Clinton Conservation Commission Splits Vote on Reisner Way Contamination Barrier Blocks

CLINTON -- March 25, 2026, Clinton Conservation Commission deadlocked 2-2 on a contamination-barrier request at the long-contaminated One Reisner Way scrap yard before unanimously approving two other projects at its March 25 meeting. The commission split over whether large concrete blocks proposed around contaminated soil stockpiles at the former Reisner Metals site would materially displace floodwaters in the Nashua River floodplain, with members Kim and Sean voting no and members Dave Cowell and Don voting yes; the 2-2 tie killed the negative determination and the item was continued to April 22. Consultant Paul McManus of Echotech, speaking for applicant Marty Reisner and licensed site professional Scott Parker, estimated on the fly that the blocks would displace roughly 0.02 percent of the local floodplain, but Kim pressed for written calculations and also urged McManus to file for a certificate of compliance on a 2014 superseding order of conditions that expired years ago without closure. The commission separately voted 4-0 to issue an order of conditions for a residential subdivision at 25 Bourne Street, adding a pre-construction site walk condition to identify trees for retention in the riverfront buffer, and 4-0 to issue a negative determination for a solar project at 285 West Boylston Street after a botanist-assisted delineation confirmed the site's wetland is isolated land subject to flooding with no jurisdictional connection to waterways.