CHICOPEE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – Concerns in Chicopee are putting the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in the hot seat over its new location on Carew Street. It seems nearby residents, who may have been impacted by flooding following a heavy rainstorm last month, are pointing to the Food Bank property as the problem.
D. Pops Marks lives in the area of East Main Street and Maryland Avenue in Chicopee. On September 11, this is what his road looked like. Luckily, his house was fine, but he tells me his neighbors homes were impacted.
“We had a little bit of a rainstorm. In fact, it was a large rainstorm and then the water started accumulating so fast, it was going up the street and down the street. It looked like it was coming across from the area by Carew Street,” Marks said.
He told Western Mass News that some residents he spoke with blame the flooding on the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, which recently moved into its new location on Carew Street.
“From what I understand, yeah, the lady showed me some pictures from the area over there. It seemed like it wasn’t really prepared for that storm that came. That’s my just personal opinion,” Marks added.
“My understanding, and based on our physical observation, staff was out there on the [September 12] reviewing, it was simply volume of water. There was such an incredible amount of rain that happened all at once, some areas of the site were not fully stabilized yet. Areas that needed to be seeded, for example, that were going to be lawn areas or restored for a more natural vegetation hadn’t been seeded, so there’s nothing really to hold that in place and all that overland run off with sediment moved,” said Chicopee Director Planning and Development Lee Pouliot.
Pouliot spoke with Western Mass News from the standpoint of the planning board and the city’s conservation commission. He notes that the city is enforcing the order of conditions and where the food bank and its team failed to meet them. The conditions allowed the project to move forward with specific stipulations to protect the wetland and buffer areas, such as silt sacks in storm water catch basins to slow down the water from getting into the systems.
“In this case, they were filled up with sediment, which further slowed down the water being able to get into those systems. The Food Bank and their contractors have addressed that by cleaning them out more often, replacing them with new,” Pouliot added. “We had another condition from the commission was silt socks and silt fence along the boundaries with resource areas because, again of the volume of water, those failed and they were replaced with new silt fences and straw bales, which are staked in place which is a little bit more sturdy.”
Meantime, Pouliot said work continues. Staff is meeting with the Food Bank and the contractors on Tuesday to review the situation. On Wednesday, the zoning committee will have a public hearing on the matter. Marks said he will try to get there.
“I’m very concerned about that, if that happens again,” Marks
We also reached out to the city’s Department of Public Works. Director Elizabette Batista told us there haven’t been drainage issues since the September 11 storm, when many areas in the city experienced flooding from heavy rain. Her statement read, in part:
“…The city is actively enforcing the order of conditions granted by the conservation commission to the Food Bank. The DPW in conjunction with the planning department have been working with the Food Bank and their contractor to ensure they are properly maintaining their erosion controls especially in advance of a forecasted rain event to prevent avoidable flooding on Carew Street and East Main Street.”
We have also reached out to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts for comment. We have yet to her back.
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