We had an overnight snow storm (although calling it a “storm” may be an exaggeration) and the snow is still clinging to the trees behind our (current) house. Here is a picture of the snow covered branches with the sunrise behind.
I just finished watching the December 11th Concord Natural Resources Commission meeting and they approved our plan with no required changes beyond what we had proposed. Woo hoo.
They mentioned a bunch of clauses (by number in the meeting) that we have to adhere to, but I assume those were all expected.
In 2017, Concord, MA passed a tree preservation bylaw to encourage the preservation and protection of trees on residential lots during significant demolition and/or construction activity. Since we are planning both significant demolition and construction activity, the law applies to our project.
Basically, if you take down any trees over 6″ in diameter, you either have to plant replacement trees (adding up to 1/2 of the total diameter inches removed) or pay $350 per inch into the town’s tree fund. Unfortunately, we are forced to remove a lot of trees as part of this project. But there is some good news. The tree preservation bylaw does not include the trees in the 100′ wetlands zone. The trees within 100′ of the wetlands are handled by the Concord Natural Resource Commission, and although the NRC wants to see replacement plantings, there is no corresponding pay per inch bylaw for those trees.
Here is the current plot plan showing the disposition of the trees. TBR means “to be removed”. Anything to the right of the green line is in the 100′ near-wetlands zone and is not subject to the tree preservation bylaw. (The red line is the required setback for the building from the street, which has no impact on the trees, but has a big impact on the placement of the house.) All the trees subject to the bylaw have been numbered by the arborist (T1 – T15). Four of those trees have to be removed (T3 – T6, also marked a A – D). But two of those are too small to count. That leaves us with two 18″ diameter trees for which we need to compensate the town.
The arborist is proposing planting a total of 6 replacement trees, each with a 2″ diameter. That gets us to 12 total inches. Since we do not meet the threshold of 18 total inches (one half of what is being removed), we have to pay into the town tree fund for the rest – $2,250. We can still adjust the ratio of plantings to payment, and we have not figured out where the 6 new trees would go. But it could have been a lot worse.
Also added to the plan by the arborist are yellow boundaries, which will be tree protection fences. This is different from the siltation barrier that we also have to install during construction to protect the wetlands. The siltation barrier is shown on the plot as a thick dashed line.
By the way, the plan is to cut a wide path from the road through the foliage running between the two yellow tree protection fences, and right through tree D. That will be used as the access point for all construction vehicles and heavy equipment. When construction is done, we will replant that area.
The Natural Resources Commission meeting is scheduled for the evening of December 11th. We submitted our packet on November 20th, and now we wait for that meeting. Unfortunately, there seems to be five projects being discussed that evening so I do not know how late the meeting will run.
We are also waiting to hear back from the four builders to whom we submitted the design packet. All four have visited the property (although I was only there to meet with two of them). None have asked for extensions, so we expect to get their proposals on December 9th. Their details and pricing will then be collated by our architect and we will schedule meetings with each of them during the week of December 12th to select whom we will work with.
We also had an arborist visit the property to evaluate the trees that we need to remove and those we want to try to save. One tree we were hoping to save turns out to be too close to the proposed location for the new septic system so it has to come down. Tree removal is a big deal in Concord. Any trees that are not in the purview of the Natural Resources Commission are subject to a tree removal law, which means we have to replace them or pay the town based on the diameter of the tree. We will end up doing a mix of the two but I expect tens of thousand of dollars just to compensate the town for the loss of trees (welcome to the liberal Northeast).
Tomorrow we get the existing house evaluated for hazardous materials. I know that there was or is asbestos flooring, but we need an accurate assessment since it impact the demolition process. The one builder whom I talked to thought that the demolition process would only take a day, but I think that is being optimistic.
The two builders I did meet both estimated around 14 months for the build process (starting in April 2025). I am not holding my breath, but it would be nice not to have to drag out the process for years.
Finally, last weekend, we actually started the build process. Ben and I went to the property and replaced the old mailbox with a brand new one. One with a working door (the old one’s door had long since broken off). Here is a picture of the new mailbox (sorry, I obscured the house number). Fortunately, the post was still in good shape, since replacing the post would probably have been beyond my abilities.
This is a view from our (eventual) backyard taken on November 17th. The water level is quite low.
This is approximately the same view one week later. There were a few inches of rain the day before and you can see the difference in the water level in our little inlet.
We have been scouting where we will trample our path down to the river to put in our boats. We are allowed by law to have an unimproved path on our property through the wetlands to the river. Since we can not really remove or cut any non-invasive vegetation, this means that we will trample our way to the river, in hopes that eventually we have a dirt path.
The path will go to the right of that tree you see, but then angle towards the inlet and follow the edge of the inlet towards the river proper. If the water level is high, we will put boats in on the side of the inlet. If the water level is low, we will go further to the river. At least that is the plan.
Today, our engineering firm submitted a packet to the Concord Natural Resource Commission describing our project. Now we wait for the first hearing, which is December 11th. There will probably be a second hearing in January (and hopefully that will be it).
