GREENFIELD — The Franklin County Agricultural Society is seeking a permit from the city’s Conservation Commission so it can begin work on a slope at the back of the fairgrounds that has had issues with an embankment collapse and mudslides.
Society President Michael Nelson said the society, which owns and runs the fairgrounds on Wisdom Way, has come before the Conservation Commission several times but has had to postpone the process.
“We’ve been working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for a couple of years on plans to mitigate the effects of the mudslide,” Nelson said. “The slope is above Linwood Street and has to be repaired.”
Nelson said the society and Natural Resources Conservation Service are creating plans that would have the least economic impact to the area — across a field behind where the Ferris wheel has been located for many years.
“The final engineering plan has come to us and we’ll be presenting it to the Con Com in May,” he said. “We thought we had one in January, but then we talked with the (state Department of Environmental Protection). The agency made some suggestions about how we could alter the plans.”
Nelson said while the society has been on the Conservation Commission’s agenda at each meeting since January, it has been postponed. It will be at least one more time before the May 11 presentation.
“Once we are permitted, we’ll move forward,” he said. “The plan is to install a water relocation system.”
Over the past three years, the increasing underground water has caused four new streams to form beneath the soil of the fairgrounds, and it found its outlet within the embankment on the northern side of the property, Nelson explained. The excessive water has caused the soil to destabilize and wash away on multiple occasions, and directly below the area are three homes continuously affected by mudslides.
Nelson said at least a dozen trees have fallen because of the erosion.
In March 2011, the same land ridge failed about 1,000 feet away at Green River Cemetery and 3,000 cubic yards of mud slid into the neighborhood below.
On Wisdom Way, which is located on the same ridge, the area is collapsing, and the state Department of Transportation is planning a multimillion dollar project to repair that area.
The Conservation Commission will review the project — the repair for an area where slope failure has already occurred and may continue — and consider the proposed disturbance to resource areas included in the buffer zone to bordering vegetated wetlands and the Greenfield Wetlands Protection Ordinance 25-foot No Disturbance Zone.
Nelson explained that water collects on the midway and moves down to the slope that is eroding. He said the underground streams there also add to the problem.
“We’ll also put in a drain system,” he said. “Once we have those installed, we’ll shore up the areas that need it.”
Nelson said riprap — loose stone used to form a foundation — will be used and new vegetation will be planted.
Western Earthworks, an excavation and landscape construction company in Florence, has been contracted to do the work. Nelson said its bid — the lowest — came in at $201,000. A $96,000 grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service will be used, leaving the society to come up with the balance of $106,000.
“It’s been a tough year with COVID, and we’ve been fighting to stay afloat, but we’re committed to doing this,” Nelson said. “We’ve cautiously examined our budget and we’re at a bare bones level.”
Nelson said because the society had a couple of “good years” before the pandemic hit, it has a little savings. About $25,000 can be used for the project. Donors have also been kind but the society has to raise about $75,000 more.
“We know people are cautious with their spending and have also had tough times through the pandemic,” he said.
Nelson said for those who fear the fairgrounds is not safe, 99.5 percent is “completely safe to be on.” Summer events will occur and the fair will continue as usual, as well as fairs for years to come.
“It’s only one small area on the outer edge that is in trouble,” he said, “but it’s a very expensive issue that our nonprofit needs help with.”
To donate to help repair the slope, send a check to Franklin County Agricultural Society/Franklin County Fair, P.O. Box 564, Greenfield, MA 01302. Write “Mudslide Donation” on the memo line.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.