TO: File

FROM: Christopher R. Bean, P.E., Project Manager

DATE: January 14, 2003 (Revised February 4, 2003, per FHWA comments)

RE: Derry-Londonderry Exit 4A
Environmental Impact Statement
CLD Reference No. 97-0209

SUBJECT: Combined LAOC/TAC Meeting

LOCATION: CLD Conference Rooms: Manchester, NH

ATTENDEES: Carol Granfield Derry Town Administrator
George Sioras Derry Town Planner
Alan Swan Derry Public Works Director
David Caron Londonderry Town Manager
Andre Garron Londonderry Planning & Economic Development Director
Janusz Czyzowski Londonderry Public Works Director
Roberta Robie Exit 4A CATF
Butch Waidelich FHWA
Bill O'Donnell FHWA
Bill Cass NHDOT
Chris Bean CLD
Paul Konieczka CLD
Bill Grace CLD
Jamie Paine CLD

Purpose of Meeting: To provide a status update on the project, review the updated impact matrix and to choose a preferred alternative.

Items Discussed:

1. Introductions

After introductions, Chris Bean provided an update to the group on what tasks have been achieved since previous meetings that were held over one year ago. A short timeline of events is provided below:

July 17, 2001: The project was presented to the natural resource agencies at one of their monthly coordination meetings at NHDOT. They determined that it would be okay to remove the 'G' and 'H' alternatives (which followed Londonderry Road from NH Route 102 to the 'A' and 'B' alternatives) from further consideration.

August 20, 2001: CLD met with the Londonderry Town Council to review the remaining alternatives and to receive their decision on which of the remaining alternatives should be studied further in the DEIS. The Council voted in favor of studying Alternatives A, B, F and the No Build alternatives.

September 4, 2001: CLD met with the Derry Town Council to review the remaining alternatives and to receive their decision on which of the remaining alternatives should be studied further in the DEIS. The Council voted in favor of studying Alternatives A, B' (Alternative A with a redesigned Alternative B connector that would travel from approximately Madden Road/High Street to Ashleigh Drive and terminate at NH Route 28), F and the No Build alternatives. Although the Town voted for the B' Alternative, the Town officials involved directly in this project had previously requested that additional studies to define B' as a separate alternative not be undertaken. Their feeling was that the Town could add the B' spur to the A alternative at some time in the future at their discretion, independent of the Exit 4A Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

October 24, 2001: FHWA wrote a letter to both Towns indicating that failure to review the northern interchange and Alternatives C and D would not be supported by their office. Alternatives A, B, C, D, F, and the No-Build Alternative appear to be reasonable and feasible alternatives without first reviewing them further in the DEIS.

October 25, 2001: Public Informational Meeting held at the Yard Restaurant to receive public input. The general public decided that Alternatives A, B, C, D, F and the No Build Alternative should be reviewed during the DEIS.

February 2002: CLD met with the Towns to discuss the 10/24/01 FHWA letter. CLD explained that the project would not be approved by FHWA without studying the A, B, C, D, F and No-Build Alternatives. As the Towns were not willing to fund the required preliminary design efforts and environmental review to proceed with the FHWA-recommended alternatives, CLD determined that it was in the project's best interest that all of the FHWA-recommended alternatives be reviewed and documented in the DEIS. CLD has absorbed the substantial cost of designing and reviewing all of the pertinent alternatives (A, B, C, D and F). Without this complete, unbiased review, FHWA, natural resource agencies and others would most likely claim the EIS as not complete, possibly resulting in the denial of necessary approvals and permits.

June 2002: CLD updated the interchange layouts with the preferred eight-lane I-93 alternative.

Since June 2002: CLD has:
* Updated the wetlands mapping to reflect wetlands ground-truthed by others along the I-93 corridor and additional wetlands identified by the company that provided the base mapping.
* Completed the traffic analyses to determine lane use and interchange layouts along each alternative.
* Updated the macro-scale impact matrix to reflect updated impacts to various resources due to the redesign of each alternative. Updated information included expected current right-of-way (ROW) impacts and costs, wetland impacts and mitigation costs, and air and noise modeling results.
* Incorporated NH Office of State Planning's Smart Growth Initiative Reports for Derry and Chester into the DEIS for considering secondary impacts as a result of this project.
* Coordinated with NH Division of Historical Resources (NHDHR) to determine which properties along each alternative within Derry are potentially historic (Londonderry's properties were already reviewed by NHDHR with previous projects).


2. Updated Matrix

Jamie Paine reviewed changes that have occurred to the impact matrix as a result of the updated alternative designs. Below is a brief description of the major changes that occurred along each alternative.

