Medford Conservation Commission Approves Ronnelly Road Addition With Stormwater Conditions

MEDFORD — December 16, 2020 — Medford Conservation Commission unanimously clears a rear-addition project on Ronnelly Road with conditions, and hears a promising update on a $40,000 Mystic River stormwater project. The commission voted 5-0 to issue a Negative Determination 3 for an RDA filed by Martin and Suzette Frazier of 30 Ronnelly Road, allowing demolition of an existing screened porch and construction of a 240-square-foot dining room addition and elevated deck within the 100-foot buffer zone of a bordering vegetated wetland and an intermittent stream connecting to Whittemore Brook. General contractor Bill Darnell estimated the net new impervious surface at roughly 120 square feet. The approval is conditioned on submission of engineered infiltration plans — a dry well not included in the original application — to the city's engineering department, with a copy to Conservation staff, and on an on-site inspection of erosion controls before work proceeds. One commissioner cautioned that "it's a bunch of small cuts" when neighbors follow each other into buffer zones. Separately, Conservation staff reported that City Council received an informational presentation on a proposed stormwater best management practice at Riverside Avenue, backed by $40,000 in Community Preservation Commission funds, with DCR preliminarily agreeing to remove a bituminous swale under the planned Clipper Ship Trail boardwalk.