Medford Conservation Commission Approves Housing Authority Stormwater Permit Near Mystic River

MEDFORD -- December 7, 2022, Medford Conservation Commission unanimously approved a revised stormwater permit for a Medford Housing Authority project near the Mystic River. The commission voted 5-0 Wednesday to issue an Order of Conditions for the Salton Stahl building redevelopment after engineer Steve Sawyer of GM2 and consultant Tom Hughes of Hughes Environmental Consulting presented a substantially redesigned drainage plan addressing comments from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the commission. Key changes included converting a western-side basin to a bioretention system using 30 inches of engineered soil media to achieve 90 percent total suspended solids removal, and adding a new serpentine water quality swale on the eastern side to treat runoff that had previously discharged untreated toward the Mystic River. The permit carries a condition requiring a revised operations and maintenance plan, with explicit shrub-planting protection protocols, before construction may begin, after commissioners raised concerns about maintenance crews inadvertently mowing down native plantings including red osier dogwood, silky dogwood, and inkberry. Medford Housing Authority representative Gabe Cicerello assured the board the authority's maintenance staff would be trained to protect the new plantings.