Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Office Environmental Notification Form For Office Use Only EEA#: ____________________ MEPA Analyst: The information requested on this form must be completed in order to submit a document electronically for review under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, 301 CMR 11.00. Project Name: Woburn Fire Headquarters Street Address: 731 Main Street Municipality: Woburn Watershed: Aberjona River Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinates: Latitude: 42° 29’ 45.77” N Longitude: 71° 09’ 18.49 Estimated commencement date: May 2021 Estimated completion date: June 2022 Project Type: New Fire Station Status of project design: 80% complete Proponent: Scott Galvin, Mayor, City of Woburn Street Address: City Hall, 10 Common Street Municipality: Woburn State: MA Zip Code: 01801 Name of Contact Person: Janet Carter Bernardo, P.E. Firm/Agency: Horsley Witten Group, Inc. Street Address: 90 Route 6A Municipality: Sandwich State: MA Zip Code: 02563 Phone: (508) 833-6600 Fax: (508) 833-3150 E-mail: [email protected] Does this project meet or exceed a mandatory EIR threshold (see 301 CMR 11.03)? Yes No If this is an Expanded Environmental Notification Form (ENF) (see 301 CMR 11.05(7)) or a Notice of Project Change (NPC), are you requesting: a Single EIR? (see 301 CMR 11.06(8)) Yes No a Special Review Procedure? (see 301CMR 11.09) Yes No a Waiver of mandatory EIR? (see 301 CMR 11.11) Yes No a Phase I Waiver? (see 301 CMR 11.11) Yes No (Note: Greenhouse Gas Emissions analysis must be included in the Expanded ENF.) Which MEPA review threshold(s) does the project meet or exceed (see 301 CMR 11.03)? (1) Land (b) 3. Conversion of land held for natural resources purposes in accordance with Article 97 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth to any purpose not in accordance with Article 97. Which State Agency Permits will the project require? A curb cut permit to access a state highway is required from Mass DOT. Identify any financial assistance or land transfer from an Agency of the Commonwealth, including the Agency name and the amount of funding or land area in acres: None. Effective January 2011 Summary of Project Size Existing Change Total & Environmental Impacts LAND Total site acreage 3.16 ac. New acres of land altered 3.16 ac. Acres of impervious area 0 1.56 ac. 1.56 ac. Square feet of new bordering 0 vegetated wetlands alteration Square feet of new other wetland 0 alteration Acres of new non-water dependent 0 use of tidelands or waterways STRUCTURES Gross square footage 0 33,800 GSF 33,800 GSF Number of housing units 0 0 - Maximum height (feet) 0 45’-3” 45’-3” TRANSPORTATION Vehicle trips per day 0 122 122 Parking spaces 0 47 47 WASTEWATER Water Use (Gallons per day) 0 1,000 1,000 Water withdrawal (GPD) N/A N/A 0 Wastewater generation/treatment 0 1,000 1,000 (GPD) Length of water mains (miles) 0 0 0 Length of sewer mains (miles) 0 0 0 Has this project been filed with MEPA before? Yes (EEA # ) No Has any project on this site been filed with MEPA before? Yes (EEA # ) No - 2 - GENERAL PROJECT INFORMATION – all proponents must fill out this section PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Describe the existing conditions and land uses on the project site: The Project Site for the new Fire Headquarters is part of Forest Park, a 35.14-acre, City-owned site that features walking trails and recreational fields. The 3.16-acre parcel to be used for the Fire Headquarters fronts Main Street / Route 38. The Project Site is currently undeveloped with residential neighborhoods to the north and south. The project area generally slopes from the east towards Main Street. The Site is moderately wooded, with eastern white pine, Norway maple, hickory, etc. Ledge outcrops and large boulders are visible. There is a gated emergency vehicle access off Main Street. Refer to Figures 1-5 for the USGS Map, Aerial Locus, FEMA Flood Zones, Environmental Constraints, and Soils Map for the site. The Project Site does not contain any rare or endangered species or habitat. No wetlands or geologically significant features are located within the 3.16-acres being developed. At the opposite end of the Forest Park 35.14-acre parcel is a recreational area which includes two baseball diamonds and a playground known as Weafer Park. Weafer Park is located at 30 Forest Park Road and serves as the sole public entrance to the parcel. This recreational area will not be impacted by the proposed fire headquarters. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) soil survey of Middlesex County Massachusetts, (2009), the site consists of primarily Narragansett-Hollis- Rock outcrop. The hydrologic soil group (HSG) associated with these soils is A; a series of borings were performed between September 19 and 23, 2019 and April 16 and 17, 2020 to better characterize the soils. Borings generally revealed soils that consisted of Topsoil and Subsoil overlying sand/Sand and Gravel, Glacial Till, and Bedrock. The Soil Survey Map is included as Figure 5 and the Geotechnical Recommendations, dated May 4, 2020, are included as Attachment A. House Bill H.4636 authorizing Woburn to use this land for fire station purposes was approved by the legislature and signed by the Governor on June 19, 2020. Describe the proposed project and its programmatic and physical elements: The Fire Headquarters project consists of two new buildings to be constructed on the 3.16-acre parcel. The building designated as the Headquarters is a 27,000 GSF, two-story structure constructed along the Main Street frontage and consists of the apparatus bays with support spaces, central administration offices for the fire department, a meeting room that will be available to the public, and second floor dormitory facilities for the firefighters assigned to this station. At the rear of the site will be constructed a stand-alone, single-story 6,800 GSF maintenance building for repair of firefighting vehicles and equipment. Site development includes a new parking lot with 47 spaces, an apron in front of the apparatus bays deep enough to pull a tower truck outside the bay, and a driveway accessing the maintenance building and rear apparatus bay doors at the rear of the site. A new communications tower will be constructed at the rear of the site, and the trailhead of the existing walking trail will be maintained and improved for public use from the new parking lot. Catch basins and water quality units have been designed to capture and treat runoff from paved areas including driveways, walkways, and the parking lot. The water quality units use hydrodynamic separation to filter sediment and pollutants out of runoff. Subsurface Infiltration System 1 is a Contech 54” Perforated CMP system and Subsurface Infiltration System 2 consists of 36 Stormtech MC-3500 - 3 - chambers sized to provide adequate groundwater recharge for the proposed impervious surfaces and to attenuate the peak flow rate of precipitation events up to the 25-year 24-hour storm event. Site preparation work for the project will take approximately four months and building construction approximately 14 months. The project site is immediately adjacent to the Massachusetts Route 38 interchange at Massachusetts Route 128/ Interstate 95, meaning construction traffic will have very little neighborhood impact. It should be noted that the Woburn Fire Department will be responding to emergencies on Interstate 95 from this station making highway access ideal. There is adequate water and sewer capacity in Main Street, and city fire alarm cabling had been extended to the site for the future construction of a fire station some years ago. The Woburn Fire Department Facilities Upgrades presentation conducted on July 17, 2019, included as Attachment B provides additional information on the proposed project and programming. NOTE: The project description should summarize both the project’s direct and indirect impacts (including construction period impacts) in terms of their magnitude, geographic extent, duration and frequency, and reversibility, as applicable. It should also discuss the infrastructure requirements of the project and the capacity of the municipal and/or regional infrastructure to sustain these requirements into the future. Describe the on-site project alternatives (and alternative off-site locations, if applicable), considered by the proponent, including at least one feasible alternative that is allowed under current zoning, and the reasons(s) that they were not selected as the preferred alternative: The City of Woburn is currently served by five fire stations ranging from 40 to 120 years old. The five stations of the Woburn Fire Department are located at: • Station Headquarters – 124 Main Street • Station No. 2 – 907 Main Street • Station No. 3 – 654 Main Street • Station No. 4 – 38 Central Street • Station No. 5 – 125 Lexington Street A feasibility study was performed to study the existing stations’ physical condition and their ability to be successfully renovated and/or expanded to suit current firefighting needs. Because some of the existing sites were too deemed small to allow for expansion, or were less than optimally located, several city-owned and privately-owned sites were also considered for new stations. Emergency response times for several combinations of sites were calculated by a specialist in the field using computer modeling and the latest city GPS and demographics data and urban growth trends. The feasibility study considered five different sites as potential locations for a new fire headquarters building and new or renovated substations. Constraints maps for the five locations considered are included as Attachment C. 1. Existing Station No.