Conservation Commission Meeting: February 18, 2025
7:00 pm Annex (large) and Virtual
6 Town Hall Dr, Princeton 01541
Published on: September 29, 2025 at 1:25pm
Last modified: September 29, 2025 at 1:47pm
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“The listings of matters are those reasonably anticipated by the Chair 48 hours before said meeting, which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.”
AGENDA — Princeton Conservation Commission
1. RDA – Polar Express Lift Upgrade at Wachusett Mountain
2. MACC Conference
3. Policies and Procedures discussion
4. Approval of Minutes from January
OTHER BUSINESS
- Building Permit subcommittee update
- Forest Cutting plans
- Commission business; correspondence; mail; procedures; etc.
The next meeting of the PCC is scheduled for March 18, 2025
Note: this public meeting and public hearing were conducted in person at the Annex, with a remote teleconferencing option available for public participation. Public participation details were posted with the agenda.
Members in attendance: Brian Keevan, Holly Palmgren, Jennifer Vuona, Bonnie Hirsh
Members in attendance remotely: n/a
Applicants and others in attendance: Larry Greene, Jr., Jeff Hoodlet
Applicants and others in attendance remotely: none
Votes taken in the following actions are “all in favor” unless noted otherwise.
Holly Palmgren called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM.
Item 1: 7:03 P.M. Request for Determination of Applicability submitted by McCarty Engineering for upgrade of ski chair lift at Wachusett Mountain. Larry Greene, Jr. of McCarty Engineering presented on behalf of WMA. A site visit was held on November 24, 2024, with Gerry, Bonnie, Brian, Larry Greene, Jr., and Alex from WMA in attendance. High speed quad lift (the ‘Polar Express’) will be replaced with a ‘six-pack’ lift. Regulated wetland resources exist adjacent to the ski trail that contains the lift uphill as far as the paved road. Nine (9) towers are to be removed and replaced with seven (7) towers. Existing concrete bases will be left in the ground but loamed over. New excavation for each tower base will be 12 foot by 12 foot square, and will need to be deep enough to meet the specifications of the manufacturer and cannot be pinned into bedrock at shallower depths, meaning bedrock may need to be excavated. The Commission discussed several conditions to be included with a Determination:
- erosion controls to protect both ponds from the exposed soil in the grassed area that will be disturbed during construction,
- at least 100 feet of extra erosion control on site,
- notification to the PCC after at least two of the bases are installed so the PCC can conduct a site visit to inspect,
- and for the applicant to check for erosion issues before and after storm events given the likely travel-related disturbance to the slopes during construction.
The Commission voted to issue a Negative Determination category #3 at 7:27 p.m. with the conditions as described above.
Item 2: Not on the agenda. Larry updated PCC on upcoming DPW projects. Westminster Road will be milled and paved from Mountain Road at least to Harrington Farm this summer, and Sam Cobb will see a full depth reclamation and paving this summer as well.
Item 3: After discussion with Jeff the PCC voted for Jeff Hoodlet to become an Associate Member, and to offer him reimbursement if he wants to attend the MACC conference at Holy Cross on March 1.
Item 4: Policies and procedures discussion tabled by unanimous consent, and last meeting’s minutes were not ready and the vote to approve was postponed to the next meeting.
Item 5: Holly received an updated set of plans from NEADS that includes changes to comply with comments received from DCR and DEP for their project (DEP file 267-0462); pervious pavement parking spaces will now instead be regular pavement. There is still a reduction in overall impervious area on the site. At 7:54 the PCC voted to approve the updates without needing an amended Order of Conditions.
Item 6: 7:55 p.m. Holly was notified that DCR told the town that Princeton needs to enact a floodplain policy or bylaw to prohibit building in a floodplain in order to comply with a notice from FEMA. The Commission was asked to review. Holly will contact Sherry and inform her that the PCC feels that we should not take on the role of reviewing compliance with such a bylaw but would be amenable to reviewing consultant reports/comments for projects subject to such a bylaw.
OTHER BUSINESS
- Building Permit subcommittee update: None
- Forest Cutting plans: None.
- Commission business; correspondence; mail; procedures; etc. None
The next meeting of the PCC is scheduled for March 18, 2025.
Commissioners voted to adjourn at 8:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Brian Keevan
Documents received/reviewed:
Ski lift tower upgrade plans
NEADS updated plan