 80's because of eutrification of the pond. A 1982 study of the pond, initiated by the Conservation Commission's Kit Burstein, and conducted by Metcalf and Eddy for the City of Waltham, addressed the problem of weeds and algae. On the east side of the pond, the problem was advanced eutrophication from the construction of the Windsor Village project on a steep hill above the pond causing sedimentation to move to Hardy Pond; on the western side, the Pizzi farm introduced nutrients into the wetlands feeding it. There were also private septic systems because the houses did not take the pond into consideration. Furthermore, all Waltham structures sent their storm drainage into the pond, compounded by Lexington homes and Carroll's golf course and farm. Originally 26 to 42 feet deep, Hardy Pond was now 2 feet in depth. The favored solution for this overload was dredging, albeit the least environment-friendly one, thus requiring the most permits (compared, eg., to weed harvesting).
The Commonwealth prefers projects that address root causes of the problems rather than just the symptoms. In their report, Metcalf & Eddy recognized that the existing homes needed to go onto the City sewers. The Pizzi farm property was developed. Funds set aside for Hardy Pond included $400,000 for "gross particle separators" (sediment traps to catch initial burst of nutrients in a rainstorm). These separators required periodic cleaning. The Commonwealth funded the dredging and separators for $1.6M. (The City just went for what it could get.) But Metcalf & Eddy priced the project at $3.5M. Twelve years later (now, i.e., late 90's), the price tag is $4.5M.
The project's advocate was Bob Mayhew of North Waltham. His advocacy really made it happen. But Bob died, and the next Director of the Health Department, Mr. Sweeter, lacked the expertise to deal with Hardy Pond. Mr. Sweeter decided that the project was untenable. The project languished through the 80's. The Commonwealth's fiscal situation was poor, so the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs allocated the money, but the Governor would not spend it (through the Clean Lakes Program). Engineers wrote to Mayor Stanley, fearing they would not get paid. Mayor Stanley said "Do studies and we'll cover it if necessary." The engineering work moved forward very slowly.
1990 was an election year; Hardy Pond neighbors decided to turn Hardy Pond into a mayoral campaign issue. They started a neighborhood association and stenciled slogans. Both candidates, Stanley and Brasco, decided to make it an issue. State Representative Cille Hicks got a letter from the Governor committing to funding notwithstanding a cap. The Hardy Pond Association incorporated as a nonprofit. Mayor Stanley charged Jack Snaedecker with getting the project done. Snaedecker negotiated effectively with the Commonwealth. A round-table of 15 state regulators met with Marc approximately monthly, tying the project into knots. Permits got issued, but by 1991, the environmental regulations had changed. Now the sediments failed the petroleum hydrocarbon test.
The state issued an order of conditions, requiring the sediments to be placed in a hazardous waste landfill, which was too expensive. However, the Hardy Pond Association discovered that Metcalf & Eddy had used a cheap test (flame ionization) for hydrocarbons. The Association had scientific experts helping out with testing methods. The Hardy Pond Association started to raise money for a better gas chromatograph test; Jack Snaedecker made Metcalf & Eddy do the test/pay for it ($12,000). The chromatograph test showed organics, not petroleum. Therefore, the Commonwealth agreed to resume the regulator process with sediments to be disposed of normally.
The regulators are the Waterways & Wetlands at DEP, DEM (which funded the project), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency, the Commonwealth's Clean Lakes Program, and the Waltham Conservation Commission.
The champions were the Hardy Pond Association. Jack Snaedecker helped. But the Mayor, the Council, state legislators, and the DEP also responded-only to citizen pressures. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) does not like projects sponsored by departments of public works (DPWs). DEP likes projects sponsored by Conservation Commissions; Waltham's Conservation Commission was not able to sponsor this one. Snaedecker was effective (and was an MDC Commissioner) but it took citizen action to move the politicians. At its peak, the Hardy Pond Association had 200 members. They had 1,000 signatures on Council petitions.
Originally, the Hardy Pond Association incorporated to protect its officers from liability. This Association did a 6-month clean-up of Hardy Pond involving hundreds of people, removing 6 tons of metal and garbage from the wetlands. Because of the eutrophication, the pond is dangerous, so the cleanup posed a great liability.
Dredging got started in April, 1999, 14 years after the initial efforts to clean up Hardy Pond. The dredging will produce a minimum depth of 10foot water depth in order to control weeds. This is 120,000 cubic yards; of which the first funding grant is not adequate to do much of the job. Add-on funding of $1.333M, based on the City's matching pledge, would produce another 120,000 cubic yards of dreding (or more if the same contractor gets the bid). The dredge spoil is clean, but highly organic, so it must be mixed with aggregate. Senator Fargo added $1M last year to the original $1.6M. If they get this new $1.3M, it will bring total funding to $3.9M, close to the $4.6M total needed.
The Hardy Pond Association's biggest mistake was having a member who supported Wayne Brasco's campaign, which angered Bill Stanley. (Now that the Association is non-profit, it cannot legally endorse any candidate.)
