DEERFIELD — In a bid to mitigate future flooding emergencies, the Highway Department has filed a bundled Notice of Intent (NOI) with the Conservation Commission to perform routine maintenance of culverts and other infrastructure across town.
At Thursday’s Conservation Commission meeting, town officials and GZA GeoEnvironmental consultant Adrienne Dunk said the NOIs allow for routine maintenance of culverts and other structures in town. In essence, the NOIs lay out the planned maintenance work for the year, meaning the Highway Department would come to the Conservation Commission once a year to discuss upcoming maintenance work, cutting down on additional meetings.
“It would authorize many aspects of the routine work that must happen to maintain a roadway system, drainage system and utilities,” Dunk explained. “It’s a really proactive way to allow continued maintenance and upkeep in town.”
The idea, Selectboard member Carolyn Shores Ness said, was born out of the fact that the town’s infrastructure often crumbles in the face of intense rain events that are becoming more common, such as the deluge of rain in July 2021 that left Routes 5 and 10 flooded by Richardson’s Candy Kitchen.
“By doing the bundled Notice of Intent, you’re able to take a holistic approach to that problem, think it through and then repair it in a proper manner or maintain it in a proper manner,” Shores Ness said by phone. “The idea is to be proactive. When you fix things correctly, they last through the impacts of these events.”
The town took an application template from Becket, which Shores Ness said is one of few towns in the state that have taken this sort of approach. She added that in the end, taking care of infrastructure before it is battered by flooding will save the town money in the future and cut down on the number of emergency declarations the Selectboard must make to expedite permitting requirements so disasters can be addressed.
“All the times we replace culverts and do repair work, it’s not budgeted,” Shores Ness said of events like last year’s flooding. “As a town, we can’t afford the impact of climate change on our budget.”
The Conservation Commission passed over voting on the application Thursday because the Highway Department was waiting on a file number from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), but Chair Peter Law said it was an interesting idea and could save the commissioners headaches in the future.
“This is the first one I’ve seen,” Law said of a bundled NOI. “I appreciate the proactive (approach) and planning ahead versus me getting a text, ‘Can you be down here in 15 minutes and take a look at this emergency’ and make a decision on the spot.”
If the application is approved, the Conservation Commission would be notified 48 hours ahead of any work.
Dunk expects to get a filing number from the DEP in the next week. The Conservation Commission will discuss the application further at its Aug. 25 meeting.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.