Wetlands
Wetland changes for all off-alignment/non-upgrade alternatives included subtracting wetland impacts that will occur within the footprint of the I-93 widening project. These impacts were previously accounted for within the footprint of the Exit 4A alternatives.

ROW Acquisition Costs
The ROW costs associated with each alternative have been updated to reflect current rates. The manner of accounting for costs to acquire undeveloped parcels over 0.5 acre in size has been refined. Previously, a flat fee was assigned to a property acquisition over 0.5 acre, no matter what size the property. The impact matrix was updated to account for the acreage of property acquired and not just the number of sites.

New Buildings/Development
George Sioras stated that two new commercial buildings have been approved in the vicinity of Madden Road and Franklin Street. One building shown as potentially historic will be torn down during construction in this area. Also, the potentially historic building on the northeast quadrant of the NH Route 28 Bypass/Tsienneto Road intersection has been razed.

Alternative A
* Wetland impacts reflected the reduction of 3.9 acres of wetlands that will be impacted with the I-93 project.
* Results of air and noise modeling were presented.
* Historic impacts were reduced from 11 potentially historic properties with 6 potentially historic buildings being acquired to 2 potentially historic properties and 0 potentially historic buildings being acquired (reflects George Sioras' comments above).
* The cost of this alternative does not reflect the resale potential of 6+ acres of commercially zoned land that would need to be acquired prior to the commencement of construction. The resale potential is thought to be approximately $150,000 per acre.

Alternative B
* Wetland impacts reflected the reduction of 3.9 acres of wetlands that will be impacted with the I-93 project.
* Results of air and noise modeling were presented.
* Historic impacts were reduced from 3 potentially historic properties being acquired to 0 potentially historic properties and 0 potentially historic buildings being acquired.

Alternative C
* Wetland impacts reflected the reduction of 1.1 acres of wetlands that will be impacted with the I-93 project.
* Results of air and noise modeling were presented.
* Historic impacts were reduced from 6 potentially historic properties being acquired to 0 potentially historic properties and 0 potentially historic buildings being acquired.


Alternative D
* Wetland impacts reflected the reduction of 1.1 acres of wetlands that will be impacted with the I-93 project.
* Results of air and noise modeling were presented.
* Historic impacts were reduced from 9 potentially historic properties and 1 potentially historic building being acquired to 3 potentially historic properties and 0 potentially historic buildings being acquired.

Alternative F
* Results of air and noise modeling were presented.
* Historic impacts were increased from 0 potentially historic properties and 0 potentially historic buildings being acquired to 1 potentially historic property and 0 potentially historic buildings being acquired. The bounds of the Derry Village Historic District were delineated by the historic subconsultant and approved by the NHDHR.
* Hazardous Material sites were updated to better reflect the potential for groundwater contamination issues during construction. Though the project is not expected to impact adjacent potentially hazardous properties, there are 16 potentially hazardous sites located next to the roadway. The potential exists that contaminated groundwater would be encountered during construction of this alternative.

Air Quality
The one-hour air quality modeling results were shown on the matrix. Bill O'Donnell stated that the air quality analysis should consider the one-hour, eight-hour and ozone standards.

Hazardous Materials
Bill O'Donnell asked whether a cost to mitigate or clean up hazardous material sites has been incorporated into the matrix. Bill Grace responded that a cost analysis of hazardous material sites should not be done at this time. Bill O'Donnell agreed and asked that an asterisk be placed on the matrix to note for mitigation of hazardous material sites.

Noise
The expected noise levels at the southern interchange appear to preclude the need for sound walls proposed as part of the I-93 widening project. Three sensitive properties would be acquired in this area. Bill Cass stated that not providing noise walls in this area would be a difficult proposition to the property owners along Trolley Car Lane, who have already seen plans to provide such walls. The additional cost to provide a wall in this area would need to be considered, since any such noise wall would have to be built higher to accommodate the proposed on/off ramps for Exit 4A.

3. Level of Buildout within Project Area/Secondary Impacts

Level of Buildout
Butch Waidelich stated that the traffic data and economic development analysis within the impact matrix supports the project's purpose and need; however, he stated that on other recent FHWA projects, he has found that the level of buildout within the area of impact may be different for each alternative studied and should be evaluated for each alternative. This effort would help to determine how quickly an area would be expected to develop, or if it would develop completely, with each respective design alternative. This may also be a factor in the air quality analysis.

Butch stated that the question of development will be asked and will need to be addressed with one of a variety of development models. Daily traffic data (preferably peak hour) and intersection breakouts would need to be completed to reflect a more refined expected development growth. Different percentages of growth would affect air quality conformity.

