Panel approves Russell Street wetland mitigation plan

Conservation · Meeting of October 20, 2026

HADLEY — The Hadley Conservation Commission approved a wetland mitigation plan for 347 Russell Street and confronted unauthorized mountain bike trail construction on town land near the public water supply. Commission member Stephen Szymkowicz said the applicant's restoration work, split between an off-site parcel behind Home Depot and on-site buffer restoration, exceeds the required two-to-one mitigation ratio; the board approved the notice of intent, DEP file 170-303, unanimously with no special conditions. Separately, members said New England Mountain Bike Association volunteers used excavators and chainsaws to build trail features and berms far beyond a single relocation the commission approved roughly a year and a half ago, on land that includes part of the town's drinking water supply area.

The chair read from an email to NEMBA citing "unpermitted work on Town of Hadley land" and said the Select Board, DPW and Open Space Committee were not consulted. The board also discussed a Breckenridge Road battery storage proposal sited over a town aquifer and said it is interviewing finalists for a vacant Conservation Agent and Land Use Coordinator post left open since Kayla Loubriel's departure.

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Source: the Conservation meeting of October 20, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.