EMC, ConCom at impasse; public hearing closed
By Catie Foertsch Community Reporter

Westborough - The Conservation Commission (ConCom) has repeatedly asked EMC for information about stormwater drainage from its proposed development so the ConCom could determine whether that drainage would undermine Flanders Road, flood private properties or overwhelm Whittemore Pond.

But EMC has insisted that the ConCom is exceeding its authority by making those requests, and has refused to supply the information.

On Sept. 26, the ConCom again asked for the numbers and EMC again said the Con- Com had no right to ask for them. ConCom Chair Ted Brady closed the public hearing, and the ConCom now has 21 days to issue its decision.

EMC owns 445 acres in Westborough and Southborough, and plans to build an eight-building office and R&D park. The acreage is made up of two parcels, and EMC wants to build a roadway across a wetlands to connect the two parcels. It needs the permission of the ConCom to build that roadway.

At the meeting, EMC's attorney Chris Toomey of McCarter English told the ConCom that it was outside the ConCom's jurisdiction to ask for or consider information on the impact of the larger project, as EMC was only asking for permission to build the roadway across the wetlands.

"We are willing to continue the hearing if the ConCom approves the wetland crossing," Toomey said. "If there is no wetland crossing, we don't have a project here."

Toomey told the ConCom that EMC was "not going to provide information that's irrelevant to the decision" to allow the crossing.

ConCom member Gerald Cushing told Toomey that considering just one aspect of the project "had the potential to adversely impact the job the ConCom is required to do. You said other aspects of the project are irrelevant. I argue that they are very relevant."

Assistant Conservation Agent Derek Saari told EMC's representatives that the Con- Com was empowered to consider how stormwater runoff from a particular development would impact surrounding properties and town roadways, and to ask for information that would allow it to make sure the interests of the Wetlands Protection Act were protected.

The ConCom was not speaking about the development of the lots within the project, Saari said, but just on the impact of the proposed roadway.

"Three thousand lineal feet of industrial roadway that's 32 to 36 feet wide is a tremendous amount of impervious surface," Saari said.

According to Saari, the Con- Com would not be doing its job if it approved the wetlands crossing and drainage from the roadway across the wetlands then caused flooding on Flanders, which already floods during heavy rains.

Toomey told the ConCom that its concerns about flooding and its demands for more information "are not supported in the regulations or statutes."

The ConCom has received letters from the owners of 191, 195, 201 and 203 Flanders, who are concerned that EMC's development will flood their properties. Representatives of those property owners have been attending the ConCom's meetings with EMC, and have contended that EMC has no right to discharge drainage from its development across their properties.

The ConCom has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday Oct. 16 to issue its decision.