This was the first time that the modeling of alternative development scenarios has been mentioned to the CLD project team. Paul Konieczka explained that this effort would create a substantial level of work to revisit these modeling different scenarios. It would be difficult to determine whether traffic reductions are a result of the different roadway layouts or from the different development scenarios presented. This would result in the need to reanalyze traffic, design, and air and noise modeling for each alternative. The Southern NH Planning Commission's traffic models may already account for local land use plans and development intensity based on proposed zoning. This would need to be verified.

Secondary Impacts
Butch noted that a reasonable assessment of secondary impacts would need to be completed as required in the CEQ regulations. Rosemary Monahan is the EPA's contact for secondary impacts and should be consulted before the assessment is completed. There are three workshops planned in February that discuss tools which can be used to assess secondary impacts.

Bill Grace stated that the NH Office of State Planning has developed Smart Growth Initiative Reports for Derry and Chester and that this information has been incorporated into the DEIS.

It was decided that a meeting with EPA, NHDES, SNHPC, ACOE, FHWA, NHDOT, Derry/Londonderry Town officials and CLD should be held to discuss how a review of secondary impacts should be conducted. A tentative date for this meeting was set for Thursday, February 13, 2003 at Derry's Municipal Center. (This meeting has been postponed because subsequent to the meeting, it was decided to coordinate with the NHDOT before further scheduling the meeting with the various resource agencies. The purpose of further coordination will be to ensure that the additional Exit 4A related secondary impact tasks are compatible with secondary impact studies relating to the I-93 widening project.)

4. Public Hearing

Discussions revolved around the potential to have separate corridor layout and ROW hearings. It was thought that separate hearings would be appropriate. The NHDOT's Bureau of ROW might be able to provide assistance with the ROW process and purchasing property.

It may be better to try and have a single corridor layout hearing with NHDES, ACOE, and FHWA present. This would help to streamline the review process and avoid the potential to bring up the same issues again at separate hearings.

On public hearing plans, CLD would include conceptual curb cut locations to industrial lands on the alternatives that pass through potential developable areas.

5. CATF Role

It was explained that the Citizen's Advisory Task Force (CATF) Committee's role in the project was as a sounding board in the beginning of the project. It is understood that no additional meetings will be held with this group. They have served a very helpful role and will be kept informed through copies of meeting minutes. Roberta Robie was asked if she had a problem with this. She stated that although the CATF may be disbanded, she would like to continue her personal participation in this project; the LAOC did not object.

6. B' Alternative

Chris reminded the group that a B' alternative is not being considered as part of the Exit 4A project. There had been previous discussions of having an alternative that would combine the entire A Alternative and a portion of the B Alternative that would traverse from Ashleigh Drive southwest towards High Street/Madden Road. It was decided that if Derry wanted the portion of B constructed, they would have to do it on their own as a separate project.

7. Next Steps

A. Secondary Impact Meeting - Tentative February 13, 2003, Derry Municipal Complex, 9:30 AM (This meeting has been postponed because subsequent to the meeting, it was decided to coordinate with the NHDOT before further scheduling the meeting with the various resource agencies. The purpose of further coordination will be to ensure that the additional Exit 4A related secondary impact tasks are compatible with secondary impact studies relating to the I-93 widening project.)
B. Follow Up Meeting w/ LAOC/TAC - Tentative February 20, 2003, CLD, 1:00 PM (This meeting will be rescheduled based upon "A" above.)
C. Natural Resource Agency Meeting - Spring 2003

FWHA strongly suggested that CLD submit draft sections of the DEIS (Table of Contents, completed chapters) for their review as soon as they were available, since they expect several iterations of review will be required before they will feel comfortable approving the draft document.

JRP:jm

cc:
Technical Advisory Committee (TAC):
Derry: George Sioras, Alan Swan, Doug Rathburn
Londonderry: Andre Garron and Janusz Czyzowski
FHWA: Bill O'Donnell, Butch Waidelich
NHDOT: David J. Brillhart, Bill Cass, Marc Laurin
SNHPC: Moni Sharma
Local Administrative Oversight Committee (LAOC):
Carol Granfield Derry Town Administrator
James MacEachern Derry Town Councilor
Edmund Boutin, Esq. Derry Counsel
Dave Caron Londonderry Town Manager
c/o Dave Caron Londonderry Counsel

Citizens Advisory Task Force (CATF):
Derry: George Sioras, Frank Mazzuchelli, Albert Doolittle, Suzanne Regali, Roberta Robie, Jack Dowd, Barbara Concannon
Londonderry: Troy Brown, Jim Anagnos, Eugene Harrington, Gerry Shuck, Rep. Sherman Packard

Project Team:
Victoria Bunker
Lynn Monroe (Preservation Co.)
Bruce Mayberry