Medford Conservation Commission Continues Winchester Dam Hearing Over Wetland Mitigation Concerns

MEDFORD -- October 18, 2023, Medford Conservation Commission continues Winchester dam rehab hearing over wetland replication shortfall. The commission voted unanimously Wednesday to continue to November 1 a public hearing on the Town of Winchester's Notice of Intent to rehabilitate the South Reservoir Dam in the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a 1880s-era structure rated structurally deficient in 2020 and now under a Massachusetts Office of Dam Safety noncompliance order. Engineers Michael De Palma and Haley Page of Weston and Sampson presented a scope that includes regrading upstream and downstream slopes, installing a seepage filter blanket, and removing 147 trees, impacts totaling more than 74,000 square feet across five resource areas. Commission members challenged the applicants' classification of certain wetland impacts as temporary, noting that Office of Dam Safety rules permanently bar wetlands within 20 feet of the dam's toe, and questioned whether a proposed 1,200-square-foot replication area adequately offsets 10,400 square feet of bordering vegetated wetland impacts and a loss of 144 cubic yards of flood storage. The commission requested a cut-and-fill table, clarification on the wildlife habitat evaluation requirement, more detailed erosion control maintenance triggers, and a coordination plan with Medford's tree warden for off-site tree restoration before the continued hearing.