Stoneham Commission Ratifies Sewer Spill Order, Issues Two Fells Reservoir Permits

STONEHAM -- July 13, 2026, Stoneham Conservation Commission ratifies sewer spill order and advances two Middlesex Fells reservoir projects. The commission voted unanimously July 13 to ratify a July 2 emergency enforcement order against Fairfield Residential after a grease-clogged eight-inch sewer line backed up and overflowed through a manhole cover in a wooded DCR parcel near Ravine Road around June 29, approximately one-third of a mile from Fairfield's planned 378-unit apartment site at 10 and 20 Executive Drive. Project manager David Robinson of Allen and Major Associates told the commission the line has been jetted and lime applied, with a remediation report due at the August 10 meeting. The commission also issued orders of conditions for the MWRA's Spot Pond Reservoir auxiliary spillway channel rehabilitation, a sediment-removal and boulder-placement project expected to proceed this fall, and for DCR's trail improvement work along the reservoir trail in the Sheepfold area of the Middlesex Fells, which includes a five-foot elevated boardwalk in the buffer zone and up to 2,400 square feet of potential wetland impact if initial drainage lenses prove insufficient. In a separate discussion, Andrew Crockett Trust administrator Ellen McBride, of 3D Stonehill Drive, told commissioners that only roughly $95,000 of the trust's $330,000 is currently accessible, with annual distributions capped at 5 percent of the fund's August 31 value.