Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Engineer: Plugging a hole, culvert to fix wetlands

By Mechele Cooper mcooper@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

CHELSEA -- Plugging a hole in a berm and replacing a culvert under a driveway will restore damaged wetlands on Windsor Road, an engineer says.

Jim Coffin of E.S. Coffin Engineering & Surveying Inc. in Chelsea has designed a restoration plan to repair wetlands drained during a project meant to prevent the road from flooding.

The drained wetlands led the state Department of Environmental Protection to issue a violation notice in December 2009.

The state said the town and contractor Marshall Swan violated state law for draining "a wetland of special significance" and a "significant waterfowl and wading bird habitat," and for doing the work without the proper state permits.

Amy Lemelin of the Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Land Resource Regulation met with Coffin last week and said his restoration plan is a good one.

"We haven't received the permit application yet," Lemelin said Wednesday. "But I do believe it will be within the next couple of weeks."

The project drew townwide scrutiny after the state issued its notice of violation. Afterward, it was learned the $53,000 contract was awarded to Swan on an emergency basis -- a claim disputed by some former town officials.

Eric Ham, project manager for the Maine Department of Environment's Division of Land Resource Regulation, said the town could either fix the damage or pay about $12,500 as an in-lieu fee to clear the violation.

The town has been investigating ways to fix the work by hiring a engineering consultant. Town officials have said the town would pay for permitting fees as well as the construction work.

Coffin wouldn't discuss his fee.

Ham said Lemelin had given the town a deadline for receiving the application for a permit to fix the violation.

Lemelin said she had hoped to have that in hand by June, but the town was unable to do so. Coffin has not been given a deadline for his work.

"He has been working well with the town, and we did not feel a deadline was necessary," Ham said.

Coffin said the problem is that a hole in the berm where Swan ditched along Windsor Road has allowed water to flow out of the wetlands.

In addition, Coffin said an abutter removed a culvert from beneath his driveway less than a mile down the road from where it intersects with Route 17.

"The wetlands are separated from the ditch with an earth mound, that's a berm. It's three or four feet higher than the ditch elevation, and the water right now is not allowed to go into the wetlands," Coffin said. "Once we fix that, along with abutter putting the culvert back, the problem will go away. It's going to get resolved."

Of the culvert, Coffin said, "We can't go in there and replace it. He would have to be the one to do it. This berm that has to be reconstructed is going to be on his property, so we need to get a signoff from him, too."

The abutter, Larry Pringle who lives on Gabradak Lane off Windsor Road, said he has been dealing with the issue on behalf of his daughter, Jennifer Lewis, who owns property beside the town's right of way where the work is to be done.

Pringle said the culvert was three feet above the water level and not functional.

"It was above the ones they had put in before the ones that are now in question," Pringle said. "There had been flooding over my road every year. Then when they put the new ones in, there was no need for me to have that one in."

"My road did cave in," he said, "so I removed the culvert and filled it in."

Pringle said he had asked the town for relief from flooding at his culvert, saying water rose six inches on one side of that section of Windsor Road during storms.

He said DEP representatives had contacted him last month and said they would provide him with a new culvert to install.

"The culvert never showed up," Pringle said.

Coffin said abutters will be notified by certified mail of an upcoming public meeting to discuss the project. All are welcome to attend the meeting, he said.

After the meeting, abutters will again receive notification when the town files for the permit from DEP.

"I anticipate having that filed by the middle of September," he said.

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com