You can click on the text image above to read the whole (one page) narrative for the project. I am not posting the entire package (it’s mostly a lot of forms and a few diagrams). But once we get through the approval, I will add a story page about the whole process.
This morning the Concord Water Department came by the house and ripped out the water meter, literally. This is the first step in shutting off water to the property. The next step is to make a hole in our driveway to turn off the valve.
This has to be done before we demolish the house and I felt that I might as well get it done before winter to reduce the possibility of a water problem due to frozen pipes (even though I have the heat on in the house, set at 50F).
As part of the build process, the water department will have to dig up the street in front of the house and put in a new water pipe from the street to the house. But we will deal with that later.
Meanwhile, last minute preparations are being done to submit our plans to the Concord Natural Resources Commission. The submission is due today (Nov 20) for a first hearing on December 11th. As part of the process, we discovered that the initial survey did not include all the trees on the South side of the proposed house location, and when we corrected that we found four more trees that need to be taken down. Sigh.
Since the Sudbury River house will be within 100′ of wetlands, the Concord Natural Resource Commission has the power to approve or decline the plan to build our new house (which means we would be forced to adjust the plans). On the negative side, we are increasing the footprint of the house to be approximately double that of the existing house. We are also taking down 4 trees within the 100′ zone (plus 3 or 4 more outside of the 100′ zone). On the plus side, we will be volunteering to relocate the septic system. The existing septic system is closer than 50′ to the wetlands, and the proposed replacement (which will not be any larger) will be completely outside of the 100′ zone. We will also be removing the old house, a corner of which currently intrudes into the 50′ feet no-build zone, but is grandfathered in place.
The other thing we will add to our proposal, on the plus side of the equation, is our plan to remove invasive species and add (plant) a lot of native trees and plants. When we meet with the Natural Resources Commission, we have to include the plans for this, at least the portions of which fall within the 100′ zone. Today, we reviewed the first pass of a plan from our landscape architect.
This is the plan. The big circles that are empty except for a single dot and the letters “EX” are existing trees. None of those will be removed or impacted. Everything else that is round is new. (Although the three LP tanks on the side of the garage are not technically native plants). You can also see the proposed granite tiled walkway that will lead from the driveway to the front door and to the deck.
(The current plan is to actually block the entrance to the deck from the walkway with a moveable planter. The reason is encourage package deliveries and guests to use the front door. During an outdoor party, we can move the planter and have our friends just go directly onto the deck.)
The river side of the house will have a small lawn, which is not marked, but already exists. This will be mostly in front of the living room, at center of the house, within the 50′ zone (it is grandfathered in place). The area between the front of the house and the road (bottom of the diagram) is still under discussion. It will be above the septic system so planting things with large roots is not possible. We are thinking of a small lawn for sitting outside or a small meadow area. But, since it is outside of the 100′ zone, we do not have to make a decision at this time.
There is currently a line of thick vegetation at the edge of the road hiding the house from the road. We will be forced to cut some of this down during the build process to provide a path for the heavy equipment, but we plan on replacing that vegetation boundary once the house is built. It provides some nice noise isolation from the road (although the road is not a busy street).
For reference, here is the current list of proposed trees and plants. If you have any opinions, you are free to add a comment.
Our next step is to review this proposal so the entire documentation packet can be put together for the Natural Resources Commission by November 20th (the deadline to make the December 11th meeting).
By the way, in case you were wondering, the Natural Resource Commission will monitor the plantings that we put in place for five years and require us to replace anything that dies. I think they do this with a yearly site visit, but I am not completely sure of the details. We will need to be diligent about watering to get it properly established.
We have selected four builders / general contractors from which to solicit initial bids on our project and four packets went out today. I have included a copy of the cover letter below so you can get an idea of the process.
The preliminary drawings and specifications include a lot of details, all the way down to fixtures, trim and downspouts. All four builders were previously contacted and expressed interest so this is not a surprise to them (other than being a week later than promised).
I am not going to post all the details from the packet, but I will share this updated picture showing the house seen from the river side. It has siding, windows, deck railings and under-deck lattice. (And downspouts.)
Next for us is a review of the initial proposal for the landscaping that we plan on submitting to the natural resources commission as part of the approval process. They also get all the specifications we have prepared (and although the NRC does not care about fixtures, they do care about downspouts, foundations, septic systems, everything external to the house and counting the rooms.
This picture is the Sudbury River in Concord, just downstream of our new property (which is around the bend in the distance).
I have also been taking my camera around town (Arlington, Lexington and Cambridge) to capture more fall pictures. You can see some selected images in my Nature Around Town gallery.
Here are some other pictures, which may encourage you to check out the gallery.
And here is one more, although not of fall colors. This snapping turtle was on the observation platform in the Alewife Brook Reservation area. He is not going to fit in the gap under the railing so he has a long walk back to get to the water. (I decided not to help him.)