The Association's best moves: Marc is diplomatic and friendly to every City councillor. You have to get unanimous support from Council. Marc had started the Waltham Concerned Citizens and Watch, which Council disliked, but he smoothed relations with them. One needs to play the political game. Have a glib speaker, supported by a dozen workers who know environmental issues, put up posters, build web sites, etc. The Association is very broadbased and has many born-in-Waltham members who can draw high school buddies to rallies. An organization which wants to accomplish something must work with people at all levels of understanding and competence. It helps to have a physical thing like the pond on which to focus an organization. Marc thinks that Purgatory and Cram's Cove is a tougher project than Hardy Pond.
Discussion of Steve Rourke's problem with the application for a walkway survey grant via an unincorporated INA and and therefore ineligible for a grant led to the problem of working indirectly through the Charles River Watershed Association to submit that grant application. Steve's idea is to incorporate another organization, separate from INA. The Hardy Pond Association had a steering committee member who volunteered to do the Hardy Pond Association's organization for nonprofit status. An attorney who is now the City Solicitor volunteered his time. The annual costs and reporting requirements for a nonprofit are minimal. Marc advises that when the INA invites the public to participate in an activity it should get insurance or incorporate to limit the liability of officers to actual negligence. The Hardy Pond Association treasurer spends less than 5 hours per year on corporation formalities. Bill White commented that a 501(c) (3), tax-exempt corporation is a bit more complicated. However, the Hardy Pond Association did it in order to seek partnering funds from the City.
Marc got Ron Vokey to fund a $20,000 grant for a weed harvester and other things. That was easy, but other donations (e.g.-Copy Cop) come from the Hardy Pond Association's tax-exempt, nonprofit status. Incorporation also gave the Hardy Pond Association more credibility with regulators. For example, Gloria Champion's Prospect Hill Advocacy Group is not incorporated and has a harder time getting funding.
The downside is that a corporation cannot advocate for candidates (but can advocate for causes). Marc does not plan to do candidate nights through the Hardy Pond Association. His association has brochures with a six-point mission-the Neighborhood Association is welcome to borrow from it. The Hardy Pond Association will provide letters of support when the Island Neighborhood Association needs them.
Doris Donovan: WYCONA meeting is on May 20 with City Clerk Peter Kotujian, 7:30-9:30 p.m. in Government Center. (Doris joined INA as an individual member.) The Regis sewer is still being fought in Weston.
Marc Rudnick: A group of private individuals is starting a Waltham land trust. The City claims it is starting a land trust too, but doesn't really soeem to do it. Marc provides Mass Audubon Society with articles about state laws protecting open space. Both Waltham state representatives have a 100% environmental voting records.
Bart Nichols, Cove & Grove Committee: He and Sam Picariello were appointed to Newton's Flowed Meadows Planning group. The next meeting is May 26th at 6:30 p.m. in Newton. Sam knows all of the Newton politicians. The Cove & Grove Committee's next meeting is Thursday, May 20, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Bart's home.
Steve Rourke, Zoning and Development Committee: Steve sent a letter to the Parker-Hanefin buyer, Fred Kempton. The closing should occur in mid- to late June. Recent work by Handex was to remove activity and use limitation (AUL) on the front portion of the property. Fred Kempton wants to have Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, office tenants. He's negotiating with a possible tenant. He specializes in recycling old buildings, and doesn't plan to change the buildings' footprint. Over a 9-12 month period, Mr. Kempton plans to redo the Parkerk-Hanefin building's skin with sandstone. The tenant would move in after this cosmetic work was done. . He did not want the Pantos building because it lacked parking.
Mr. Kempton indicated that he would be willing to work with the MDC on the Cram's Cove walkway and he will meet with us a month after the closing. He spoke of giving the small piece of land on the river side of Woerd Avenue to the MDC.
Lela Chiavaras, Land Use/Zoning Committee: Lela is talking to Peter Flink at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Wilmington, about doing another file review of the Waltham landfill (aka Woerd Avenue Dump), including the "black books" of old correspondence, e.g., pre-1971. There are issues regarding the proposed playground. Flink said that the long amount of time since the landfill was closed (1975, per Sam Picariello) may relax the pressure to cap it.
Sam Picariello said he knows where the landfill was, and that Ron Vokey is putting the skateboard park ON the landfill. Therefore, Sam feels that the roadway from Woerd Avenue (Cove Street?) should be usable for access to the skateboard park/playground on the same basis.
Lela Chiavaras talked about INA asking the City to dig test pits to check for surface contamination. If results violate the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP), then it's likely that the City will want the landfill handled under the solid waste site cleanup regulations instead of the MCP hazardous waste cleanup regulations, potentially reducing the City's (and Parker-Hanefin's) liability, but Lela doesn't know exactly what the regulations require. She says there is more for INA to learn about how to address the possibility of putting a walkway on landfill. The costs are "relatively stable and inexpensive" to do capping. But capping will be required eventually, unless the City had an approved cap back in 1975.
