EMC appeals DEP decision
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Westborough - EMC Corp., refusing to be deterred from its plans to erect a 10-building office park in Westborough and Southborough, has filed paperwork appealing the decision of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to uphold a denial of EMC by the Westborough Conservation Commission (WCC).

The EMC appeal was made to the DEP's Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution.

On Jan. 29, the DEP upheld, in writing, the WCC's denial of EMC's site plan. EMC had 10 business days from the date of the DEP decision to file an appeal or to submit the data the WCC asked for during its site plan review. EMC appeal the DEP decision Feb. 12.

In October 2007, the WCC and Derek Saari, Westborough's Assistant Conservation Officer and Assistant Town Planner, issued a 29-page denial of EMC's proposal to build the office park on 445 acres that straddle the two towns.

The focus of the WCC denial, in addition to the nonsubmittal of the requested forms, was EMC's inability to assure the commission that the construction would not worsen flooding or damage wetlands in the area.

"From an environmental standpoint, that's a really fragile area," Saari explained. "The commission's concern was not only how the construction would affect the immediate area, but the surrounding areas, too, that are indirectly aff ected - but greatly aff ected - in a project like this."

Joe Ferson, the DEP's representative in this matter, said the next step in the process is a Tuesday March 11 meeting in which EMC, the WCC and the DEP will exchange information and confirm that all parties have all the documents that they need and that all parties have all the same documents.

Following the March 11 meeting, all parties will be asked to appear at a Tuesday June 10 hearing. Both the meeting and the hearing will be officiated by an administrative law judge.

The WCC's denial explained that part of the reason for the denial was based on the adverse eff ect the project would have on several components covered by the Wetlands Protection Act, including storm damage prevention, flood control, the public water supply, the private water supply, groundwater supply, fisheries, prevention of pollution and protection of wildlife habitat.

EMC first unveiled plans for this project in 2000. Representatives from EMC, or the law firm which represents it - McCarter and English - did not respond to voicemail or e-mail messages left regarding the decision to appeal the DEP's upholding of the WCC's denial.

Saari said the recent rain and snowstorms the area has endured have served as reallife examples of the problems the WCC envisioned when it determined the proposed area was unfit for the project.

"We've had several major storms since the DEP upheld our decision on Jan. 29," Saari said. "And it's exactly what we needed to show the merit of our concerns. It's one thing to be able to say, 'We believe this is what will happen if you allow this project to go forward,' but being able to show tangible results of what will happen has a lot more impact."

Saari said the concerns that have been highlighted by the recent storm activity focus primarily on the areas of storm damage prevention and flood control.

"Everything is at full capacity - the catch basins, the culverts," Saari said. "All the concerns we listed have been brought out by these storms. We're documenting it all and we'll bring our results to the meeting and the hearing."