Hamilton Planning Board Continues Chewbacca Woods Hearing to February 8

HAMILTON — January 25, 2022 — Hamilton Planning Board unanimously continued the Chewbacca Woods special permit hearing to February 8 after two and a half hours of conflicting expert testimony on blasting and groundwater risk. The board heard from Maine Drilling and Blasting's Andy Dufour, who outlined a two-phase plan totaling 107 work days of blasting to remove 188,000 cubic yards of rock, with up to roughly 45 truckloads of material leaving the site per day. GZA hydrogeologist James Emery, the town's peer review sub-consultant, called Maine Drilling "the gold standard" and said the applicant had accepted all eight or nine of his protective recommendations, including eight monitoring wells and biweekly water quality sampling of neighboring domestic wells. Ransom Consulting, presenting for the Save Chewbacca Woods opposition group, argued that no comprehensive site-specific hydrogeologic study has been done and that the project's drainage sits above an interconnected surface-water system supplying drinking water to Hamilton, Essex, and Manchester-by-the-Sea — a concern echoed by Manchester Conservation Commission Chair Steve Gang, who told the board his town's selectmen have already launched a watershed task force. The board also voted unanimously to authorize Chair Rick Mitchell to sign the site plan approval for an unrelated Iron Ox Farm greenhouse project.