A staff member described a proposed rehabilitation of a local dam, saying the project would remove vegetation within 20 feet of the dam and embankments and add overtopping protection using class 1 and class 2 riprap.

The project presenter said the work follows Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) dam safety standards and includes three main elements: vegetation removal, reinforcement of existing stone walls and embankments with riprap, and repairs to the primary and auxiliary spillways.

“The first step in the process is gonna be vegetation removal within 20 feet of the dam and the dam embankments. And that is per the Massachusetts DCR dam safety standards,” the staff member said. The presenter added that above-ground vegetation and root masses would be removed.

According to the presenter, the proposal calls for preparing degraded embankment surfaces and placing class 1 and class 2 riprap for overtopping protection on both the left (south) and right (north) embankments as the presenter described them. The presenter said stone retaining walls exist on both upstream and downstream sides of the south (left) embankment and on the north (right) embankment, and the riprap would help reinforce those walls.

Auxiliary spillway repairs were described as “relatively minor,” limited to concrete spalling and patching with no excavation or earth moving. By contrast, the presenter said work at the primary spillway would require limited excavation on the upstream side and the use of coffer dams so the work area could be completed in the dry. The presenter noted concrete piers that currently support wooden flashboards would be removed and that section would be replaced with concrete so that “the normal crest elevation of the existing and the proposed dam will remain the same.”

The presenter did not state a construction schedule, cost estimate, funding source, permit list, or project contractor. No formal vote or decision on the proposal was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.