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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
VOL. 83 NO.173
Evan Busha and his mom Tedi-Ann, both of East Longmeadow, enjoy a day on the Southwick Rail Trail Monday. A new survey by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is seeking public help in prioritizing future funding for projects like the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail. (Photo by Frederick Gore) “The Pioneer Planning Commission is looking forward to the input from the communities because it will help us allocate our transportation dollars more effectively,” said David Elvine, a senior planner with the PVPC, of the survey. “This is an opportunity for people to weigh in and give feedback on what they see as projects that will greatly impact the region, what people see as being
high priority projects,” said Jeffrey LaValley, chair of the Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail’s Board of Directors. “Whether it has to do with bicycles and pedestrians, or whether it has to do with a major projects, like the (Interstate) 91 viaduct reconstruction.” “It’s really just an opportunity for people to tell the state what they should be doing to improve transportation at the local level,”
LaValley said, adding that the survey ‘fits in line with our mission.’ “We want to improve and promote alternative forms of transportation and reduce the burden on infrastructure.” “The state is making an effort to take the idea of reducing the stress on infrastructure seriously, by creating alternative transportation, for pedestrians specifically,” said Joseph Giffune, See Survey, Page 3
Suffield mining operation a concern for residents By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Residents of both Southwick and Suffield are worried a gravel and sand excavation business in Suffield, Conn., could affect their water. Department of Public Works Director Randy Brown said 30-40 residents of the two towns attended a Southwick Water Commission meeting last week to discuss the situation. “This is in Suffield, but it’s located within the Zone 2
75 cents
Project stalled by federal agency
Rail Trail touts survey By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Officials for the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail are seeking the public’s help in filling out a survey that will help prioritize how federal transportation funds will be spent in the coming years. Distributed through the Pioneer Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and conducted by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), “Transportation Improvement Projects that are Important to You” is an online survey that can be completed in under five minutes, according to the MPO. Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail have been distributing the survey throughout the Westfield community via email, and are hoping to get as many responses as possible before the September 5 deadline. “A total of $400 million in federal dollars is expected to be allocated to transportation improvement projects in the Pioneer Valley region over the next 20 years,” said the group in the email. “Responses to this survey will assist the MPO in developing a new way to evaluate future transportation improvement projects that will use federal funds.” The survey lists several significant transportation focus areas – paving, congestion, bike lanes/sidewalks/bus stops, bridges, etc. – and asks Pioneer Valley residents to rank them in order of importance to them. It also asks participants to list the frequency with which they drive, carpool, bike, walk, or utilize public transportation.
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” — George Bernard Shaw
area of Great Brook in Southwick, so it’s an area of concern,” said Brown. Lakeroad Materials is the mining company proposing to reopen excavation of the land, which was previously mined for sand and gravel. The land is located not far from South Pond on the Congamond Lakes. The operation ceased for about a decade and is set to start up again. Because the land is in Suffield, Southwick has no authority over the project.