Sam Picariello said that Antico capped it with 6" to 8" of gravel. Lela Chiavaras added that we don't know whether we want it recapped or not. Steve Rourke continued that right now is the time for INA to buy into capping if it's going to be done in the next few years...(by the new mayor). A discussion followed: If the City starts digging, they may have to do this major project under the current standards. Sam Picariello: Waltham designated the (dump/landfill) area as a playground in 1933. The capping depth is dependent upon the capping method. Lela Chiavaras: Mr. Flink of the DEP thought the walkway might be possible if surface testing showed no danger to the public in the area of the walkway. "DEP does look at alternative approaches" depending on what tests are done, so we need to look at Camp Dresser & McKee's (CDM's) testing. Sam Picariello: It's likely that the Pantos Building will be sold to Santangelo.
Adrian Wilkins, Membership Committee: Adrian's handout estimating costs for the June 19th Neighborhood Block Party: $50. For a restroom; $0-$50 for a pony; $50-$100 for total fixed costs; $2-$3/person for food.
If we charge $5./person, we'll break even at these costs. We will have advanced ticket sales and buy food based on total tickets presold. Adrian will sign the MDC permit application for Forest Grove Park. The particulars: the date is Saturday, June 19, 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with a rain date of June 26. Activities are listed on the handout sheet. Bill White will do the boat rides. The handout has a list of activities which need volunteer help.
Sam Picariello volunteered to do the shopping (with Tom Christopher to accompany Sam, as Tom will be the cook). Lela thinks $3/person will not cover food, soda and chips; she thinks the charge should be $5 or $6/person. Adrian says the amount bought will be based on presales, but folks can also bring pot luck contributions. Marc Rudnick thought it would just be easier to have a business donate $300 to pay for the whole event. Lela offered to look for funding. Adrian added that we can always buy more food. Lela and Bill White are of the opinion that the $5 should be a voluntary contribution as not everyone might be able to afford it.
Adrian continued that he wants to advance ticket sales to facilitate planning the event. Marc noted that presales will ensure that people show up. Lesya thought we could buy tickets for neighbors. Lela and Lesya volunteered to do door-to-door sales. Adrian will prepare the posters and the mail drop. Lela will go around with Kenny as he delivers papers. Adrian thought of having an invitation that would give free admission to the INA neighborhood party for joining INA. Lela can get the Lions' hot dog cart; Sam can lend some tables; Lela can get chairs from Brasco's if we help move them; Adrian needs gas grills; Laura will plan the children's activities; Bill White will help with cleanup and returning borrowed items; Bart will help with trash cleanup; Adrian and Jerry Leblanc will prepare/put up advertising posters; Sam will bring trash barrels; Steve will invite the politicians; Lela will do 2 flyer drops: June 4 and June 11; Bill noted that child will need to have a parent along to board his boat and children will be required to wear life jackets.
Sam Picariello: Capasso has a public hearing at Newton City Hall coming up.
Sam Picariello: The Cambridge Water Department will have a Cambridge Reservoir "Open House" on May 26 at 6:00 p.m. It will be a walkaround at Totten Pond Road.
Steve Rourke Improvement and Planning Committee: Colleen Coombs has agreed to help (she is present at this meeting). Steve will speak further with Jack Snaedecker.
Steve Rourke: Web Site: Jim found a good deal for web space, but Steve wants to keep the INA site on Jim's for a little while. (John Roll added that web domains are about to drop from $75 to $25.)
Steve Rourke: INA Mayoral Forum: Steve asked the mayoral candidates to come to an INA forum on July 14 or 28. Steve will also look into having a forum for the 12 at-large councilor candidates.
Laura Smith: 26 Park Street, a Waltham Committee Facility (This home is operated by the Waltham Committee, which manages 50 homes. The manager of this home is Nancy Hargraves.): Laura filled us in: On May 3, the facility house, which overlooks Logan Park had 3 police cruisers come to bodily restrain a resident. The supervisor of the facility told Laura that this resident has been a problem and added that this resident was restrained and watched 24 hours/day. Laura then went to the police station, where she was told that this home had 40 police calls in the previous 3 months, of which 12 were for this resident. This facility is a group home for the handicapped.
A discussion followed: We need to find out more about the home and its inhabitants for the neighborhood, especially the children. There is concern about the possibility that the inhabitants may be violent or have a record of sexual offenses. By law we may not get access to information, but issues raised here fall under community policing. We need to know more about this home and its residents. We need to get involved and become informed, in a careful way. We should invite the director of the home to meet with us, and should invite the residents and staff to join INA.
Steve Rourke: Next Executive Committee Meeting: June 16th, Wednesday. Jerry Leblanc: Jerry got a call from Mr. Laundry, City of Waltham, who said the City would try to fix the street lights. As well, Jerry called the City to suggest that they replace the chain link fence over Cram's Cove as the sidewalk is replaced.
Lela Chiavaras: has two copies of the Boston Magazine April article on health of the communities - Waltham did OK. Steve distributed membership directories. Steve moved, and it was seconded, to adjourn.
Respectfully submitted,
Joris Naiman