One of the biggest concerns of the area will be the impact on wetlands by proposed future 'developments'. For example, one of the streams which flows into a waterfall is faced by the threat of a Lowe's building. The impact to this stream alone is highly likely to exceed the 5,000 sf max. allowance in Massachusetts for impact on wetlands.
According to documents, the Lowe's impact on wetlands is said to be "4,585 sf".
The summary of BVW "A", "B" and "C" in the image below equals 4,585 sf.
However...
...as one studies the amount of wetland vegetation within these given boundaries and measures the drawings, the amount of wetland affected exceeds 5,000 sf by a great number. In my own personal investigation of the drawings, I've taken a conservative measurement to find the bvw wetland alteration is minimally 7,170± sf (excluding 'bank' area, and expanded work in buffer areas). Others have found these numbers to be higher.
A big question (for me at least) remains. Are the flags in the field correctly drawn in plan? It is discovered that some of the flags have duplicate numbers, and some of the measurements between the flags were shorter in distance than shown on the plan. Theoretically, if this is true, this could possibly mean that the stream in plan is extended at the thinner portion, causing the top thicker end of the stream on paper to be excluded from the calculations of the affected area? This is only a question. The only way for me to understand the conditions in the field is to have someone verify the locations of the flags with a handheld gps locator that has an inch or less tolerance, or other method of survey. But this investigation for me is not extremely important as we already discovered, that by measuring the drawings, the wetland alterations exceed the allowable limit by a great amount.
To measure the drawings:
Print the drawing below to scale (using the scale bar as a reference) and measure by using a series of triangles to calculate the affected wetland flagged area. Or import the drawing into a drawing program, using the scale bar as reference, and then trace over the affected area using a polygon tool, resulting in a calculation of the area. Use the drawing below found on Salem Citizens website (
click here).