BRANDON PLANNING COMMISSION

AUG. 20, 2008

Planning Commissioners present: Ethan Swift, Linda Stewart, Matt Carmolli, Anne Bransfield, Lynn Saunders, Jon Andrews

Others present: Janet Mondlak, Charles Jakiela, Ray Counter, Marcel Belaval and Doug Heath of EPA New England.

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.

Brandon Aquifer and the Neshobe River

Marcel Belaval and Doug Heath of EPA New England gave a presentation on the Investigation of the Hydraulic Connection between Groundwater and the Neshobe River at the Brandon Public Water Supply.

Marcel said that EPA New England was requested to conduct a site assessment. PW-2 and PW-3 are near Spring Pond. PW-1 is on the east side of the Neshobe River, also in Forest Dale.

There were three goals:

1) Does the pumping of supply wells draw in surface water?

2) Is there a clay confining layer in the area of wells PW-2 and PW-3?

3) In general, is the river recharging the aquifer in this area?

Marcel showed a slide presentation and explained how EPA New England conducted their investigation. He said that they have concluded the Neshobe River does recharge the aquifer in the area around PW-1. He said for aquifer protection, there should be concerns about surface impacts.

Goal one (Does the pumping of supply wells draw in surface water?) conclusions:

• Level of the surface water does not change in response to pumping.
• Water coming from aquifer storage
• No "direct connection" between pumping wells PW-2 and PW-3 and the nearby surface water.

Goal two (Is there a clay confining layer in the area of wells PW-2 and PW-3?) conclusions:

• Clay not found in cores retrieved 170 feet away from PW-2
• 25 ft thick layer of fine sediment DOES slow the downward flow of groundwater, but does not stop it.
• Aquifer is unconfined.

Goal three (In general, is the river recharging the aquifer in this area?) conclusions :

• Yes, the river loses water to the groundwater.
• Consistent with "big picture" of river moving from till uplands to valley sediments.
• River likely acts as a recharge boundary for groundwater flow to all three supply wells.

Further conclusions: Implications for river as a "recharge boundary"

• Zone of contribution for wells based on aquifer properties and topography not river boundaries.
• Zone of contribution likely less than calculated originally.
• Existing source protection area more than adequate to cover the zone of contribution.

Marcel said if there is a contamination on the PW-1 side of the river, it would be unlikely to contaminate PW-3 and PW-2.  He said it is probably advantageous that the wells are on different sides of the river. Marcel said he said he thinks the protection in place is adequate. He could not say if it is excessive without further data. He did say that the river is definitely important to protect.

Marcel said scientifically, it makes sense that the zone of protection should move up the river. Ethan asked "at what point does it become a losing stream?" and Marcel showed the location on the slide. Doug said the town boundary is about two miles upstream.

The water quality of all the tributaries affects the Brandon aquifer. Ethan said many of them are protected and in the federal forest land, but one large truck spill in the area could be very dangerous. Marcel said without a confining area, PW-1 is an unconfined aquifer.

Charlie asked at what point the danger of contamination starts to diminish. Marcel said the message is to mitigate the potential problems. Spills a certain distance away still get into the groundwater. Distance from the river isn't a predictor of less severity of an accident. Distance from the well is important and a better way to think about it.

Charlie explained the zoning of the Aquifer district. Doug suggested having the State review EPA New England's report and see if they have any recommendations regarding zoning and river protection.

Groundwater assessment on McConnell Rd.

Marcel said VT Geological Surveys has done some work to try to identify good areas for wells. There are good sand and gravels on McConnell Rd. They have done some seismic lines to see if they could identify gravels and the top of bedrock. He said he understands that with what has been so far, it looks promising. There is some follow up work planned in October or November. Ray said there are no definite conclusions yet. Doug said this is part of the Jones Brook.

Marcel said it is a result of Ray Counter's pro-active work that this type of study has been conducted and without local expense. Ethan said anything the Commission can do for prevention would be helpful. Once there is contamination, it is very problematic and expensive to clean it up.

Ray said in the source protection area, any activity that he knows about, such as septics or underground tanks, is documented. The Fire District tries to work with property owners if there are risks.

Charlie said depending on how much of the aquifer is being recharged from the river could change the protections. Marcel said that is still unknown. Doug said it changes over time and seasonally but there could be maximums / minimums. Ethan said perhaps a goal could be to better delineate in order to better inform the protection area. Lynn said the biggest danger would be a spill on Route 73.

The Board had a discussion with Ray regarding the protection zone. Ray said there is a process for changing the source protection area as identified by the Fire District. We need to look beyond the delineated source protection area. Ethan said if we identify a new district on McConnell Rd., we can revise the other areas. Lynn said changing the aquifer zone in the land use ordinance would not require anything from the Fire District. Charlie said the Aquifer and the source protection area are now one and the same but they don’t have to be.

Ray said any Emergency Response planning from the Fire District is only for the source protection area. He said since the river is so connected to the aquifer, there should be more about this in the town's emergency plan.

Town Plan update

Ethan has a CD of the latest updates of the town plan sections. It will be posted on the town website and noticed that it is on the website. Lynn suggested that the Selectboard have the opportunity to review the changes before they are made public. There are two tracked change versions. One from the original changes and one from after the RRPC's technical review and Commissioners' further tracked changes. Charlie said a tracked change document is confusing. He suggested giving the public a clean copy but making available the tracked changes. Ethan will get the versions to the Selectboard and let them know that the Commissioners would like to begin the public review process at the beginning of October.

Charlie left the meeting at 8:40 pm.

Zoning Administrator

There was discussion about the process for the zoning administrator selection. Ethan will communicate further with the Selectboard on this.

Next Meeting(s)

Anne said Paul Costello of the VT Council on Rural Development is willing to come to a Planning Commission meeting in September to discuss the Creative Economy

The Commissioners would also like to meet with the Selectboard in Sept.

Ethan will schedule dates and get information out.

Minutes - Motion by Andrews/Bransfield to approve the minutes of the July 21, 2008 meeting as written. Passed.

Adjourn - Being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted

____________________
Janet Mondlak, Recording Secretary