“Even the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) has no say,” said Brown. “The Suffield Zoning Board approved it.” Brown has spoken with the CTDEEP and its Massachusetts counterpart and discovered that although the CTDEEP has no regulatory control over the project, owners of the property have been following the department’s guidelines. “They seem to be complying with CTDEEP recom-
A proposed gravel and sand excavation business near Lake Road in Suffield, Connecticut, has some Southwick and Suffield residents concerned about heavy equipment noise, traffic, and water quality issues due to the operation’s location near the South Pond of Congamond Lake. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
mendations,” he said. “But it is over an aquifer and I have asked that the concerns of Southwick residents be considered.” Water quality for drinking and the lakes is of concern, said Brown. “This is a mining operation, so there is the potential for run-off into the lake,” said Brown. “They’re going to be excavating material, so they could be changing the drainage patterns into the lakes.” Suffield residents complained not only about their concerns about water quality, but the approval process. A group of Suffield residents joined together to form the Congamond Lakes Environmental Protection Organization and has an attorney fighting the project on its behalf. Brown said he believes “the landowners have a right to start their operation” while the case goes to court. The aquifer supplies water to residents of Southwick, Westfield and West Springfield. “We’ll see where it goes,” Brown said. “We are monitoring the situation.” The Suffield Zoning and Planning Board held a continued hearing for a Special Permit Renewal for a Sand & Gravel Pit located at Griffin Road June 16. The applicant was Lakeroad Materials, LLC. Attorney Joseph Flynn represented the applicant along with Marek Kement, P.E. of See Mining, Page 3
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Conservation Commission admitted they have an elephant in the room, or on their agenda, but the real issue is how do you move an elephant which appears content with inaction? The discussion pertained to a city project to replace a stormwater pipe with an open ditch at 866 Shaker Road, specifically the sixth hole of the Shaker Farms Country Club. The elephant is the Army Corps of Engineers which has jurisdiction over all waterways and related water control structures in the country. Shaker Farms Country Club owner Dan Kotowitz, appearing before the Board of Public Works in October of 2013, said that “a huge amount of runoff” from the stormwater pipe collecting water in the Falley Drive neighborhood is flooding the course near the sixth green. Kotowitz said the sixth hole, a 565-yard uphill dogleg and the hardest hole on the course, lies at the bottom of the Shaker Heights bluff. Kotowitz said the water “is coming down onto our property” from the bluff and requested the Board of Public Works to take what action the city could take to eliminate that storm-related flooding. The city had already hired R. Levesque & Associates to design a solution to the problem prior to that meeting. The couple also appeared before the Conservation Commission at the Oct. 10th session to seek permission to remove the pipe carrying water under the course. Conservation Coordinator Karen Leigh said at that time that request is consistent with the Conservation Commission’s goal to return that area to its natural condition. Leigh said that the pipe is causing flooding, apparently because a section collapsed, when water seeps up through the soil. Leigh said the course owners “may also have to apply to the Army Corps of Engineers for additional permits, which could take some time.” Commissioner Tom Sharp raised the issue at the board’s meeting Tuesday (July 22) that the project is still on the committee’s agenda and that for months there has been no progress. “Get it off our radar,” Sharp said. “Take it off the agenda until the applicant has the data we need.” The project applicant is the city’s Engineering Department, working in conjunction with Levesque & Associates, to develop a solution to the drainage problem by “daylighting” the system, removing the drain pipe and allowing the stormwater to flow through a drainage ditch. The problem is that there has been no response from the Army Corps of Engineers as to whether they will assume an oversight role and allow the project to progress under local authority. “It’s not anything the applicant is doing,” Leigh said Tuesday. “It’s the Corps of Engineers.” Sharp suggested sending a letter to the Engineering Department warning that the commission may remove the project from its agenda. “Would it give the Engineering Department another arrow to shoot to get the Army Corps (of Engineers) to provide information?” Sharp asked. Commission Chairman David Doe and James Phillips both opposed that strategy. “I’d hate to make them start (the process) over,” Phillips said. City Engineer Mark Cressotti said Friday that he “understands the commission’s frustration, but I can’t move the Army Corps of Engineers.” The board then voted to continue the public hearing to its Aug. 12 session.
Feud gets noisy By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A city man has been charged after apparently intentionally annoying his neighbors. Officer Sean Smith responded to a noise complaint on Crown Street at 9:33 p.m. Thursday and reports that when he arrived he could hear loud music from Notre Dame Street when he was still more than 100 yards away from the source of the sound. When he arrived at the site of the music, 10 Crown St., he observed that stereo speakers had been set up in a window and a male party was on the porch. Smith saw the man go inside as he approached and reports that he thought the man was going inside to turn off the music but the noise continued and the man did not return. The officer reports that, after knocking on the door, the man responded and, when told to turn off the music, complied. When Smith subsequently spoke with the man he insisted that the city’s noise ordinance did not apply before 10 p.m. and Smith pointed out the statute prohibiting disturbing the peace is in force 24 hours a day. Smith noted that the man appears to be feuding with his neighbors and had placed his stereo speakers in his windows intentionally to annoy them. Smith reports that a criminal complaint was filed.